Here's one for you...
What growls like a lion, goes like a cheetah with its bottom on fire and smells like a cow?
Believe it or not it's the new V8 Vantage from Aston Martin and it's an animal...
Okay - so it doesn't exactly smell of a cow (gladly), but if Aston could bottle the luxurious leather scent that wafts from the inside of this car, I'm sure it would sell quicker than Guitar Hero this Christmas.
The Vantage first graced the roads in 2004 to a rapturous welcome. It was beautiful then and it's just had a facelift and a new bigger snarlier engine - it's been upgraded from a 4.3 to a 4.7-litre.
The superb stitched leather seats and fine piano black detailing throughout this already iconic coupe, is breathtaking to say the least. Many premium manufacturers focus more on quality and less on comfort when putting together interiors but with the Vantage you can clearly see, and feel, the snugness that envelopes you as you sit in those electrically warmed seats.
To say that I wasn't impressed by the growl of the exhaust would be a blatant lie. Flooring any powerful rear wheel drive car should not be taken lightly and although governed by a fairly non-intrusive traction control, for this supercar the rule is no different. With 0-60 in just under 4.7 heavenly seconds and a maximum speed of 180 mph, the Vantage trails just 20mph behind the brand's fastest ever model, the DBS.
Although beaten in one respect, I would push the opinion that the V8 Coupe could be one of the
brands tightest driving vehicles, those 17 inch spoked wheels feel as though they are glued to the road.
Looks wise? Well really if you think Aston are ever going to let you down on the exterior front then you really do need to pull your head out of that very dark, deep kitchen sink you've had it stuck in for the last decade. Supplied to DriveWire in Aston Martin Racing Green directly from the Aston Martin Press Office in Gaydon, I found myself just as much outside of the vehicle as I DID sitting inside
just admiring it's streamlined body work.
The model is obviously built with power, speed and style in mind, with the swooping nose, cat-eye like Xenon headlights and superior back end finishing off a timeless Aston Martin look.
But does this, along with the it's many "as-standard" extras justify the standard car's £86k price tag?
Yes.
Note from editor: There will be a total of three reviews on this car - this is the first in the series. We all agreed that it would be useful to get a range of opinions on the new Vantage - mine's next, then Paul Green's.
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