Aston Martin V8 Vantage
Aston Martin is a company known that is known only for their super-expensive GT and racing cars. In 2006 they introduced the V8 Vantage, a quintessential sports car that is made up of outstanding performance and is designed beautifully.
The V8 Vantage’s chassis arrangement is much more balanced then previous Aston Martin vehicles. Its 380-horsepower V8 engine is mounted up front, drives the rear wheels and is located far enough behind the front wheels that the configuration can fairly be called “front mid-engine.”
Instead of the six-speed manual transmission being bolted directly to the engine, the creators decided to place the transmission between the rear wheels and mated it with the differential, which in turn created a transaxle. This division of drive-train labor apportions two of the heaviest mechanical components in a manner that makes the car neither nose-heavy (like most front-engine cars) nor tail-heavy, but nearly perfectly balanced.
The V8 Vantage’s two-seat coupe body is draped in a largely aluminum and composite skin. Aficionados argue endlessly about sports-car styling, but it’s hard not to fall in love by the rightness of the Vantage’s lines. With its short rear overhang (the bodywork behind the rear wheels) and its long hood and nose, the V8 Vantage has a crouching-tiger look.
Wheels and tires pushed out well beyond the bodywork and covered by broadly flared fenders accentuate the aesthetic. The effect, in fact, is more an athlete’s Spandex tights than a Savile Row suit. When it came to the Vanquish, Aston Martin decided not to install a tiny, useless backseat, which means that there is a remarkable amount of cargo space in the trunk and parcel shelf behind the front seats.
But with no quick-release for the seatbacks, this parcel shelf is hard to access from inside the car. Seatbacks must be slowly motored forward to store or reach your briefcase or purse back there. Drivers taller than 6 feet 2 inches should try a Vantage on for size before getting too excited about the price; both leg room and head room are incredibly limited, though shoulder and hip room are there.
At 5 feet 11 inches, you could reach the foot pedals well enough to drive the car even with the seat in its extreme aft position. Once settled in the cockpit, however, you’re ensconced in one of the classiest interiors at any price. The quality and style of the leather, carpeting, stitching, controls, instruments, anodized aluminum trim and what interior stylists call jewelry, instrument bezels, burnished knobs, a backlit engine-start button, are impeccable and make certain German car interiors look coarse and uninspired.