I picked up this highly optioned Lightning Silver over Chestnut brown interior 2020 Vantage a week or so ago and it's been fantastic. I had a 2014 manual V8 Vantage (AP tune, cat delete, supersport muffler) that I really enjoyed for 5 years, but at 6'6'' I was just too tall for that car and with the sport suspension option, it really rode very rough on MI roads and it was sold last year. Aston really did a fantastic job with the interior room on the new Vantages, and I now fit with ease (no more cranking my neck down to see stop lights so much) and the ride is much better for a road car. It took a few years, but the styling has really grown on me and I prefer it to my last Vantage overall, particularly the rear end. So far the brakes are quiet and don't need quieter Porterfields like my last Vantage, although I'm not so sure about this brake-by-wire setup that can be very grabby at slow speeds and trying to park -- it's like brake pedal pressure does nothing at first and then grab!

Generally speaking, everything about this Vantage is an improvement (sans the braking smoothness). I am not a big fan of turbo engines, nor "diluting" the brand with shared engines, but it's hard to complain about the 4.0L AMG hot V turbo engine. It's a ton of torque and makes a cool sound (although very different than my old vantage which had an X pipe and sounded almost Lamborghini at high revs -- this is muscle car brute with pops and bangs) and most importantly I really don't notice any turbo lag at all for street use. I'm extremely impressed with the smoothness and speed from the ZF transmission. It's a very very good transmission setup and I don't miss the manual experience at all (still have another manual car though). One big problem is the rock chips on the rear wheel arches. My car only had 2700 miles but a big collection of rear wheel arch chips already. However, I found a great/cheap solution to that: https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...el-arches.html

I have a set of Velocity AP secondary cat deletes that arrived today to give it a little more volume, hopefully get time to install them soon. I have seen some comments that Sport+ and Track modes have the same volume, but that's not true based on my experience and the manual. Track definitely has the valves open more, but it holds revs too high for driving in traffic (unless you use the paddles). Otherwise, I love track mode auto gearing on the backroads.

I'm also considering the Velocity AP tune. I really don't need 580hp / 700ftlbs for this front engine / RWD road car, but was really hoping it could fix some of the pet peeves I have about this car (mainly I hate it when cars do not retain the settings you had when they are shutoff, and each startup is a pre drive checklist to do). I was hoping the tune could do stuff like (1) start up in Sport+ mode always (2) fully open exhaust valves at all revs/throttle at startup and in Sport+ (3) disable auto start/stop in all modes (4) eliminate the annoying entry/exit BONG "don't forget your key." Sadly, the tune can't do this stuff, so I'm scratching my head if I should want it for the extra performance which is pretty hard to use on the street without jail (I'm a big track guy and have a GT350R for the 140+ mph use). I think my 2014 Vantage benefitted greatly from the increased throttle response and power, but the new Vantage seems adequately powered for (rational) road use already it's just not a big priority.

It's been raining a lot and I don't have many pics outside those in the showroom, but here's a few:

 

Yup, that's gorgeous! Enjoy!

 

that interior is STUNNING!!!!

Congrats.

 

Really nice!

 

Nice. Congrats. Happy the new styling is growing on you. I have to admit I was sick of listening to all the whining about the new car. Nice to see some people coming to their senses, LOL.

 

Beautiful car! Love the interior. I have the same color, Lightning Silver, on my DB11 V12. The car does get attention wherever you are with it.

On the turbo lag, this motor with the hot Vee layout has no discernable turbo lag. If you see the extremely short lengths of the exhaust manifolds it helps explain it.

On the exhaust, if you're looking for more "sound" (doesn't improve performance) the secondary CAT is the way to go. Primary delete does change sound too, but deleting it does very little for HP gain (5hp to 8hp on a stock motor), but primary delete has to be really thought out and you have to think through a replacement strategy when you sell someday. More and more dealers are rejecting trade-ins with no primary CATS as the car cannot be sold in some states (CA) and fails emissions visual inspections in others. If you don't keep the factory CATS it is an expensive return to get CATS back on to sell someday. Some have been surprised and burned to the tune of about $4K to replace Primaries at time of sale.

You're not going to get far on the auto on/off. Not the way the MB architecture incorporated into the electronics. It is integral to the battery management module. I got very used to just clicking the button on startup. After I trained myself, I never really forgot anymore. Hit the start button, hit the auto off button.

I loved my AMG GTS and struggled buying the DB11. I know the 4L V8 very well, but I very much wanted the V12 so I am in a new learn mode which I enjoy too. BTW, I am 6'5" and can relate to fitting in many cars very well. The DB11 is not an issue at all, nor was the AMG GTS.

All the best with your beautiful car!

 

Beautiful car. Is that the car from Lake Forest? I saw that car when I was looking for my car. I loved the interior, but I've had so many silver cars, this time I went for something completely different - Hyper Red. Interested in the secondary cat delete. Please post a video and your impressions when you get that done.

 

My biggest style issue is the front end. In photos the headlights look very small/thin and it’s hard to see the beautiful details inside of them. The subtle hood bulge and lines are also more present in person and I do think the giant clamshell hood is cool without the normal panel gap. Overall, the front end reminded me too much of the new Miata was my biggest issue. The Vulcan style grill is still not my favorite. The rest of the car is basically perfect (so long as you have the quad exhaust tips cause the dual is a bit silly small (sorry!))!

I would love to have the DBS front end on the Vantage, that would be my dream design!

I also miss the old gauges. The new digital ones are quite nice, but the old ones were like beautiful watches to look at.

 

yes, lake forest. They were great to work with, no BS dealer fees. My 14 vantage was lighting sliver and I loved it, especially how easy it was to keep clean vs my tendency to have black family cars. I had a red Ferrari 360 (replaced at some point by a red mist zo6/z07) and a ruby red raptor, so a silver Aston always fits in well.

I’ll post about the secondary cat delete when I get them on.

 

yes, it’s wonderful to actually fit well in a sports car. I’ll probably never own a Lamborghini bc I’m too tall. Some Ferraris work if they have the right seats - my 360 had carbon stradale buckets on manual rails. I was crammed in the 14 vantage which became an issue long term.

I’m hoping for 30-40% or so more volume with the secondary cat delete. I like a loud car — my gt350r (stock!!) is perfect and startup and low revs is probably 2-3x louder than the Vantage. Our 3 kid hauler is a 2014 Porsche Cayenne GTS (last year of the NA V8) and I did a secondary cat delete on it and it’s amazing! Almost as loud as my Shelby, but other than startup sounding like a Ferrari 599 GTO, the exhaust button lets you keep valves closed and it’s quite still, but valves open is bliss. Even my wife now opens valves every single drive. Something different in the kids soccer parking lot .

anyway, I know a turbo car wont get the volume a NA will, and I don’t want to do primary cats/headers bc the work involved and need to tune out the cel from o2 sensors. Also it makes selling the car a pita as you mention. I know there are muffler option, but the stock muffler at least has valves (really wish it had a standalone exhaust button for valves fully open) and it’s not fun to change muffles on Vantages either as the rear diffuser and bumper need to come off. Not a job for jackstands.

 

I put the cat deletes on today. Would be an easy job on the lift, but did suck doing under jack stands. 13mm and 15mm, wobble socket and extension for the top bolts. Velocity AP did include 3 bolts so I decided to air hammer out the top studs vs pry bar route I was worried might bend something. Highly suggest popping out the top studs, makes removal and install much easier. Also, don’t be an idiot like me and do this on your back with 18” of space. It’s a 1hr job on a lift.

pretty cool to see the stock H pipe too!

Here’s a video with a few revs (in track mode). The car was already warm so this is not cold start.

2020 vantage with cat deletes

I only drove it 10 min. It’s noticeably louder but not transformative like the deletes on our cayenne gts was. I’m happy overall, plenty loud for the nature of this car. I think the pops and bangs are a little more aggressive now too. It can still cruise quietly in sport if you want it to. I’ll get to drive it an hour or so later tonight and let you know if I notice anything much more.

 

Nice…looking great..

 

I too find it annoying it doesn't remember the modes. Bad enough most cars force you to keep shutting stop/start off, but now there's more things to keep changing.

As for the transmission behavior in the various modes, just use the paddles, then it behaves they way you want.

 

Love you did a cat delete on the family car too!

 

That was quick!!! How much louder what you say it is versus stock with the secondary cat delete?