I’m a happy new owner of a 2007 V8 Vantage with the sport and power packages. It's joining my WRX, G37x, Rx-7 and Elise in the herd. I’ve made a routine of starting off ownership of a new vehicle with a description of my driving impressions, so here we go.

Let me get the obvious thing out of the way first. This car is on the short list of the all time best looking vehicles ever to sit on rubber donuts. If I’m not driving, I just want to stare at it and take in all the perfect proportions and shapes. Like the e-type, the Miura, the 250 GTO, this car’s shape will never grow old.

The interior just feels very special. The leather over everything, alcantara headliner, the stylized gauges, metal center stack *****, ring lit pushbuttons, the the smell and feel of everything make you feel coddled. The seats have a lot of adjustment and are very comfortable. I think they hold me in better than any other leather seats I’ve had. At 6’2”, I’m used to being short on headroom in sports cars, but there’s plenty of headroom here. I like to sit low in cars to maximize the sensation of speed and you feel very enclosed in this car. The dashboard is really tall, the windows are high up and short. It’s not as severe as a modern Camaro, but a similar sensation. For me, I would like more outward visibility. The Lotus Elise gives a great sense of the car’s corners, for example, with low cowl, raised fenders at the front and a visible rear deck. It doesn’t hurt that the Elise is a very small car, but even a Boxster does a more satisfying job of telling you where the corners are. The exterior of the Vantage drops away out of sight immediately. Space is good with the parcel shelf but hidden storage space is minimal. There’s not much extra space in the glove box when the owner’s manual is in it.

I have the “premium” sound system and it sounds great. It’s loud, clear, and adjustable enough so if base is wanted, it can be provided. The controls and interface, however, suck. The buttons are small, it’s hard to do anything without staring at the console, and it won’t play my ipod. Even the bluetooth won’t pair with an ipod touch for playing music. Luckily, as we know, there’s a remedy for this.

Modern cars are easy to drive, they have highly boosted brakes, the clutch pedal is light, the steering is easy, and the shifter (when there is one) slides into it’s gates with a flick of the wrist… The Vantage is the opposite of all this. Every control that the driver uses to motivate the car has significant heft and feel. And it’s refreshing. The feeling of actually being in control of a significant amount of weight and power allows for a connection to the mechanical device that isn’t possible in most other modern cars. The clutch is very stiff and the brakes take a good shove to bite hard. The shifter is very notchy and takes a lot of effort to get into the gate. Especially 1st gear. It’s not going to make it the fastest car around a track or the most pleasant car for stop-and-go commuting, but it does make for a very engaging experience. There’s a lot of “personality” here.

I’m actually very impressed with the feedback through the steering of the car. For a vehicle with so much mass over some very large front tires, there is some very real feedback of road texture and available grip level. It’s not going to match the Elise, but it’s at least on par with the modern hydraulic Porsches but with more weight.

My car has the sport pack suspension. Its ride is very stiff but impressively not harsh. This is clearly not going to be the best suspension set up for GT to do long cruises but it does give the car some very serious responsiveness. Not to say that the sport suspension isn’t good for highway driving, because it’s perfectly acceptable, but you do feel the road so bad pavement does make a muted impact. The chassis is extremely solid so the car feels very planted and confident on both curvy roads and on straight stretches. The stiff suspension and chassis combine to provide immediate turn-in responsiveness, there’s no suspension settling to wait for after a directional change. So far I’ve only been able to drive it in the wet, so I can’t comment much on grip, but turn-in feels good and it’s easy to balance the car through a turn with the throttle.

There’s also clearly a lot of sound insulation. The cabin is relatively quiet, road noise is minimal for a car with tires like these and a suspension so stiff. There aren’t any rattles or squeaks to speak of.

The 4.3 engine got a good deal of criticism for not being as powerful as it should be. Power is one of those things that you get used to, so maybe it’s my lack of familiarity or it’s the extra 20hp from the power pack, but the car feels very powerful to me. I have no problem breaking traction at the rear of the car from a start or while taking a tight turn. The engine is happily willing to spin up to redline, where ever that is (there’s no redline on the tach), which makes it pretty fun to rev.

I’m excited to be starting off my ownership experience with this car. I’m already enjoying it for it’s capabilities and uniqueness.

 

Always nice to hear the informed opinion of another satisfied new owner. Welcome to the club so to speak.
Now we'll wait and see how long until the urge for a level up kicks in. I lasted 2 years before I had to have the S (V8). The original Vantage was a fine car and it's been improved upon immensely while not giving up a drop of the original spirit. Wait a year or two, then drive an S or a GT. It's a fun journey.

 

As far as ride quality, I switched to pilot super sports and it made a huge difference... (2015 GT). Also, while the 4.3 has less power than the 4.7, you are also driving it in the upper rpm range to get the most out of the engine, thus it sounds so much better to drive than the 4.7 where for similar performance your not pushing it as hard, and not opening up the exhaust valves as much. I thought the 4.3 sounded more like a Ferrari, and my 4.7 more Muscle car.

 

Welcome to the club! I had an exige before mine, and this car is very friendly on the limits, because of the mass you can feel the limits coming way before the lotus (whereas the lotus scares you because the limit never comes haha), and on the limit it is every bit as communicative and intuitive as my exige.

 

Congrats and welcome!

There's no redline but you will hit fuel cutoff, so keep that in mind if you haven't found it yet. Some Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires will make the drive even better, and adding exhaust and tune will really wake the car up (be ready for sticker shock, though - price-to-HP is painful on these cars compared to your others).

Nice herd you've got there, I've had a 2.5RS, WRX, STi, and FD3S myself

 

Thanks all.


IbisRider, I hope you're wrong I don't want to have an itch to upgrade so soon. I generally find that I prefer the 1st gen of a platform so I hope I don't fall in love with the newer models.


Prefurbia, I will sacrifice power for engine character every time. Gotta love an engine that likes to rev.


mkzhang, we PMed over at Lotustalk (me73, this user name is from my Boxster ownership days). Thanks for the tip on the buyer's guide. I won't give up the Elise. It's a completely different animal, much more pure sports car.


telum01, you've had all the Subarus that there are to have Love the FD, mine's an FB with a lot of upgrades.

 

Welcome! Great writeup. I'm glad you like the steering feel - I think this is one area that Aston consistently scores over the competition, especially now that everyone is moving to electric assist.

Is your car Slate Blue? It's hard to tell from the pic but it looks a bit too blue for that colour.

Glad you plan to keep your Elise, too.

 

Oh, it arrives eventually, and it can be really interesting...

 

Beautiful car. Welcome to the Aston World!

 

It is slate blue. Pictures can be deceiving but my G37 is also slate blue and is quite a different shade. There's much more blue in the Aston.


IMO steering feel is the key to making a car fun to drive at any speed. I found that my Boxster really didn't come alive until is was moving pretty fast but the Lotus is always entertaining. The more information you get, the more fun the car will be and a communicative steering wheel is a mainline of communication.

 

My last Aston was Slate Blue/Baltic Blue - it is indeed a beautiful colour! Let's see some interior pics - looks like it might be blue as well?

 

It's dark brown with tan inserts. I typically prefer a dark shade of gray or a lighter tan interior but this is quite nice looking in person.

 

Wow, what a great color combo. You and I have a similar backstory. I had a 2005 ELISE that I ordered new ( I gave it to my daughter for a collage graduation present). I also had a 2011 Evora that I also ordered new. I loved both of my Lotus's, the Evora I sold after 5 1/2 years of ownership.
In August of 2014 I bought a 2007 Vantage coupe with a stick. It had only 2800 miles from new. I purchased it from my Lotus, Ford, Aston Martin dealer. I Had told them for quite a while if they ever got a used Vantage coupe with the stick to let me know and I would look at it. It is Merlot with black and cherry leather interior.
After I bought my Vantage, I added the Power Pack, Aston Martin sport exhaust and 2009 split spoke 19" wheels. As others have stated, going with Aston Martin performance upgrade parts can be expensive. But it's allowed me to maintain the use of my extended warranty which I just extended for another year and have the peace of mind knowing it was engineered for my car.
Over the summer while up in Monterey, I was able to drive the new Aston Martin Vantage GT with a stick. Overall the car was better in every respect than my car. It is quicker and has more powerful breaks better handling sharper steering response and upgraded interior. Is it worth the extra $40-$60,000 for me to purchase the new GT? That's up for debate for the time being I'll stick with what I have. I have over 5600 miles on my Vantage at this point.
I also added an iPod upgrade, it was not the Aston Martin system as I had mine installed before it came out, it's a worthwhile upgrade to do.
So fare it has been very reliable with the exception of a new rear shock under warranty, seat heater recall, and the fuel fill door recall.
I've driven the car up to Monterey once Phoenix once for a driving school and my wife and I are just about ready to go to Monterey for our anniversary in February in the Aston Martin once more. It is a great car.
Ron

 

That interior looks great! I've never seen the brown/cream combination before - bitter chocolate and sandstorm?? I had parliament green and sandstorm on my V8V and I think the dark/light combo really adds to the tailored, special feel of an Aston.

 

Congrats on the car...can't wait to see the car in person...Its absolutely gorgeous.