I've just been out in what could very well be my new "favourite" car! :D An acquaintance of mine is a car journalist for a well-known national car magazine and he was out test driving Aston Martin's newest addition this morning. He was taking in various roads in and around Warwickshire and came to pick me up for a quick 30 minute passenger ride! You should have seen the neighbour's face when the car was on my drive! Priceless!
OMG! This car is phenomenal! The exterior (and interior) details are far superior to the existing V8Vantage, not to mention the way they shoe-horned the DBS V12 into the engine bay. If you think our Zeds have little room to manoeuvre under the bonnet then wait until you see the V12Vantage ... Looking at the position of the oil filter it would appear you need to remove the entire wing of the car to get to it ...
Anyway - I digress. I still find the "ECU" (Emotional Control Unit) a very silly gimmic but it does add some drama to starting the car up. After a short whirring of the starter motor and priming of the fuel pump the engine barks to life with a much more aggressive and high-pitched burble than the V8Vantage. The drive quality was more than sublime - Aston really got it right with this one despite having a large V12 upfront which I would have thought to have upset the weight distribution dynamics. Nothing could be further from the truth - it handles beautifully. Primary suspension is firm but not bone-shattering and secondary suspension is also quite compliant despite the rubberband-like tyres (255 front/295rear). The brakes on this particular car were Carbon-Ceramics in the size of 398mm up front and 360mm at the rear. They do a fantastic job of slowing the car down even from cold - something I couldn't say about the CC brakes on a customer's LP640 I was in several months ago.
I'm truly in love with this car. Unfortunately it is WAY out of my price range (for now ;)) but hopefully Aston Martin will continue to produce new cars to this level as I am convinced they've really upped their (bench)mark and are now building cars (a) the way they should always have been built and (b) that people actually want.
Sadly, I was not allowed to take any pictures as the feature is due out in the next two months. So keep a look out for a burgundy red AM V12Vantage on a 09-reg. So for now we'll just have to make do with the attached publicity shots (credit: Aston Martin).
I've just been out in what could very well be my new "favourite" car! :D An acquaintance of mine is a car journalist for a well-known national car magazine and he was out test driving Aston Martin's newest addition this morning. He was taking in various roads in and around Warwickshire and came to pick me up for a quick 30 minute passenger ride! You should have seen the neighbour's face when the car was on my drive! Priceless!
OMG! This car is phenomenal! The exterior (and interior) details are far superior to the existing V8Vantage, not to mention the way they shoe-horned the DBS V12 into the engine bay. If you think our Zeds have little room to manoeuvre under the bonnet then wait until you see the V12Vantage ... Looking at the position of the oil filter it would appear you need to remove the entire wing of the car to get to it ...
Anyway - I digress. I still find the "ECU" (Emotional Control Unit) a very silly gimmic but it does add some drama to starting the car up. After a short whirring of the starter motor and priming of the fuel pump the engine barks to life with a much more aggressive and high-pitched burble than the V8Vantage. The drive quality was more than sublime - Aston really got it right with this one despite having a large V12 upfront which I would have thought to have upset the weight distribution dynamics. Nothing could be further from the truth - it handles beautifully. Primary suspension is firm but not bone-shattering and secondary suspension is also quite compliant despite the rubberband-like tyres (255 front/295rear). The brakes on this particular car were Carbon-Ceramics in the size of 398mm up front and 360mm at the rear. They do a fantastic job of slowing the car down even from cold - something I couldn't say about the CC brakes on a customer's LP640 I was in several months ago.
I'm truly in love with this car. Unfortunately it is WAY out of my price range (for now ;)) but hopefully Aston Martin will continue to produce new cars to this level as I am convinced they've really upped their (bench)mark and are now building cars (a) the way they should always have been built and (b) that people actually want.
Sadly, I was not allowed to take any pictures as the feature is due out in the next two months. So keep a look out for a burgundy red AM V12Vantage on a 09-reg. So for now we'll just have to make do with the attached publicity shots (credit: Aston Martin).
Right, now which bank to rob first ... ;)