Test drive Aston Martin Vantage

The new Aston Martin Vantage is very demanding on the skill of the driver. But the absence of gasoline in your blood will still not get rid of the realization that you have an exceptional thing in your hands.

In world sculpture, the undoubted masterpiece of the Renaissance is the statue of David by the great Michelangelo, which is now located in Florence. However, many art historians still call the Lamentation of Christ, also known as the Vatican Pieta, the true crown of the Italian sculptor's work. Moreover, one very gloomy legend is associated with this composition of the master.

There is a hypothesis that while working on the sculpture, Buonarroti mortally wounded his sitter in order to more accurately convey the torment of the dying Jesus in marble. Whether it is true or not, it will forever remain a mystery. However, the fact remains: Michelangelo was able to carve suffering in stone. After, no one was able to repeat something like that ...

Until a few dozen guys from the English countryside created a new Aston Martin Vantage. They embodied rage in metal, and this time no one was hurt.

The uniqueness of the new Vantage lies in the fact that the car may not have been born at all. The last generation of the coupe has become one of the most successful models in the history of the company. For more than 10 years of production, Aston Martin managed to sell over 20 copies. However, the car that was preparing to replace it could carry the DB000 index. At least that was the name of the concept coupe that Agent 10 drove in the Spectrum movie.

The cinematic DB10 was built in 2014 specifically for the filming of Bond. The platform and units of the serial Vantage coupe of the outgoing generation were put on a new body. For work in the frame, 8 such machines were assembled. And the management of Aston Martin immediately announced that the DB10 will remain the official car of Her Majesty's agent and will not go on sale.

And now almost four years have passed. Opposite me, at one of the municipal parking lots on the Yauzskaya embankment, there is a car that practically does not differ from the DB10 from the tape about the British super agent. And do not care what it is called in the old fashioned way - Vantage. The main thing is that the car entered the market, and the amazing work of the designers was not in vain.

Another thing is also funny: the management of Aston Martin has been threatening to come to the super-technological Formula 1 as a supplier of engines for several years in a row, but the power units for its own civilian models are mostly borrowed from partners. The fiery heart of the new Vantage is a four-liter V8 with two turbochargers in the camber from the masters of Mercedes-AMG.

The people from Gaidon had at their disposal a real engineering masterpiece, around which it was necessary to build the correct chassis. However, Aston did not push the engine to the limit. Here the "eight" produces only 510 hp. Moreover, this was done not only for engineering reasons, but also because of an unspoken chain of command. The Vantage is more powerful than the initial AMG GT coupe, but weaker than the intermediate GT S, older GT C and track GT R.

But the Aston sounds as loud and unbridled as the beast of the "Green Hell". With the start of the engine, the teenagers who took a selfie next to her a minute ago jump to the side. And ordinary pedestrians walking by begin to bypass Vantage a dozen meters away, as if passing next to a gate with a sign: “Caution! Angry dog".

"Alex, where do the comfortable chassis and mechatronics modes turn on?" - sitting behind the wheel, I ask the instructor from Aston Martin sitting next to me.

“There is no such regime here,” Alex concludes our dialogue succinctly.

The Vantage always rides in Sport mode by default. And this is not to say that a car with such settings feels tense on the go. Yes, you have to be careful with a hypersensitive accelerator pedal so as not to inadvertently piss off the revving engine. But working in tandem with the latter, the classic hydromechanical "automatic" with eight gears from the German ZF works surprisingly smoothly.

The pendants do not seem furious either. You constantly feel the type of coating under the wheels and even its micro-profile as a fifth point, but most of the small irregularities are still filtered. There is no doubt that you can get tired very quickly in such a car. Still, this will not happen in 20 minutes of the trip.

With the transition to Sport +, Vantage adaptive shock absorbers let more shaking on the body and interior, but they reduce to an imperceptible minimum body swing in any of the planes. The engine begins to mutter louder, and the box plays along with its temperament and does not allow the crankshaft to rotate slower than 2000 rpm. But, surprisingly, the steering wheel remains light enough (by sports car standards, of course) in each of these modes.

The steering wheel is sporty cemented only in Track mode. In the very one in which the motor flies off the coils and, in principle, does not work at speeds below 3000, and the gear changes of the box become very sharp. In the same mode, electronic collars are dropped, and Vantage turns into a real monster.

However, an experienced driver of Aston Martin will reveal itself from a completely different side. The adrenaline shock from communicating with Vantage can be translated into an endorphin high. Having found a common language with him, it is somehow hard to believe at once how obedient and responsive this car can be. Even in spite of 510 forces and rear-wheel drive.

Those who find it difficult to comprehend the complex character of the Briton will still be delighted with him. The absence of gasoline in your blood will not relieve you of the realization that an exceptional thing is in your hands. While the owners of Ferrari and Lamorghini will settle the old scores of old Enzo and his opponent Ferruccio, and the owners of the Audi R8 try to explain that they also have a supercar, the man behind the wheel of an Aston Martin will be above these controversies. Her Majesty's agent has more important missions.

A type	Coupe
Dimensions (length / width / height), mm	4465/1942/1273
Wheelbase, mm	2704
Ground clearance, mm	130
Dry weight, kg	1530
engine's type	Gasoline, supercharged
Working volume, cubic meters cm	3982
Max. power, h.p. (at rpm)	510/6000
Max. cool. moment, Nm (at rpm)	685/2000-5000
Drive type, transmission	Rear, 8АКП
Max. speed km / h	314
Acceleration from 0 to 100 km / h, s	3,6
Average fuel consumption, l / 100 km	10,5
Price from, USD	212 000