Aston Martin Vantage review

Have you got a DB12 tucked up in the garage? No? Well, if you did the interior of the Vantage would feel very familiar. It uses Aston Martin’s new and really rather good infotainment system and is generally a vast improvement on the previous Vantage.

A 10.25-inch touchscreen is mounted centrally but there are plenty of physical buttons for major controls. Hallelujah. We’d recommend the optional carbon fibre sports seats as they lock you nicely in place and you can have them wound way down low, adding to the pure sportscar vibe.

Materials are high-end – Bridge of Weir leather, acres of alcantara – and there’s an optional Bowers & Wilkins stereo with 15 speakers and 1,170 watts of power should the standard 11-speaker system seem a bit limp.

How’s the build quality?

Long an Aston bugbear, but here everything not only feels suitably tailored and bespoke, but also exhibits a new found solidity. It’s no longer charming and sumptuous but a little bit wonky. Can you have a hand-finished ambience that also has the feeling of mass-produced solidity? That’s just about where the Vantage lands.

Of course, the interior is also infused by the sounds of the V8, which percolates quietly at low engine speeds but is ever present, and then hollers riotously when you seek out high revs. Put simply, this is a very nice place to be and although the Vantage is very much a sportscar the front-engine/rear-drive layout and luxurious feel mean that very long journeys would be a very pleasant experience indeed.

Is it practical?

Not as useable as a DB12, no, because that has four seats, while this makes do with two. On paper the 235-litre boot ain’t going to provide much going away space either. However, it’s a hatchback which makes loading easy and if you remove the load divider and parcel shelf and it expands to a Golf-sized 346 litres.