On this episode of Ignition
Category
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MotorTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:05 You have to love the idea of a car like this Vantage.
00:09 It's when an automaker shoehorns the biggest engine it has,
00:11 in this case a 5.9 liter V12, into the smallest
00:15 chassis in the lineup.
00:16 The result here is the V12 Vantage S,
00:19 a beautiful sports car that's somewhere
00:20 between the size of a BRZ and a Mustang,
00:23 but with 566 horsepower, carbon ceramic brakes,
00:27 and three stage adjustable dampers.
00:30 [ENGINE REVVING]
00:35 Aston Martin says it's second only to the 750 horsepower
00:38 177 in 0 to 60 acceleration and top speed,
00:43 at claimed 205 miles an hour.
00:45 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:48 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:52 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:55 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:59 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:02 [TIRES SCREECHING]
01:04 Aston claims 0 to 60 should take 3.7 seconds,
01:08 but the Vantage fell short in our testing.
01:11 Its single clutch automated manual
01:13 wouldn't engage aggressively enough,
01:15 no matter what combination of settings we tried.
01:18 The result was always slow engagement,
01:20 followed by tire spin.
01:22 At 4.1 seconds to 60 and 12.3 seconds to the quarter mile,
01:26 it essentially ties the last vanquish we tested.
01:29 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:31 While acceleration fell short of expectations,
01:34 the Vantage put down a respectable 23.9 second figure
01:37 eight lap time and generated an average 1.01 G,
01:41 tying it with the 911 Carrera 4S and the SLS AMG.
01:44 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:48 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:51 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:55 [ENGINE REVVING]
01:58 [ENGINE REVVING]
02:02 [ENGINE REVVING]
02:05 [ENGINE REVVING]
02:09 I'll start by saying this is an absolutely terrific car,
02:13 but that's kind of what you expect
02:15 when you shoehorn a V12 of this size into a car of this size.
02:19 This is a surprisingly small car with a whole hell
02:23 of a lot of engine.
02:24 It's absolutely wonderful because of it.
02:27 [ENGINE REVVING]
02:29 [ENGINE REVVING]
02:33 We have more power than the outgoing V12 Vantage.
02:36 We're up to, what, 575, 560 around there,
02:39 and a whole lot of torque, too.
02:41 [ENGINE REVVING]
02:45 And the nice thing is that power comes in high in the RPM range.
02:48 You really feel this engine pull harder as you rev it higher.
02:51 It has a really linear power band.
02:54 It also sounds absolutely terrific.
02:56 [ENGINE REVVING]
03:00 [ENGINE REVVING]
03:02 When you really get in the meat of the power band,
03:04 the sound gets lighter and sweeter,
03:06 and it's pretty much the V12 noise you want to hear.
03:09 [ENGINE REVVING]
03:12 The downside is, of course, it's connected to a single-clutch
03:15 automated manual.
03:17 And it's basically a manual with an automated clutch.
03:21 And it manages to combine all the downsides of a manual
03:24 with none of the upsides that we can find.
03:27 When you're driving through city streets,
03:29 when you're commuting, driving around town,
03:32 the upshifts are pretty bad.
03:35 There's an interruption of torque
03:36 that's quite frustrating.
03:39 And all the head shake is pretty annoying.
03:42 Once you get into the higher gears, though,
03:43 once you get on a mountain road, once you start going fast,
03:46 it becomes less of an issue.
03:47 Once you learn how to drive one of these transmissions,
03:50 when you learn to lift off the throttle slightly
03:53 before you shift like you would a manual transmission,
03:58 it starts working better.
04:01 And when you're driving fast, when you're driving flat out,
04:04 I begin to like it a little bit.
04:06 I like the simplicity of it.
04:08 I like how when you grab an upshift,
04:11 there's this massive shake in the car.
04:14 And you're in the next gear cleanly, smoothly.
04:17 [ENGINE REVVING]
04:20 OK, maybe not smoothly.
04:21 But you know you're in the next gear when you arrive into it.
04:25 The transmission is the downside of this car.
04:27 But the rest is absolutely fantastic.
04:30 OK, and being an Aston Martin, it
04:32 has a very beautifully tailored interior.
04:35 We have contrast stitching that matches the exterior paint.
04:39 Everything's in a nice microfiber suede-like material.
04:42 There's carbon fiber this and that.
04:43 Touching the roof is always a nice thing to do.
04:45 [ENGINE REVVING]
04:47 And of course, being an Aston Martin,
04:49 the infotainment stuff is always a little disappointing.
04:51 But hey, that's par for the course for this company.
04:57 One more downside we have to mention, there is no red line.
05:00 For the life of me, why is there no red line in this car?
05:03 You know when you need to shift because you're
05:05 banging off the limiter.
05:08 Oh, yeah, that's fun.
05:09 But why isn't there any sort of indicator
05:11 on the tach that tells you when you're going to do that?
05:14 The gear indicator changes to red.
05:17 But by the time you see that, it's too late.
05:19 And if you're driving really fast,
05:21 you don't have the time to look down and keep your eyes on it.
05:26 This really taps into all the senses aside from smell.
05:30 Well, smelling is one of the tires.
05:32 But all the senses feel this car move around.
05:35 I love the way this car loads up into corners and out of corners,
05:38 the way it feels when you're getting on the power.
05:42 It feels like it might oversteer, but it doesn't.
05:45 It doesn't.
05:45 It stays loaded.
05:47 And it gives you a slight bit of rotation, which feels right
05:51 when you're driving out of a corner.
05:54 This car makes you laugh.
05:55 This car just makes you feel real good.
05:58 [ENGINE REVVING]
06:01 [ENGINE REVVING]
06:04 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:16 Despite its serious shortcomings,
06:27 the V12 Vantage S remains an exhilarating car on the road.
06:32 And that illustrates its strength.
06:34 Perhaps it's the exterior styling,
06:36 or the interior appointments, or the theater
06:38 of the entire experience, or a combination
06:40 of all these things.
06:41 But somehow, you manage to ignore the clumsy transmission
06:47 and disappoint in the test track performance
06:49 when you're behind the wheel, savoring the power band
06:52 and the sound that accompanies it.
06:53 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:57 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:01 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:05 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:08 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:22 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:26 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:30 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:34 (upbeat music)