First Drive Review
Subtlety and patience are blessed by many yet shunned by others; it is this latter group for whom Aston Martin’s V-12 Vantage S exists. Aston’s CEO, Ulrich Bez, who knows his way around the Nürburgring’s Nordschleife, calls the S “extreme in its nature” and “brutal.” He points out it is not a car to drive from New York to San Diego. Unless, that is, you are stopping at Watkins Glen, VIR, Mid-Ohio, Road America, and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca along the way.
Aston’s Vantage S certainly looks the part, despite the age of its basic bones, ready to pounce with its wide stance and pronounced rear wheel arches. New for the Vantage S is a carbon-fiber grille inset, black in our test car’s case. Arrayed across the hood are extensive vents for the V-12, accented in optional red-tinted carbon fiber. Inside are a driver-oriented cockpit and a tall center stack with two important buttons: one for adjusting steering response and setting the adaptive damping to Normal, Sport, or Track mode; and a second that toggles a Sport mode for quicker throttle responses and shifts and a throatier growl out back.
That growl is generated by the V-12, a carry-over from the days when Ford owned Aston, now shucked of all its FoMoCo roots save the rods and the pistons. Aston rates its AM28 V-12 at 565 horsepower and 457 lb-ft of torque, 376 of the latter ready at 1000 rpm. Sixty mph comes up in an estimated 3.8 seconds, with an ethereal 205-mph terminal velocity.
Our test route rose from Palm Springs into the mountains, much of it two-lane highways studded with rough patchwork repairs. The Aston didn’t much care. The suspension’s Track setting was a tad stiff, but the Normal and Sport levels soaked up road-surface foibles with ease while not degrading handling. We kept the throttle and shift response set to Sport, and our only concern was how quickly and effortlessly license-shredding velocities were achieved.
Shifty Business
The main reason the car proves unsuitable for daily use is the Graziano-sourced Sportshift III automated manual transmission. It’s the only gearbox offered (Aston dropped its conventional manual-transmission option in the Vantage a few years ago). The automated manual is sensible, we suppose, for a car that is “extreme in its nature” but not for one driven off-track to Del Taco. We did back-country highway runs from rest to triple digits, and the shifts were almost shocking in their stiffness—they came with a wham. The roughness feels out of place in 2013, like watching Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone hobble through a new action flick.
Dodging through endless esses up a mountainside, the stiff shifts weren’t a bother because we didn’t need to change gears very often. With the V-12’s broad, strong torque curve, there was little need to do other than stay in third and let the engine go to work. The Aston clawed its way through the switchbacks with mighty grip.
Back into Palm Springs, the transmission was again an aggravation. Even in the drive setting, automatic shifts came with a pause and lurch, transforming the Aston from a car in its element to one akin to using a Kentucky Derby entrant as a plow horse. It looked good, but it was wasting its talents. Indeed, the 205-mph V-12 Vantage S is best saved for special, full-monty occasions.
