Aston Martin’s Final V12 Vantage Is Most Powerful Version Yet
Say farewell to one of the most extreme Astons ever.
Aston Martin is giving the “biggest engine, smallest model” idea one more go in the final, fastest and most powerful edition of the V12 Vantage.
When confronting the V12 Vantage S way back in 2014, Maxim wrote of that simple principle: “Squeeze your biggest, noisiest V12 into your shortest chassis, then force it on a crash-course carbon fiber diet to starve it of speed-stifling weight.” As Aston Martin CEO Tobias Moers said in a provided statement, that recipe hasn’t changed.
“Right from the moment the first V12 Vantage RS Concept was shown back in 2007,” Moers said, “our customers and fans around the world fell in love with the idea of fitting our biggest engine into our smallest and most sporting model. The recipe has been refined over the years with great success, but the essence has remained the same.”
For its swan song, the Vantage’s 5.2-liter 12-pot produces its highest output ever: 700 horsepower, 555 pound-feet of torque sent through ZF eight-speed automatic transmission. Weight-saving measures include carbon fiber body work all around, but also a twin-tip exhaust formed from 1mm-thick stainless steel that weighs 15 pounds less than what’s equipped in the V8-powered Vantage.
With more muscle, a stricter diet, and transmission calibration from the V12 Speedster and Vantage F1 models, the V12 Vantage hits 60 mph in 3.4 seconds and tops out at 200 mph.
The suspension and body is also stiffened, the steering sharpened, and the brakes are bigger and carbon ceramic as standard, meaning this should be the most track-capable Vantage V12 yet. The front bumper, now with a downforce-generating full-width splitter, also promises to shave seconds of laps, as does the body length-spanning diffuser and rear wing.
The interior transformation is less dramatic, though the Sports Plus Seat trimmed in semi-aniline weather and embroidered with wings is now standard. Upgraded materials, trim inlays, anodized rotary dials, carbon panels and more upgrades are available through the marque’s bespoke division, Q by Aston Martin.
If you’ve never owned an Aston Martin, you won’t own a new V12 Vantage. The 333 available units made available to customers have already been spoken for, so expect to see them cropping up at auctions with sky-high valuations in the coming years.
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