![]() ![]() Thing is, you have to get that heat into them first - and for a street car, I still think carbon-ceramic brakes are an unpleasant waste. Pedal feel is average, nothing special, but once you heat up the brakes, their ability to haul the Vantage down from speed with immediacy is serious. The brakes are a carbon-ceramic system, like many high-performance cars feature, and as usual, they squeal like mad when you drive like a normal person on normal roads at normal speeds. I have less praise for the brakes, however. A huge part of the Vantage’s appeal is this stellar handling the powertrain and styling are just icing on the scone. Feedback is excellent, effort is spot-on and there’s none of the frenetic dartiness that sometimes plagues high-strung sports coupes on the highway (I’m lookin’ at you, Nissan GT-R). The steering is extraordinarily precise, with a quick ratio that requires minimal input for maximum effect. It’s the areas of chassis tuning and handling characteristics where Aston Martin brought its expertise to bear, creating one of the best-handling vehicles I’ve ever driven. If you were just interested in zero-to-60 times, you could pony up half the cost of this Vantage and get yourself a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye, which does the quarter mile in the 10-second range. But the Vantage limits you to just three driving modes, relying on the company’s knowledge of how the car should behave rather than allowing you to dial in what you think is most appropriate.īut a car this tightly packaged, this highly strung is more about handling and balance than straight-line acceleration. The AMG GT’s exhaust is tunable, if you spring for that option, and you can get specific on various systems for the Porsche 911, as well. But the Vantage doesn’t offer the kind of adjustability of its suspension, transmission, steering and other systems as some of its competitors do. The ride, while firm, is decently damped any harshness is the result of those massive 20-inch wheels riding on stiff Pirelli P-Zero tires. Out on the street, it’s incredibly quick, reaching super-legal speeds in alarming fashion and cruising all day at those elevated speeds without you realizing it - the true mark of a high-quality European sports car, in my opinion. You’ll never notice, however, as only the most skilled track drivers are likely to experience any deficiency from it. It also provides massive thrust, but still accelerates a tick behind competitors like the Audi R8 and Mercedes-AMG GT due to weighing nearly 200 pounds more than they do. It sounds differently glorious here than it does in any of the Mercedes models it powers, with a vicious ripping snarl on hard acceleration that’ll make you want to repeat hard launches again and again. It makes 503 horsepower and 505 pounds-feet of torque - comparable to its output in various AMG GT models (where it ranges from 469 to 577 hp). There’s a lot that’s familiar about the Vantage, such as the Mercedes-AMG twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V-8 nestled under that impossibly low hood. Is that a good thing? I had a long weekend in the new Vantage to find out. While the chassis parts are Aston, the powertrain and much of the electronics in this two-seat luxury sports coupe are sourced from Mercedes-Benz, meaning there’s a lot of the excellent AMG GT coupe nestled under that svelte British sheet metal. ![]() New from the ground up, the Vantage sits on a new platform that shares little with previous Aston Martins - but it does have some bits and pieces you might have seen before. Here’s another: the new 2019 Aston Martin Vantage. The Mercedes-AMG GT is one, as are the Maserati Gran Turismo, Nissan GT-R and Audi R8. Once you really look into it, you realize there are a surprising number of alternatives to the stalwart Porsche 911. The Porsche 911 provides equal thrills with a better driving position and ergonomics. The Mercedes-AMG GT has the same engine and a lot of the same interior tech, wrapped around a higher-quality interior. Striking looks, blistering performance and undeniable exclusivity balance out a mixed-bag interior.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |