2025 Aston Martin Vantage Review | For Road or Track?

All of Spain is very aware that we are here. I've been an Aston Martin fan since I saw their cars as a kid. The 007 marketing absolutely worked on me. I wish I was some sort of British ninja with a small drinking problem that everyone seems to ignore and doesn't seem to affect his hand-eye coordination at all. What magic. I loved the V8 Vantage. I think it is one of the best looking cars ever made and of course it sounded incredible. But the generation after that left me wanting for more. It always felt like it under-delivered in terms of performance, especially for the price against the AMG GT Coupe itself. Not to mention the interior left a lot to be desired, but it handled well. So it seemed like they had some people there that knew what they were doing. Well now there's an all-new Vantage. 85% new parts, new hardware, new software, new interior, and 656 horsepower. So today I'm going to drive it on the road and the track and they're going to let us turn traction control off and we're going to see if it's really ready to go up against the big dog that is the Porsche 911 Turbo. Horsepower is easy to make these days. They practically sell turbos at those crunchy grocery stores next to the bulk oatmeal. You just scoop it into your car, bam, lots of horsepower. But if you want to compete with a especially at a hot track like this one. It's 90 degrees today. To do that, Aston increased the grille size by 38%, so you get a lot more air going through there. Additionally, like Drake, you have two radiators that are kind of hidden out of view, but they're doing a lot of the work that the main radiator can't handle. There's also an upgraded oil cooler that gets 50% more air hitting it in the face and you have these amazing vents on top to pull all the hot air out of that on it. 21 inch wheels are now standard and the tires are huge. These are 275 fronts, 325 rears, Michelin PS5s, and they are a bespoke compound just for the Vantage. So don't try to put these on your Corvette or whatever, the car will explode. What a profile, right? I mean, Aston is always near the top of the game when it comes to shapes. A little ducktail spoiler and a short cabin. You sit really low in the seat. You sit an inch lower. These high sills. Long hood, although it's gotten a lot taller because pedestrians don't like getting hit by cars, but it just looks sharp. It looks like a pointy stick thing that they used to use like in the middle ages to hit poke people. What are those called? Uh, I don't know. I can't remember. If we take a little stroll around the back, it looks almost the same as the outgoing car, doesn't it? They tell me that all most all of the parts are new. I still love all of this and the LED taillights. This part to me is still kind of an empty cavern. I wish this had more body color, uh, to it, but they did enlarge the exhaust tips, which looks a little bit better in my opinion. But more important is that underneath there, there's an all new E diff, all new software that controls it, a new carbon fiber driveshaft, a new transmission, new software for that. They've changed the suspension, the pickup points. There's a new rear strut tower. The whole thing is stiffer. And according to Aston Martin, all of that has been done to maximize driver engagement. I guess we should find out if that's true. Yep. That's me walking away from the very car I need to drive. After realizing this, I put on my Squires hat and left the pit lane to explore the car's new adjustable traction control system. Guys, I am so excited to say that the Smoking Tire is back in the merch game. We have built a new merch store. Easy checkout, easy shipping, very fair prices on everything. All of our new merch is super high quality. The materials, the fit, the durability, the print quality. Some of the items are based on cars I've owned or own with a Smoking Tire twist. Other stuff is more general enthusiasm like this hoodie designed by Zach. And we're going to be adding new stuff every week. This first run of merch, super limited edition, only 50 units of each item. So head over to that merch store right now and get it while it lasts. And then keep checking back for regular merch drops from your buddies at the Smoking Tire. Now, enjoy today's video. Traction control has eight settings. One is easy mode. It will rein you in. It will not let you slide at all. Progressively more slip as you go up that number, as the number increases. I'm starting at six. I'll show you what it does, and then we'll work our way through. 656 horsepower, Aston Martin Vantage. 656. When the V8 Vantage came out, it had like 400 horsepower. This is, you know, 20 years later, a little bit less, and we're up by more than 200, more than 50%. For the morning sessions, I drove the car in normal track mode. It didn't change anything, and the suspension was a little too firm. This is a very smooth circuit, but there are a couple of places on corner entry where there are pretty pronounced bumps, and it did upset the car a little bit. It was also sliding pretty easily because, you know, 656 horsepower will do that. So now suspension is in medium. Gearbox is in track. Exhaust set to loud. So here, traction six. You see that? So it caught me. I think I got a few degrees of slip. I did have to correct with the wheel, and then it reined it in. So we'll go to seven. Let's talk about what I like about the car. It is stiff, but in a good way. There is a lot of dialogue happening between the rear end and the seat. I can feel the rear grip when it's there, when it's going away. I can feel the bumps. That is what I like in a front-engine rear-wheel drive car or any rear-wheel drive car. I want to know what's going on with those tires. I want to know how much grip is left, and I want the breakaway to be progressive. So far, with these Michelin Pilot PS5s, this bespoke compound just for the Vantage, it is indeed progressive. Carbon ceramic brakes on all of these cars at the track today. Hydraulic brake system, not brake by wire. You got to get pretty deep at the pedal for them to grab hard, and then they rein you in well. We have had no fade today. I've had no fade. Car is fast. That should not be a surprise to anybody, but you know, sometimes the horsepower number is not felt in the actual seat. It is in this case. 590 pound-feet of torque hits you at 2,500 rpm. Power band is like a 45-degree angle in terms of horsepower. It just goes and goes and goes and goes and goes. It is very fast. What is not fast, unfortunately, is this new 8-speed transmission. The upshifts are okay. They're kind of what you expect these days with an 8-speed automatic from ZF. Look, that's pretty quick. It's not that snap that you get from a dual-clutch like a PDK or from McLaren, but it's pretty quick. Downshifts are also, they're just, they're not quick enough. They're not quick enough for a track car. They're not as quick as Porsche, of course, and I think it's not Aston's fault. It's just what the limitations are of an automatic transmission. ZF has done a really good job of transforming the automatic from something boring to something that does a pretty good job of being exciting, but it's just not as good. You know, there, pull the paddle, wait a little bit. If there are times where I had plenty of revs to spare, it wouldn't downshift for me. It wanted me to wait until I was going even slower, and then I was out of the power band. Speaking of the power band, the differences in the gears are quite big, so second can be too short for some of these corners, especially when we were trying to slide the car earlier, but then third is too tall, and with these bigger turbos, there is a little bit of lag. The upside is that the power band just goes basically to red line, so these big turbos do take a little bit of revs to get going, and then they are going. The steering rack speed, I like. I like the shape of the steering wheel, but there is no feeling. I'm really disappointed. You know, Aston made a really big deal to tell us how this was like a non-isolated steering rack. It's a fixed ratio, which I like, so it's predictable, but there is no conversation happening with those front tires. I cannot tell how much grip there is. In fact, that problem is so pervasive that me and another person here who is a professional racing driver, we both commented on how the understeer is a surprise. All of a sudden, you're in a corner, you hear understeer, and you're going, wait, what? Why is it understeering? Am I going too fast? I don't feel like I'm going fast, and that's just because you cannot feel any of the load from the front tires. E-Diff does a great job. As far as I know, it's fairly invisible. The traction system works great. We've got an E-Diff. We've got brake vectoring. All of that stuff does help this car feel at home here. I don't feel like I've brought a grand touring car to an environment it's not safe in. I don't feel like I've taken a fish to the desert and taken it out of the water. Someone in front of me is doing big drifts, so now we're going to go to traction on. The chassis is good. I like how I can feel the car load up around the corners. I'm getting enough information as we go through these bumps. There's no surprises in the back. That's the thing. The surprise is in the front. You start hearing this understeer, and you're not sure why it's happening. Whoever's in front of me is doing big slides. I'll join them, but you can do that, and that's what's great about this car. You know what's happening in the back, and then you can do the best. What this is is the best parts of an AMG and the best parts of an Aston Martin. Between the car's 3,800 pound estimated curb weight and 100 plus degree track temperatures, the tires were getting a little greasy. ABS engaged earlier than I expected, and the handling was a bit slick. At least the Ghost Riders were doing their job. With all these radiators, it's doing a fine job. We have not had a problem with the car's overheating. The engine is strong. I like the power band, but you have to be ready for it because the step from second to third is rather great, and you have to be ready for that lag. Otherwise, when it hits you in a mid-corner, you will end up stepping out. This power is insane. 656. I mean, we're talking about McLaren horsepower. We're talking more than Porsche turbos of recent memory. I mean, it is batting in big leagues in terms of speed. This is only 14 horsepower less than the DB12 has. How mad are you if you bought a DB12? Despite their many endurance racing wins, most of the great Astons are great road cars, so that's where I took it, and I brought a new friend. Matt, you got a toupee. I did, and I'm Asian now. Congratulations, I'm suddenly amazing at math. I am fired for both of these jokes. This is Jack from Savage Geese. We're on the road now. We were on the track before where it was imperfect, as you saw, but now we're going to see how it does here, but first we're going to start with... No big smoky burnout either for you, sir. This car has too much grip. We have both tried to do burnouts, turning traction to off, and it has not done it despite having nearly 600 pound feet of torque. That is ridiculous, right? Shocks are in sport. I'm going to bring them back to soft. Exhaust. No, no, no. You want the exhaust, sir? We need the loud exhaust. You're back at the soft. One thing this car does is make great, great noise. First time I drove the twin-turbo V8 Vantage, I was shocked by how quiet it was outside. This does not have that problem. This does not have that problem. Play some music, sir. All of Spain is very aware that we are here. I kind of feel like Mark. Yeah, that's how I felt when I just rode in the right seat with you, man. God damn, is this car fast. Yeah, I was like, oh, is my will up to date? It's not. Prop memo. This car is so fast, but we talked about that on the track, so what I want to talk about with you is fit, finish, and interior. This is such a big step forward. Yeah, this doesn't feel like the Alibaba supercar anymore. It feels like people put this together who had money, and to be fair, this is the first generation of Aston that was developed, like the DB12, with John Business himself, Mr. Stroll's very deep bank accounts, and allegedly, he went to his engineers for the DB11. He's like, this is make it better, and if it's pretty, and it's loud, like I'm into it, but when I got in the last Vantage, all the buttons, so many of the buttons, I counted the ones, I think there was like 25 that were the same exact shape. It was like someone just threw licorice pieces into a bowl, and then you're like, which one's traction? No, that's HVAC. Oh, that's, it was, it was ugly, and it was just all kind of uniform, but now, not only does this stuff look nice, but these rollers are such a smart choice in a world where we're doing too many capacitive buttons, too many haptic things. The center stack is great. The steering wheel controls, though, are not. The steering wheel controls are not. It has some carryover from the Mercedes era, from like eight years ago, where you just move your finger across these capacitive things, but they're too slow. My problem with them is I want them to react exactly with my finger, and they don't, and so that's a problem. The other problem is that we can't see what gear we're in. Gear indicator, so tiny. Though, allegedly, they are updating this before these cars actually roll out. They're making a gauge cluster appearance change to make the, that number bigger. Um, you know, the track's one thing, right? You really very quickly understand the dynamic efficiencies and deficiencies of said sports car. Out here, do you feel like this is sort of that, you know, somewhat compromised track car still, or do you think it's a fun, fun car? Out here, I think this is an excellent canyon car, aside from steering feel, but, you know, the steering speed and the linear rack is great, and I always feel like I can place the car where it needs to be. This is not a wide road. It's not a wide lane. This is a pretty big car, but I don't feel like I'm struggling to find the corners of it or that I have to like, that I don't really know where those edges are. We've got grip, we've got sound, and it is a great, like, eight and a half tenths car. Yeah, this does not have the dynamic, dynamic capabilities of a GT3, I'm going to say that right now. I don't know, but it's also still less expensive than that car. Yes, the character too, though. You don't like the sound of a flat six. I do, but I do think this thing is like, it's got that, like, Tom Jones, like, burly, manly man sounding car, and I really, I really, really do like that. Are you sure? I'm older than you. No, I'm secretly, like, 75. There we go, Tom Jones. And, like, the fit and finish here is nice. I mean, blue carbon, I'm surprised I'm saying, it's like, looks tasteful and good. The screens are big and really legible, and I appreciate that this is all their computing and design, because the other one, the last one, you get in and you see Mercedes. You could just see old Mercedes. You see old Mercedes, and it's, it felt like they gave them old computers and an old engine, and they were like, you know, have fun, try to make a car, you can't compete with the AMG GT. And it really couldn't. But now, I think it absolutely can. Do you think this is worth the premium over both the old Vantage, because this is, the old Vantage is like 90 grand. Now, this is realistically with options, gonna be like 220. Oh, you mean an old one that's used? Yeah, like a 2020. Yeah. And do you think this is worth the premium over an AMG GT? I think it's worth the premium over the AMG GT for sure, because I think it, they fixed the interior that I didn't like, and they fixed the front-end design, which I didn't like. And so now, it looks like a beautiful Aston Martin. It has far better curb appeal and brand recognition than a Mercedes. Value versus a used car, I don't think is really fair, because that's more of an economics question for somebody. And someone who is shopping for a brand new $210,000 car, if you said you can get a used one, like you can stop right there. They don't want to hear the rest of that sentence. Fair point. Especially when that car is that compromised. But I think dynamically, the last generation Vantage F1 handled really well. And it talked to you really well through the seat, like this one does. It didn't look like it was worth the money inside, because it was 170 grand at the time. So back then, you were better off buying an AMG GT. Now, with the AMG being on the SL platform with rear steer, which is bad, and this doesn't have it, so it's fine. I think this is the better car to buy. This lands in a great spot between Porsche ownership and Ferrari ownership. I think the seats are good. And yes, you're better looking than Mark, if that's the compliment you were looking for. I mean, I don't think that's true. Mark's married. I'm not yet. Mark said it has a kid. My fiancee right now is screaming, that's your fault. It makes the sound and it goes the fast. And like this, yeah, this is what I want from a GT sports car. In addition to the issues already mentioned, tire noise will be your co-driver. Although that is true of any cars with feet this wide. Overall, this is a very impressive car. It is comfortable, usable. It has supportive heated and cooled seats and an overbuilt computer to handle over-the-air updates. Carplay is now standard, as is an 11-speaker stereo. Pricing starts at $194,000, nearly even with the 911 Turbo. Stuttgart Special will reach 60 miles per hour in just 2.7 seconds versus Aston's claimed 3.4. And the Porsche's EPAS and PDK transmission set the bar for both systems. But the Vantage is no longer a goodwill engine with an overpriced interior. Between it and the DB12, Aston is back to doing what it does best. Building fast, exciting, beautiful road companions that earn respect. And remember, always fight your tickets on the off-the-record app available in the Android and iOS store or go to offtherecord.com.