Nine things we learned about the new Aston Martin Vantage

The new Vantage is by no means a Mercedes-AMG GT in a new suit – it uses the DB11’s hacked platform and only shares its engine and sat-nav with AMG. And while the 503bhp, 505lb ft outputs from the 4.0-litre bi-turbo V8 are wholesale what you’d find in an AMG C63, Aston has recalibrated the engine’s delivery and cooked up its own exhaust note. As a result, the Vantage sounds a little more serrated and barrel-chested than the menacing AMG. It sounds fabulous. This is the best turbocharged engine anywhere this side of Ferrari.

Read Top Gear's review of the all-new Aston Martin Vantage here

What you don’t get in the Vantage that you find as standard in the likes of a McLaren 540C, Porsche 911 Turbo, Audi R8 V10 and Mercedes-AMG GT is a dual-clutch gearbox. Aston has used the eight-speed ZF auto from the DB11, mounted at the rear and retuned for snappier shifts. It’s a great schlepper and blips faithfully on the downchange, but upshifts aren’t quite as instant as the best twin-clutch ‘boxes. For £120,900 before options, you might well expect better...

Read Top Gear's review of the all-new Aston Martin Vantage here

The star of the show here is the Vantage’s playful, approachable, ultra-balanced chassis. You’ll immediately notice how much firmer it rides than the DB11, but it’s by no means uncomfortable – just taut and focused. The quality of the damping is up there with the best from Porsche and Lotus, and praise comes no higher than that.

Read Top Gear's review of the all-new Aston Martin Vantage here

Do you like the looks yet? The new Vantage isn’t as classically pretty as the old one, but it’s more daring, modern, masculine and exotic. The basic shape is beautifully proportioned and the more time you spend with it, the more that whalefish mouth and the squat haunches make hand-gnawingly gorgeous sense. Make sure you have a play on the wildly extensive configurator to work out how subtle – or fluorescent – you’d like yours.

Read Top Gear's review of the all-new Aston Martin Vantage here

A sports car can be utterly undone before you’ve even roused the engine if the seat is all wrong and the steering wheel bashes your knees. The Vantage suffers no such own goals. The supremely comfortable seat dives low into the chassis – so much so that the extremities of the bodywork are worryingly invisible – and the steering wheel oozes a long way from the dashboard. The whole car then appears to pivot around your hips, as decreed in The Gospel according to Excellent Sports Car Set-Up.

Read Top Gear's review of the all-new Aston Martin Vantage here

Maybe it’s the temptation to emulate James Bond’s Q Branch. Maybe it’s because Aston has an entirely sensible phobia of touchscreens in cars. Or maybe the designers just got carried away drawing circles. Whatever the philosophy, there’s no getting away from the fact that sitting in the Vantage is like waking up in the cockpit of an Airbus and being asked to deploy the landing gear. It’s fiddly. And some of the plastics are naff. Happily, the leather smells delicious and most of the materials are delectable. More special than a 911? Easily. More ergonomic than an AMG? Maybe. There’s no glovebox, though. So memorise the manual before you set off.

Read Top Gear's review of the all-new Aston Martin Vantage here

We did a lot of motorway cruising to reach a location you can read all about in Issue 308 of Top Gear magazine. And on the motorway, the Vantage was happy to bumble along in 8th gear returning 27mpg. From a bi-turbo V8. If you’re cruising gently, that makes this a more long-legged GT car than the DB11. Awkward.

Read Top Gear's review of the all-new Aston Martin Vantage here

Only nerds need apply here, but yep, if you’re a steering feel fetishist of the highest order, then you might miss the old one’s world-class feedback from hydraulic assistance. This one’s gone electric, and it’s a little lighter, a little glassier, unless you’re really hauling on circuit. But consider two things before you dismiss the baby Aston. It’s still great for EPAS, and more importantly, few companies have got electric steering right first time. Porsche certainly didn’t. Neither has Jaguar. This Vantage is only the second Aston to get new-age power assistance, and it won’t take long for Gaydon’s engineers to catch up.

Read Top Gear's review of the all-new Aston Martin Vantage here

The tyres are a Pirelli breed specifically designed for the Vantage. This is the first Aston to get an electronic locking rear differential. Only a third of the structure is shared with the DB11. Every other system – the steering, engine, suspension and exhaust – has been specifically recoded and re-honed for use in Aston’s sports car. The results are pretty damn fabulous. Well done, Aston Martin.

Read Top Gear's review of the all-new Aston Martin Vantage here