ASTON MARTIN VANTAGE

Latest two-seater unequivocally shows where Aston is heading because it’s sportier, more powerful and more expensive. But a key question remains: is it any good?

- MATT PRIOR

With 656bhp rather than the 503bhp of its predecessor, Aston Martin's latest Vantage has moved on to a new performance plane. It was a serious sports car before but the comprehensive overhaul has, as with the DB12 we were so impressed by recently, significantly shifted its capabilities. Its price too: this is a £165,000 car before options.

In appearance, it is mildly tweaked, enhanced, more muscly and 30mm wider now, at 1981mm across the body. The chassis, a blend of aluminium extrusions and castings, is a similar architecture to the DB12's, though this car is shorter of wheelbase (2692mm) and overall length (4496mm) because it's a sports car, not a grand tourer. It's Aston's most focused series model, for now, but one might expect a more hardcore variant later. This, though, says Aston's director of vehicle performance, Simon Newton, is a road car rather than a track car.

The chassis is more rigid. Aston makes no claims for overall torsional rigidity but points to where local stiffnesses have been increased: there are new sheer panels front and rear, the front longerons are tied together better, and the front top mounting point brace is both lighter and stiffer and there's one at the rear now too.