SHARP Drives: The 2025 Aston Martin Vantage Is a (Shockingly) Friendly Monster
Thundering along Spain’s Circuito Monteblanco at 260 km/h in the shocking new 2025 Aston Martin Vantage, the horizon warps toward us in fast forward. Blink and you’ll miss the 200 metre marker, which let’s the driver know it’s about time to slam on the carbon-ceramic brakes. The car pitches forward onto its nose and we’re hanging from the seatbelt, eyes bulging, wondering if maybe — uh oh — we’ve pushed the braking point too late this time? No. The immense brakes haul the machine down in time to turn into the first corner. The steering is heavily weighted but the front-end grip is astonishing and the car rotates with a reassuring sure-footedness. Still, with 656 turbocharged horsepower going to the rear wheels, we’re initially gentle on the throttle, picking it up slowly and riding a wave of power that builds and builds up to and beyond 6,000 rpm.
If anything, that was too easy; It’s like the car is letting us know how much time and speed we left on the table. Next lap go faster, the Vantage says. Turn off the electric stability control system and dial down the traction control and the 2025 Vantage gets even better, feeling more biddable and transparent. In the right hands, it’s a drift monster. But it’ll put a huge grin on the face of any driver. Despite its intimidating spec sheet, the new Vantage is a (surprisingly) friendly beast.
The New Aston Martin
For context, the old Aston Martin Vantage wasn’t like this. It had roughly 150 less horsepower. It was narrower. It didn’t love to rev so much and didn’t feel so eager. The cabin felt a class or two less luxurious. And the old car’s outdated Mercedes infotainment system, with buttons seemingly scattered around the dashboard at random, was a serious compromise. But, it was still an Aston Martin — beautiful, entertaining — and so we loved it.
But this is new 2025 Vantage? It doesn’t ask drivers to make such sacrifices, and it’s in another league when it comes to power and performance.
The new infotainment system was developed in-house. Admittedly, there wasn’t much chance to test it out while thundering around this racetrack and the backroads around Seville. The verdict is still out, but aesthetically at least it’s a major improvement. Finally (finally!) here is an Aston Martin that looks as good inside as it does outside.
You may be thinking the 2025 Vantage is just a refresh, but it isn’t. Over 80 per cent of the hardware is new. Seen in the metal, that’s immediately obvious; the new car is so much wider at the front and rear wheels, with more of a pinched coke-bottle waist. The suspension and cooling system is new. The structure is reinforced. The new allows are stunners. As a result, the whole car looks more aggressive on the road, hungrier, maybe even a little meaner. Welcome to the new Aston Martin.
The Canadian Connection
The Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll’s name should be well known to anyone in the fashion industry. He made his fortune by helping turn Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger into household names in the 1990s and masterminded the rise of Michael Kors in the 2000s.
The man clearly has an eye for untapped potential, but he’s not the first to envision bigger things for British automaker Aston Martin.
The story of Aston is one of constant comebacks and reinvention. It’s a perpetual underdog that occasionally makes some of the most achingly desirable cars on the planet. Despite that, and the company’s connection to a certain fictional spy, the business has rarely turned a real profit in its 111-year history. It’s gone bankrupt seven times. (Seven! That’s got to be a record.) Stroll is merely the latest businessman to take on the difficult task of saving Aston Martin; he’s talked about turning the marque into something like a British Ferrari. Judged solely by market cap, Aston has got a long, long way to go.
Judged based on the new 2025 Aston Martin Vantage, however, the British firm is closing in on its target.
The heavily revised Vantage is the latest in a barrage of new and updated models coming out of Gaydon. First there was the DB12, then the Vantage. Next up is the DBX707 SUV, which is getting similar interior refinements. Later this year will be a new Vanquish, powered by a mighty V12 that’ll churn out 824 hp and more than 700 lb-ft of torque. (“All Will Be Vanquished” is the tagline. A bold claim.) As if that wasn’t enough, later this year Aston will also introduce its first plug-in hybrid, the mid-engine Valhalla supercar. It’s too early to say if Stroll’s attempt to turn Aston Martin around and set it up as a true competitor to Ferrari will succeed, but Aston’s future is looking brighter than it has in a long time.
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