I totally agree with flinder, and think silver997 is also correct - the elegant and cohesive design that makes Aston special is pretty much thrown in the trash. The dealers are REQUIRED to order a certain number up front, so filling a years of sales can be an illusion. There is but a single pre-order here in Minneapolis from what I understand in orange. People are buying the DB11's (somewhat) here because at least they convey a bit of elegance. The Minneapolis market has a ton of exotic cars as well as many other forms of expensive collector and hobby cars now with two autoplexes! The $100K Teslas are commonplace, I'll see several a day. One Vantage order is not impressive - you would think with the press saying it's sold out people would be on a pre-order wait list. I'll bet every rear engine Corvette is sold out.

 

Think of how the previous Vantage (or DB9) looked at launch vs. how it looks now at its final iteration. Aston needs to be able to evolve the design over its life cycle. How much of that is done up front, I do not know.

 

Nothing a couple of $6 spray cans of black "Plasti Dip" can't fix, coupled with a little elbow grease .

OOH, just noticed my post count (666)...could that be an omen? $6/can??? AM's future?

 

Wouldn't it be interesting if AM took our comments seriously and cleaned up the front and rear of the new Vantage prior to the production examples appearing at the dealers.

 

I hope they do this.

 

Puposefully did not look at for several days, a common practice in my line of work, and no change, not growing on me, so sad. I hope they sell a ton in other markets, for the sake of the marque.

 

I've only owned my '15 Vantage GT for a year and a half (purchased new), so I don't have the experience of most folks here. Having said that, it is a shock going from the gorgeous, classic design of the old model to this new one. BTW, @programmatore, thanks for the pictures posted, they are much better than any others I've seen. Nevertheless...I too don't care for the grill or the headlights, or those pimply little exhaust pipes. I don't understand the current trend of gaping maws on the front of all these new cars from many different marques. Maybe I am just too old, and it's a conscious decision on AM's part to go after the under 40 (or maybe at least under 50) crowd.

The good news is that the things I don't like can easily be fixed without a complete redesign, so maybe things will change for the better in a year or two. As for performance, I'm sure the new one will be quicker and probably more efficient, but I would miss my naturally aspirated V8.

The thing they can't (won't) fix is the big price increase--it's pushing the car into a realm where there's some pretty stiff competition, and the (IMO) more generic, modern racer-boy looks (not saying that in a derogatory way!) mean it doesn't stand apart aesthetically the way the previous model did.

Just my .02.

 

I suspect the large grill opening design might be to accommodate additional cooling for the automatic transmissions?
If this was the case IMHO Aston failed spectacularly. They should have handled the front design to handle the cooling issues differently.

A recent redesign of the Corvette to handle 700 plus horsepower shows how GM redesigned the front to accommodate what I believe are additional radiators.

 

Shopping for a DB9 and so for kicks put up side-by-side pics of DB9 vs DB11 on my monitor and asked my wife which she thought looked better. She said DB11 - looks more modern, loved the hood vents. Thought the DB9 looked too rounded. Also showed her hood vents on the DB9, but didn't sway the opinion.

Sooo, then decided to put up side by side pics on my monitor of v12v and new vantage. Same color. Asked my wife which she preferred...the new Vantage, without hesitation. It looked "sexier" and "more modern".

At this point, I am floored. I point out the front grill, and she says "yeah, wtf is that, but I still like it better."

Demographics/preferences-wise, wife knows nothing about cars, about to turn 40, thought my '91 NSX was ugly, but thought a 360 Spider was gorgeous.

Guess we'll never have the same taste in cars other than agreement that our 2018 Odyssey is pretty awesome. Happily, she is still letting me get the "uglier" DB9.

 

@silentbob - you pretty much summed it up; the new Vantage is sexier and modern. 15 years from now, the next Vantage will make this one seem a classic.

 

As soon as MY wife saw the new Vantage in the flesh, she immediately wanted to leave - thought it was the ugliest car she ever saw, did not want to sit in it, was very upset with the direction - thought all of the elegance that made Aston so special was gone. In particular she hated the raised lettering. the grill, the lines, and the mishmash of design elements that were no longer cohesive. My wife is also in design and quite the artist - she hated it. Personally the outside is not a deal killer for me - I thought the overall lines ok, the side gill ok, the rear is weird, but ok, the tires fill out the wheel wells much better than the previous models (that's however an easy fix with aftermarket wheels), but the interior is simply awful - no way around that.

 

I must admit it is growing on me. When Audi went to their "big mouth" grille, I hated it. Now it is normal and when I see an older one I am reminded how dated it looks. In fact there have been multiple car launches over the years that I have hated initially and grown to accept or even like the new looks after a while. Already when I see pics or an old Vantage in the flesh I am beginning to think how dated they look. Don't get me wrong, they still look gorgeous especially the later versions and ones with nicer wheels etc but when I see a bog standard Vantage (Not S, or V12 etc) with the standard wheels it just looks....a bit standard and a bit old. Not classic....just old (Although these cars will age well and begin to be real classics one day in the future - just not yet).

 

I had a chance to see the new vantage up close and person at the Dallas launch. I liked it better in person for sure. I really liked the interior, it felt comfy and special to me. The tech buttons in the middle of the console are a little odd but I’m ok with it. As for the exterior, I love the side view, very aggressive. The front view could grow on me, but the green is awful, lights could be bigger. The thing I really did not like is the rear end. It has no definition, looks clunky and the mesh is hideous. The model they are showing lists at 210k, I think that is way too high for this car. It can be had for 180k properly optioned.

They had three Pagani in the shop including a very rare BC, very impressive...

 

While I agree with your Audi comments, somehow I doubt that the new Vantage will follow suit. Since it's introduction I have studied the various photos carefully and admittedly like many of it's features. As I have previously stated, imo the front and rear styling is unacceptable. If AM opts to clean up these aspects of the new Vantage, they will most certainly have a winner.

 

Jag has gone through a similar styling update across the board. The current line up looks nothing like pensioner Jags of old, but still look like Jags.