I agree you don't need 700 bhp to have fun, but who's to say 700 bhp wouldn't be more fun than 500 bhp? Imagine what it'd be like on the highway to drop a gear and punch it in a 700 bhp car (traction control being there just in case). It puts a grin on my face just thinking about it. My thought is don't knock it till you try it. Ten or twenty years ago, people thought that 500 bhp was way more power than anyone needed on the road, but it's now common even in high-end sports sedans.

I agree that Aston's cars would benefit from less weight, but that's not to say that they couldn't use more power also. The reality is that a luxurious car like the Vantage is not ever going to weigh around 3,000 lbs. All the luxury is heavy and carbon fiber is really expensive. So, there's a limit on how much they can reduce weight. Plus, there's something to be said for raw power. Lighter weight and less power are great on a twisty mountain road, but in normal day-to-day driving, it's great to have a ton of power that snaps your head back when you press the pedal to the floor, ala my comments above.

In addition, I think Aston needs higher power figures for marketing and reputation purposes. You can argue the numbers are just bragging rights, but don't think for a second that this means that the numbers are not really important. Everyone else is in the horsepower competition. Aston can stick it's nose in the air and act like it's above it all, but that's really just a cop-out and won't help them sell cars.

 

What Aston needs is some new technology. The new Porsche 918(?) is where the future is headed. Fast, very fast and efficient.