You have the most Aston of the new generation - beautiful, and an Aston engine - it's just that the other models really need to come up to the DBS standards to compete. Hopefully the new brass at Aston understands this. It has nothing to do with age.

 

I'm under 30 so my opinion may be...different, but I got my VH V8V because the interior feels far superior to any Porsche, and the styling is timeless. The V8 sounds good, but other than that I would say the things that are involved in moving the car leave something to be desired.

With that in mind, this is what I think of the current AM lineup:
-Interiors look like trash, full stop.
-I like the Vantage's exterior styling a lot.
-The DB11 looks good from some angles and not so much from other angles. They kind of dropped the ball IMO.
-I understand no one buys manual transmissions anymore but their "commitment" to M/Ts didn't quite pan out.
-The engines are OK, but they need to rev higher to differentiate themselves from cheaper luxury cars.

I feel like considering the MSRP of a RWD Audi R8 V10 or Cayman GT4RS is pretty close to the Vantage, it's maybe a little difficult to ask for some crazy Ferrari-like engine AND an ultra-premium interior at the same time, but I think given how ugly the Jag F-Type's interior is, I would probably give a hypothetical 6 cylinder AM Vantage a chance if they could get that timeless luxurious interior down and offered a M/T. I would be okay with having a MB M256 or BMW S58 if they can rev it past 8000rpm.

 

Well, they panned out for customer demand. Plenty of buyers got closed out of an opportunity to order of a manual Vantage. Many buyers were waiting for the DB11 V8 manual that never happened. DB11 V8 manual would've been a massive hit. Why Aston did move ahead with more manuals is beyond me. The ratio of buyers for the Lotus Emira is quite swayed to the manual.

 

I would have taken a hard look at a manual DB11 roadster. As it is I have not yet been tempted by the Benz motors, but that could have swayed me.

 

FWIW, Hackett's flagship store in London is still stocked with AM merch though mostly AMR branding. Vantage GT3s are still involved in customer racing.

Looks like Moers is staying. Maybe 2022 is his final?

Exactly. Never owned a Merc and felt that the M177 in the Vantage was somewhat muted. Test drove a AMG GT R and just like that I got that instead.

But that said, I don't mind having a car with a different engine manufacturer. Lotus/Toyota collab is a good one. So is Ariel/Honda. But the caveat of course is Toyota or Honda doesn't quite make a car like Lotus or Ariel. Pagani/AMG collab works.

If for a moment AM Vantage is a mid engine car with a M177. Now, that is mighty interesting.

So yes all AM models should have its own engine in its current state.

 

Simple: The manual is gone from Aston because of Tobias Moers (along with Stroll). Period. It was Andy Palmer who said they'd continue offering a manual. Moers doesn't like them. AMG never offered one. It wasn't profitable enough. Oh, and in case this wasn't sufficiently clear in my previous comments , Moers doesn't have the slightest clue what makes an Aston an Aston.

V12Vin, yes, Pagani-AMG works. That's what it has always been -- Pagani has never made its own engine. Aston, conversely, has over 100 years of history and heritage, and of making its own engines.

 

Wait, did someone say that the F-Type Jag's interior is "ugly"?

It's not as luxuriously gorgeous as my 2016 Vantage's interior, an admittedly high bar to clear, but the F-Type's cockpit is a VERY nice place to inhabit.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose.

 

^ Agree, the F-Type interior is much nicer than the new Vantage, but not as nice as the previous Vantage.

 

Great thread, and great insight from everybody. Probably the most interesting read on this board in years.

I think we're all forgetting that going public had alot of effect on how the company is run. When it was private you only had to loose enough money until the next zillionaire enthusiast would come along and buy the company to "save" it, again. Now they have shareholders to answer to, it's become more and more about the bottom line.

They need to be in F1, and Le Mans, and everywhere they can. Win on Sunday sell on Monday, and even if you don't win just the name kept alive in front of millions is worth every penny of the venture in marketing.

From personal experience there are alot of problems with the VH architecture, and that is in all the bonding. You can get hit in most any car and a little damage won't be a total, but on a VH, you're totaled. Great quote from Karosserie, "The British and the French should never be allowed to build cars. Yea, they're beautiful, but they glue everything together. As soon as one gets hit nobody knows how to fix it!" [explicatives removed] And if they do, it costs a fortune and the insurance companies just close the book on it.

My take, only the Superleggera is truly an inspired Aston of the current generation. They took the DB11 and made it beautiful, aggressive, but still elegant in its own way. Still too racey for me, but I'm in that old school like Perfurbia.

As soon as they started putting ASTON MARTIN in big letters on the back it was a telling sign. Understated elegance was replaced with in your face branding, and in your face design. Gone are the days where nobody knew what it was until they got close enough to read the small print on the winged badge. Now it's just another gaudy addition to a gaudy rear end.

 

Yup. I went in ready to order a month before all the official announcements hit the press. I was told no. Seeing how well P cars do with manual and the coming Emira, I hope they consider throwing a 6sp. in the '23 refresh.

 

Thanks all for your opinions. I want to buy an Aston Martin 2023 and that is why I am searching for its reviews online and I am glad I found your post. When I was searching for it online, I also found an app to get a loan till payday and now if I face a financial problem with buying this car then I know whom to ask for it and from where I easily can get a loan.

 

I agree and this is easily solved . . . I only wish I could get rid of the bumperettes without some bodywork. Oh, well; this mod just cost me . . .


. . . a little dental floss. Cheers, KH

 

And looks much better for it, but it's goes with the new design ethos.

The bumperettes are required for the US, easily solved, move to Germany

 

Yeah, I know what kind of car I have, I don't need the letters, I do like the logo . . . Cheapest mod EVER
Yeah, I did some YouTube searches on how to remove the bumperettes and I'm not willing to go to that level of effort, HaHa I do like the potential move to Europe

 

If they only sprechen ze Englaise!