Well after 5 short months my V12 has arrived. The car made it to the dealer and is being prepped for pick-up tomorrow. These are cell shots so my apologies ahead of time. As you can imagine, I will have a couple of hundred more over the weekend along with reviews and thoughts.

 

Nice car congratulations!

 

2 thumbs up

 

Fantastic car! What a great looking Aston. Congrats!

 

x 2 !!!

 

Awesome!!

 

Wow, can't wait to see some more pics! That's really nice!!

 

AWESOME!!! Congratulations! Can't wait to see more of her.

 

Awesome color combination! I just wet my pants.

 

Allen121-

Way TMI!

 

I'm sure you'll have impressions next time you're online. I saw one today when i had my car in for service. Drive in good health...

 

amazing, and such a beautiful color combo. congrats!

 

Ok, I picked the car up at at 3:00 with 50 miles. The car now has 225. I'm sorry there aren't more pics but I drove the car until rush hour here on the east and it got too dark. First, I must say that driving this car makes me appreciate the V8 for everything that it is. The V12 on the other hand is a whole other animal. This is not a better V8. It is a completely different car with very little in common with the other vantage. The throttle response especially in the sport mode is amazing if not violent. I had just gotten decent with the sportsshift and was not mentally prepared for the power translation to the 6 speed. It was in the low 40's and don't think that the tires really got warm enough because traction seemed to be an issue. The rear wheels will spin and smoke if you're not careful. I'm sure that my rust didn't help. Once your going, the car wants to go and I mean go. Every time I let off of the gas the car seems to growl and pull back a bit. Back on the throttle and you're immediately thrown back. Once your moving, as with other astons, the higher revs and mid gears are where the car really shines. The speedo jumps and the pavement shrinks. This car eats up highway and you find yourself needing to brake before you finish the gear. In fact, even though I was moving back an forth between 60 and 100 I wasn't gettng through the gears because I was getting on top of other cars. This is my first car with Ceramic brakes and I must say, I am surprised that they offer such good balance. They are definitely responsive but you can ease into them during slow travel and not feel that snap neck you get from other CC braking systems. The handling also offers a better balance than the V8. I felt at ease moving in and out of traffic and also moving slow in my driveway and parking lots. I always found the V8's steering a bit heavy going slow but this is not the case. The only real negative on day 1 is traction. As I said earlier, I am definitely rusty with the stick in a high performance car. My last 500HP 6 speed was a 996TT in 2005. I think that with some practice and warmer tires some of this will subside. The interior is as you would expect, impeccable. I know this is a long text but I could have easily written double. I will update more as I get time to drive and I will try to snap some pics in the Sun tomorrow or Sunday. Thanks for all of the kind words.

 

I took these early this morning after the sun came up. I have always liked this color but it really loves the sun.

 

Great write-up and great pics, Jay! Sounds like you are really enjoying it. If you find traction to be an ongoing issue, you can go wider on the stock wheels. I have the same size wheels as you (19x9 f, 19x11 r) and currently fit 305s on the rear, but Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 265 f and 325 r will fit on these wheel sizes.