2008 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Vehicle

“Just look at the thing!” That’s about the only selling line the 2008 Aston Martin V8 Vantage will ever need. If you’ve seen a V8 Vantage on the road, you know what we’re talking about. Few other cars look this, well, sexy. Thankfully, this baby Aston has impressive talent lurking beneath its gorgeous face. The 2008 Aston Martin V8 Vantage coupe and roadster are not just exceedingly pretty faces. Although it can’t quite keep pace with Porsche’s 911, this baby Aston has the performance and handling cojones to make it the envy of not only the neighbors, but driving aficionados as well.

New For 2008

The limited-production high-performance Vantage N400 debuts for 2008. It includes a more powerful V8 engine, firmer suspension tuning, lightweight wheels and exterior and interior trim changes. It is available in coupe and roadster body styles. The regular Aston Martin V8 Vantage coupe and roadster gain a few standard features for 2008 such as steering-wheel-mounted audio controls, an auxiliary audio jack, cupholders and a windshield-embedded radio antenna (versus body-mounted). Satellite radio is now on the options list.

Hot Car - The Aston Martin Vanquish V12 S

The fastest production model ever to be built by Aston Martin made its world debut at the Paris Motor Show on September 23, 2004. With a maximum speed in excess of 200mph (321km/h) and a 6.0 litre V12 engine developing 520 horsepower, the Vanquish S has been designed to deliver even greater performance, complemented by subtle suspension and steering changes and a number of interior and external style revisions.

Rather than relying on some form of supercharging—and there is not much room under the Vanquish hood—the Aston V-12 has been developed in the old-fashioned way. It’s gotten a higher compression ratio, new cylinder heads with subtly reshaped combustion chambers and fully machined inlet ports, new forged connecting rods, a revised injection system, and a remapped electronic control unit. It revs higher than it did (maximum power is at 7000 rpm), allowing shorter overall gearing but still achieving a claimed top speed of more than 200 mph. The Vanquish we tested in 2001 hit 60 in 4.4 seconds and 100 in 10.3, and it’s likely the S will improve on those times by a couple of 10ths.

Starting the Vanquish is still a nice piece of theater: Switch on the ignition, wait for the check lights to clear, press the brake, select neutral by pulling on both steering-wheel paddles, then press the central starter button, and—whuummff! The deep thrumming exhaust note, which returns beyond 4000 rpm, is wonderfully exciting. The electrohydraulic gearshift—basically, the same as Ferrari’s—changes down smartly, blipping the throttle automatically, but upshifts can feel hesitant. The S is clearly more eager in the midrange and goes very fast indeed on a wide open road but, oddly, feels less fierce than the original Vanquish.

In the flesh a Vanquish is an impressive sight, the squat body giving it a purposeful, almost menacing, expression. But big on the outside does not translate to big on the inside. The front seats are more comfortable than a Ferrari’s and more luxurious than a Porsche’s but headroom is limited. Boot space is also restricted.

This car was also the official 007 car for the movie Die Another Day. Pierce Brosnan owns one Vanquish V12 S. “The Vanquish S V12 is a combination of state-of-the-art aerospace technology and hand craftsmanship,” and “It is the flagship model of a confident and growing company that is proud to display its heritage but is also determined to make the most technologically modern and inspirational sports cars in the world”, says a car expert.

Complete Specs of the Aston Martin V-12 Vanquish S from www. caranddriver.com.

VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 2- or 2+2-passenger, 2-door coupe

BASE PRICE: $255,000

ENGINE TYPE: DOHC 48-valve V-12, aluminum block and heads, port fuel injection
Displacement: 362 cu in, 5935cc
Power (SAE net): 520 bhp @ 7000 rpm
Torque (SAE net): 426 lb-ft @ 5000 rpm

TRANSMISSION: 6-speed manual with automated shifting and clutch

DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 105.9 in
Length: 183.7 in Width: 75.7 in Height: 51.9 in
Curb weight: 4150 lb

C/D-ESTIMATED PERFORMANCE:
Zero to 60 mph: 4.2 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 10.1 sec
Standing 1/4-mile: 12.6 sec @ 115 mph

PROJECTED FUEL ECONOMY (C/D est):
EPA city driving: 11 mpg
EPA highway driving: 18 mpg

Aston Martin DBS Touchtronic 2--A Bonding experience

The 2009 Aston Martin DBS Touchtronic 2 is both a GT and a sports car.

Unlike everyone else who's ever written about an Aston Martin, we promise to get through this DBS review without mentioning James Bond.

Oops.

OK, forget it. Suffice it to say that the DBS that Bond, James Bond, drove in Quantum of Solace--while sporting the same 510-hp V12 as our car--did not have this fine new automatic transmission. The man who is licensed to kill had to shift gears manually, while we, licensed only to irritate, got to use the new Touchtronic 2 six-speed automatic.

Touchtronic 2 is a beefed-up version of the ZF tranny found in the DB9, the 470-hp V12-powered Aston one model down from the DBS in the Aston hierarchy. The final drive has been shortened from 3.15:1 to 3.46:1, which, along with the extra power and a recalibrated shift map, lowers the car's 0-to-62-mph time by half a second, from 4.8 to 4.3 seconds. The 4.3 is the same as for the manual six-speed.

The new transmission operates via big, silly push buttons on the center console, with D being farthest from the driver of our left-hand-drive car. Even the big pop-up shifter knob of the Jaguar XF, or the J-gates on all of those earlier Jags, is more ergonomic than this. Punch the D, and the car is in drive mode--powerful but not, initially, as exciting as we expected, more like a GT than a sports car.

But if you pull back on either of the paddle shifts, you instantly get more control. Pushing the console-mounted sport button for the transmission quickens shifts and throttle response. The sport button for the electronic suspension really gets you flying.

When the DBS was introduced last year, Aston boss Ulrich Bez said it would be up to us to decide whether the car was a GT or a sports car. With this new automatic, we have the answer. If you leave the electronically controlled suspension and the Touchtronic 2 transmission in their default soft settings, you have a GT car, comfortable for cruising to work and home again without being beaten up but with plenty of power from the V12 engine when you want it. If you move both buttons to their sport settings, va-va-va-voom, you have a sports car.

On the potholed streets of Hollywood, we had it all on soft and drove along quite comfortably. Once we rose above the city and turned onto winding Mulholland Drive, we hit both buttons. You can feel the throttle increase as soon as you do this, like a small shot of nitrous oxide. The suspension tightens, and suddenly, you're taking corners with gleeful abandon, dodging the black plastic trash cans of the rich and famous. Once through the Hollywood Hills and back to civilized suburbia, we hit the buttons and returned to comfortable cruising. If not for the svelte, sculptural body in which we rode, no one would have suspected that we were licensed to do anything but drive.


SPECS
ON SALE: Now

BASE PRICE: $273,000

DRIVETRAIN: 5.9-liter, 510-hp, 420-lb-ft V12; RWD, six-speed automatic

CURB WEIGHT: 3,737 lb

0-62 MPH: 4.3 sec (mfr)

FUEL ECONOMY: N/A