I live ~10 min from Lake Forest Sports Cars (LFSC).
They are no longer a Aston Martin Dealership. I kinda think Ferrari "nudged" LFSC in to dropping Aston Martin and Lotus, but that is just my guess.

LFSC sold the Aston Martin and Lotus product lines to a new dealership in Glenview - I believe somewhere near the Glen.

 

oh that blows, was looking forward to seeing some cool new Aston stuff at this year's concours d'elegance

apologies for veering off topic, I'll let you all know how the new Vantage is when I give er a test drive

 

Now that we know the Vantage look no better than the f-type.. time to move on to the next big thing... mid-engine!



Rendering by: https://www.topspeed.com

 

I think Aston is setting the Vantage up to be the Ferrari Portofino/California competitor and this will be the McLaren/488 competitor, which is a change in role for the Vantage. I doubt the mid engine car will look anything like that, but if it does, it will kill the Vantage, even at 150% of the price.

 

There was no "nudge" about it. Ferrari only sells their really exclusive cars through Ferrari-only dealers... LFSC wanted to sell the really exclusive Ferraris, so they had to sell off their other marques. (And for what it's worth, that kind of behavior is literally why I'd never buy a new Ferrari.) Their last "Concours d'Elegance" show only awarded Ferraris, too.

The new Aston dealership up there is Glenview Luxury Imports.

 

It's located by Waukegan and Golf, where Audi used to be.

 

Finally had opportunity to see the new vantage in person. It is unique but in a derivative way and more so than pictures communicated It has bits and pieces/nuances from Toyota 2000 GT, Opel GT, Pontiac LeMans and GTO, as well as Jaguar and models from it's own past. Color and wheels play a critical role in initial visual impact on this car I suspect. IMHO it is a little boy toyish, perhaps intentional to drive people like me to the DB11. Did not drive as it was in a parking lot in North Jersey and just happened to spy it driving by. It is an almost clean break from the previous iteration, following the oft proven formula for model remake success.

 

During my 20 min drive in the new Vantage at AM of Troy my instructor/guide, a retired Brit racer, now an AML employee, told me the car weighed 100# less than the old Vantage. I said, "That is hard to believe as the new car is larger in every dimension, wider, taller and longer."..He claimed the new unibody structure had eliminated the inefficient extruded components of old and was now being assembled entirely of aluminum stampings.

AM has not, to my knowledge, announced a driveable weight, only a dry weight (no fluids) of 1530kg/3366#. However credible magazine sources are weighing cars loaned to them for road test articles.
-Autocar's Vantage weighed a chubby 1720kg/3784#.
-EVO's weighed a similar 1739kg/3826#.

EVO's extensive 18 page analysis compared its Vantage with:
Porsche Carrera 4 GTS, 1536kg/3379#.
Audi R8 V10 Plus, 1671kg/3676#.
McLaren 540C, 1465kg/3223#.

EVO, on its Verdict page asks, "why oh why is it (the Vantage) so heavy".

AML, come clean, declare a real, driveable car weight!

 

Got a chance to test drive the new Vantage finally, I totally love it. Handles like its on rails, that initial turn in is just amazing... it is way more powerful... light years more powerful, all that torque my goodness! Don't have to worry about getting smoked at stop lights by crossover SUV's anymore lol... The ride quality is a million times better than my 2010 with a sports pack... I had it in track mode and it rode WAY less harsh than my current vantage.

I think it sounds really good too. Its different than our NA engines but for a twin turbo'd engine I think it sounds pretty good. I definitely enjoy the ability to pop the exhaust whenever I feel like it

Not sure why so many all are hating on the interior its a million times more comfortable for a tall person like me (I'm 6'6") and the seats are fantastic, the bezel free rear view mirror looks like a piece of art and the technology in it is a million times better than our old vantages, everything is still that very nice aston quality, metal, leather, glass, alloy, etc.

Also definitely gets a lot more attention than our older ones, it is clearly a unique car and people with cell phones were all over the place as I was test driving it, the massive sterling silver badge on the back probably helps too

It is definitely not as old school as our 13 year old cars are but they needed to do something to make a modern Vantage compete with all these other sports cars out there and I think it is a pretty awesome machine worthy of the Aston badge!

Thanks again to Norbert at Downers Grove Aston for the ride, If I wasn't going through a million life changes right now I would highly consider speccing one out for myself. For now I will have to restrain myself. Also pardon my probably incoherent writing, as I am very distracted today!

 

If getting "smoked at stop lights" is a worry, then an Aston was never the right car for you. And if the several things you mention are a "million times better", then you must have the biggest POS Aston ever made, so you might as well just drive it off a cliff...

The old gen Vantage was for people who would never think about being seen in a Lamebo, whereas the new one speaks to those who'd cross shop between the two.

 

Its not a worry at all, but is it not kind of embarrassing for an exotic car to be slower than most crossover SUV's these days... is the tech in the old gen vantage not total rubbish? And it IS a million times more comfortable than my old gen vantage... have you driven the new one yet? I get it you hate it for whatever reason but sheesh man, get a grip!

 

As a V12S owner (my 5th Vantage), after my test drive , I'd agree the seats are more comfortable but then I've had several cars that for reasonable $$$ had the seats redone for added comfort, so that's an easy change. Other than that as far as performance, unless I was a street racer, who cares - the older Vantage is more visceral, more emotional to drive, and it's elegant. There are two 2019 Vantages at Morries for sale - at $186K and $207K - not exactly flying off the showroom floors. Since Aston boasts of how many are presold, and the make the dealers order a certain number up front, how many are actual sales? There was only ONE gentlemans sports car on the market - only one elegant - now there is none. Plenty of Bad-Boy racer options, far better than the Vantage for look at me choices. The Corvette Rear engine car is around the corner - end of sales for the Vantage when that happens, assuming they don't screw that up.

 

Sorry, but there are so many aftermarket options to increase power because, they could use more power. And even if they had more power, they could always use MORE POWER!

If you just want to cruise in your DB9 at 55 in the slow lane is your absolute right, but many of us would much rather be in the caravan doing 87 is the left lane [or doing 87 in the right blowing by the caravan in the left stuck behind the moron doing 55 who owns the lane]. And getting dusted by an SUV at a red light is embarrassing, if you don't care, it means you've never been dusted by an SUV!

I'd love the new engine in my body. I'd love the new seats in my body. I'd love how tight and quiet [no rattles, squeaks etc] the Wolf is in my body, because i love my car, but I would love another 100HP [make it 200] and those new seats are extremely comfortable, but i'm no fan of their "look" or the rest of the interior. I love my analog gauges and the backwards tach.

The Wolf will make a nice replacement for mine in another 80,000 miles though!

 

Case in point - the bad boy racer buyer: A 2019 Aston Martin Vantage was Seized doing 98 MPH in a 25 MPH School zone. The 31 year old (bad boy) man was charged with stunt driving, dangerous driving, and speeding in the city of Vaughn (Toronto?). I have a feeling that this is the typical buyer of the new Vantage and many more stories like this to come. The fine will be between $2,000 and $10,000 - license suspended for two years and 6 months in jail.

 

Yea, but that's Canada LOL

I got a 75 in a 25 as my first ticket when I was 17, in a 1965 Chrysler New Yorker, 4 door. Not exactly your bad boy racer type