http://www.astonmartin.com/en/cars/t.../v12-vantage-s

 

Beautiful!!! But having upgraded to a V12 a few months ago...1. Aaarghh!!! 2. I'm glad it has paddles....still makes the now 'old' V12 a bit special.

 

Just got ahold of Zach here in Dallas. Will be coming to the US as a 2015 model....so we'll be drooling for a while here on this side of the pond.

 

Perfect- It will take me that long to come up with the cash... Or i can just move to Europe

 

Wow, after reading the technical specs on it ... This is the PERFECT Aston.

I may get the V8s for now until 2015 then get the V12S when it comes out. I am curious to see just how fast the ASM3 is, I am guessing they finally caught up to Lamborghini (which uses the same graziano gearboxes). If so, it will be the perfect Aston. I am glad they are not using the dual clutch transmission (although it is a twin plate single clutch), I actually prefer the single clutches more than the dual clutches, as they are more fun and exciting to drive. Also, clutch replacements and etc will be significantly cheaper. I think the main reason they probably did this is because of the V12s massive torque (and they don't have the R&D funds to use a dual clutch)

The techs state it's a 70millisecond shift. For comparison the gallardo is about 80ms, and the aventador is 49ms (too harsh and abrupt to be honestly).

 

I couldn't agree more with this. The single clutches still have life to them where the double clutch are simply too good. My Scud shifts at 60ms I think and the visceral snap you get is awesome. Having that in the V12S will be awesome! Time to call Aston DC and get on the list

 

If Bez wants this in manual for his personal use, will AM make one for him?

Humor me a bit here. What if...they produce 10 of these in stick shifts for the US market? How much more will you pay?

 

The manual is dead ... Sorry to say it. If you want a manual just get a used one for under $150k. You can always make more power by doing a few mods here and there to squeeze out.

They did ~1200 manuals and they won't do anymore (nor should they from a business standpoint. Is it possible they may do an SP10 v12 down the road... It's possible, but that may not be until 2017-2018. And by then used V12s will be sub $120k (if not lower).

Either way there is no point in justifying the manual, theres just no business case for it anymore unfortunately. With that said ... ASM sounds like the perfect single clutch system.

I love the new wheels and am very curious to try out the new Gen3 ceramic brakes as well.

 

Didn't care too much for the new wheels myself. They remind me of the original Vantage wheel design. I would rather have a nice set of the HREs that DoubleLow7 has on his V12V

…and don't even get me started on the new slat-less grille a la CC100.

 

I like the grille less front, I would put lipstick paint on it.

 

Raw AM VS...!

 

More info from auto log.com:

"Shifting all that power to the wheels is a seven-speed automated manual transmission. Further honed from its current use in the V8 Vantage S (it's also the 'box from Aston Martin's FIA GT race cars), it gains a gear over the six-speed in the V12 Vantage yet is 55 pounds lighter."

Very interesting, did not realize its the same box out of the FIA GT cars, very cool. Also, it appears the weight reduction comes from the 7speed gearbox, which probably means that there won't ever be another V12 manual as it is a totally different gearbox and would require recertification of the car (cost prohibitive).

 

Damn!!! I'd drive myself crazy configuring that car! Almost tempted despite the fact that it's an ASM. I figure, come 2015, I'll just be working on Gekko to get a good price on his V12V while he's tearing his hair out worrying about which stitching shade to pick for his V12VS

 

... and wasn't the original Vanquish (or the S model) spec'd at 205 mph?

 

This is pretty exciting, finally a more modern engine, suspension, and transmission! I gotta get one!!!!!!!!!!!!!