2009 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Road Test Review

WE HAD IT for four days. They, like the scenery, passed in a blur.

You see, you can’t sit in an Aston Martin and think ordinary thoughts. At the wheel of the V8 Vantage, everything becomes a little surreal. It heightens your senses, makes your heart beat faster, and electrifies things around you.

And all those other cars you’re sharing the roads with suddenly become a little more threatening.

But it’s all worth it of course. There is no such thing as a negative when you’re cosseted in one of the world’s most desirable sports cars; and one that sounds and feels and goes like the V8 Vantage. (So this is what it’s like to be ridiculously rich…)

Is the V8 Vantage not one of the most sublime and beautiful of modern sports cars?

Most people don’t just stare when you pass them in a car like this; they salivate, they eat it with their eyes. And some, for the few seconds as you drive by, see nothing else.

So, how good is the V8 Vantage, besides very? We packed a notepad, a crayon and a ruler, and set out to find out.

Styling

What is there not to like about the V8 Vantage’s gorgeous hand-crafted style? Tough, low, lean and wide, it sits fat on massive 19-inch alloys with 235/40 ZR19 Bridgestone Potenza’s up front and 275/35 ZR19 rears.

‘Ours’ with the Sports Pack, came with optional lightweight five-spoke alloys, re-tuned Bilstein dampers, up-rated springs and anti-roll bar.

Its sculptured lines sweep back from a flattened signature Aston Martin grille over a long bonnet, flat low screen and outrageously pumped guards. If you catch it approaching in your rear-view mirror, it has the menace of a closing White Pointer.

The lingering image of the handsome rear, which is what you’ll be staring at for mere seconds as it disappears into the distance, is of superbly muscled haunches sitting squat over a wide, wide track.

Interestingly, it is only when you park next to a sensible car that you realise the V8 Vantage is not very big. It is in fact about the size of a Volkswagen Golf in terms of the shadow it casts on the ground.

But you’d never guess it. It sits ‘big’ - all muscular elegance and supercar presence.

Besides the optional Sports Pack, our ‘tester’ came with curious black striping; a nod to the Vantage GT4’s racing livery, but we think the car looks handsome enough without any such touches.

There is a kind of flawless beauty to its panels and in the translucent depth of the lustrous paint that gives the V8 Vantage a classical and rare elegance. It’s as though it’s a work of art; as if you have to run your hands over it to really appreciate it.

The understated chrome, the LED rear lamps and halogen headlights, the flush-sitting lever-style door handles, all-metal grille and side vents, and even the Aston Martin badge – crafted by a jeweller incidentally – are all absolute premium fare. Something for the enjoyment of an exclusive few.

But it is not just the beauty of the beast that gives the Vantage its appeal; contained in its handsome coachwork is the latest in metal and composite technologies.

The comparatively lightweight but rigid body is a bonded aluminium structure, incorporating magnesium alloy, aluminium alloy, steel and composite body panels. Roof, bonnet and doors are aluminium; rear tail-gate and front fenders are polymer composite and side impact bars are extruded aluminium.

There is also more than simply style behind the long bonnet. The 4.7 litre V8 sits hard back against the firewall, which, with the rear-mounted transmission, contributes to the V8 Vantage’s astonishing on-road balance.

The doors rise as you open them (called ‘swan doors’), protecting the lower leading edge from scraping the footpath. There is no wing defacing the lines of the rear. The wide-opening hatch, sitting over a space that’s big enough for personal luggage for two, has a rear spoiler incorporated ‘duck-tail’ style into its lines.

The interior

The exclusive hand-finished style carries over to the interior. There, sumptuous-feel full-grain leather, alcantara headlining, and a stylish centre console of die-cast zinc alloy await.

The leather dash, with hand-stitched seams, is trimmed like an expensive club chair. A domed instrument binnacle, containing two beautiful chronograph style gauges on an etched metal and glass backing plate, sits perfectly in place ahead of the driver. The displays, Organic Electroluminescent (OEL), are soft on the eyes, stylish and brilliantly clear.

The multi-function steering wheel, just right for feel and size, is adjustable for tilt and reach.

In the centre console, below the sat nav display, are the press-button controls for the Sportshift transmission and engine-mapping ‘Comfort’ setting. While infinitely more stylish, these will be vaguely reminiscent to anyone who remembers the old Valiant press-button torqueflite automatic.

And, setting it all off, the crystalline glass, stainless steel and polycarbonate ‘key’, the ECU, which glows red on ignition, simply reeks of distinction and class.

It’s snug inside, the cabin space is quite small, but headroom and legroom is generous and it never feels claustrophobic. The seats too, although shaped for performance driving with heavily bolstered wings and base, are firm-fitting but comfortable.

Even after a long day in the saddle, they still felt right.

The handbrake sits at the driver’s right thigh. It’s a flyaway style, something that drivers of classic English sports cars are used to, but which, though it is easy to use, will be foreign to many.

There is little to complain about at this work-bench. The sat-nav could perhaps be a little less fiddly, some of the buttons in the centre console are a bit of a stretch with the seats set back, there is nowhere much to put things and the glovebox is simply too small.

I made the mistake of taking the manual out of the glovebox and couldn’t get it back in again. So don’t expect to get much more than a glove, two parking fines and four guitar picks in there.

The piece de resistance in the cabin though is the absolutely sensational 700W Aston Martin Premium Audio System with Dolby Pro Logic II. It has a clarity and imaging that will not disappoint the most dedicated audiophile and it will make your ears bleed before it distorts.