After teasing us for months about their new, extremely limited production super sedan, Aston Martin has taken the wraps off the Lagonda, and “luxurious” doesn’t even begin to describe the level of opulence on hand in Aston Martin’s newest four seater.
Perhaps best known for luxurious and fast sports cars like the V12 Vantage S Roadster, on rare occasions Aston Martin has also thrown their hat into the four door ring with cars like the Rapide S. But the forthcoming “strictly limited production” Lagonda, Aston Martin assures us, is something else entirely.
The concept of the Aston Martin Vantage S coupe was pretty simple – take the smallest platform your portfolio and stuff the biggest engine you have in the engine bay. It resulted in a fairly fantastic sports car that we found to be quite pleasing to the eye and a lot of fun on the racetrack. So what could Aston Martin do to make it even better? Chop the top off, of course, and create the fastest roadster in the company’s history in the process.
The terms “Aston Martin” and “inexpensive” have very rarely occupied space in the same sentence in years past. However, the British automaker appears to be making something of an attempt to change that. At a starting price of $99,900, the just-announced Vantage GT, which is scheduled to make its proper debut later this week at the New York Auto Show, is the first Aston Martin sports car in recent memory to be available at a price below six figures. Sorry, Cygnet fans – that one doesn’t count.
Last year we got a chance to road test the hardtop version of the Vanquish, and we left the scene suitably enamored. Here we find ourselves at the helm of the drop top version of the Vanquish for the first time, simultaneously congratulating ourselves on the incredibly fortunate sequence of events that led us to this point in life, and also immediately realizing that despite perhaps losing a step to its hardtop brethren, the Volante is, without question, the more ideal configuration of the Vanquish.
David Brown’s vision for a new Aston Martin truly came to life at the 1949 24 Hours of Le Mans with the debut of the DB2. It was far sportier in appearance than the first car of the Brown era, and more importantly, it featured W.O. Bentley’s 2.6-litre, twin-cam engine, which Aston had acquired with Brown’s purchase of Lagonda.
This is the overview page for the 2015 Aston Martin Vantage GT. Rumors, news, reviews, road tests, specifications, videos, awards, and other relevant information will all be included here as they become available.
This is the overview page for the 2015 Aston Martin V12 Vantage Roadster. Rumors, news, reviews, road tests, specifications, videos, awards, and other relevant information will all be included here as they become available.
As you may have previously seen, earlier this month Multimedia Editor Chris Amos got a chance to get up close and personal with the new Vantage S at Palm Beach International Raceway. No warm up laps here ladies and gentlemen – experience what it’s like to pilot a V12 Aston Martin at full song down the back straight at PBIR.
Multimedia Editor Chris Amos recently spent some time with the new V12 Vantage S and rode along as it got hurled around Palm Beach International…
Pro driver Richard Hope takes us on a warm up lap around Palm Beach International Raceway in the 2015 Aston Martin V12 Vantage S.
A new one-make racing series featuring the Aston Martin Vantage GT4, called the Aston Martin GT4 Challenge Of North America, will begin next year. TRG-AMR, Aston Martin’s partner team in our fine continent, announced the series at Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.
The Aston Martin V12 Vantage S takes a great car and takes it a notch further. Its 6.0-liter V-12 engine produces 565 horsepower and 457 pound-feet of torque (376 pound-feet of which is available from just 1000 rpm). It has a top speed of 205 miles per hour, making it Aston Martin’s second-fastest road-going car ever (behind the ultra-rare One-77).
This month saw the fifth annual Wilton House Classic and Supercar Show in England, in which over 200 supercars converge on the grounds of Wilton House, home of the Earl and Countess of Pembroke.
With the new Rapide S, Aston Martin hasn’t sacrificed any of its GT potential at the expense of its improved driving dynamics.
The 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans will be remembered for a number of things. Most obvious was the death of Aston Martin Racing driver Allan Simonsen. Beyond that, the race was highlighted by unpredictable weather and the most safety cars in the race’s history.
During the fourth lap of Saturday’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, Aston Martin Racing driver Allan Simonsen was involved in a fatal crash when his Vantage GTE appeared to spin off the course at Tertre Rouge. He was 34.
On the way to its 205-mph top speed, the V12 Vantage S can hit 60 mph in a scant 3.7 seconds, which, we might add, neatly ties it with the One-77. The “baby” Aston gets better, though.
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again—removing a car’s roof just makes things better. Obviously, this isn’t usually true from a dynamic sense, as convertibles need to be shored up with extra structural items to make up for the lack of a roof. In terms of the overall driving experience, though, a droptop is just more fun. Knowing this, and being intimately familiar with the roar of Aston Martin’s 6.0-liter, 565-horsepower V-12, you can imagine how giddy we were at the news of an Aston Martin Vanquish Volante.
Over the years, some racing liveries have grown more popular than others based on their record of success. The John Player Lotus F1 cars, Martini’s sponsorships of Porsche and a few other F1 teams, and Marlboro’s signature brand on a spate of F1 cars all come to mind when we’re talking about paint jobs. The poster child for liveries, though, comes from Gulf Oil.
The V12 Vantage S employs the new AM28 6.0-liter engine, which produces 565 horsepower at 6750 rpm, and 376 pound-feet of torque from just 1000 rpm. It uses the new SportShift III automated manual transmission, equipped with paddle shifters, to swap cogs. This also saves 55 pounds over the outgoing six-speed manual.