ON YOUR FIRST SERIOUS TRIP TO THE top of the Aston Martin Vantage's performance curve, you will make the last gearchange at 138mph. It will not occur to you until a lot later that this is as last as a Lotus Espritor a Porsche 944 will go however long the road. Instead, you will be preoccupied with pulling the gearlever cleanly back to fifth, tucking it into your thigh as the engine bellows at 6250rpm -its short-periods-only rev limilt. The speedo needle, quicker with numbers than a bookmaker's clerk. will flicker somewhere the other side of 150.
When the power goes on in top, the nose will rise again, The car will accelerate so that twin green lines of trees either side of the road, reflected on the looming bonnet bulge are an unbroken, flashing expanse of colour. The push will go on until you reach a true 160mph when it will taper off. Probably, if you have only the roads available to us for this test, you will not reach either the 168mph top speed Aston Martin claim or the 165mph at which others claim to have electrically timed the car. But that will not prevent you from believing either is possible.
When your car is gathering 80 yards of road a second, your concern about braking distances looms large, Besides, it is surprising how little 168mph matters when you have 160 so easity at your disposal. It is better to take advantage of a generous space to slow down but you know as you do so that only two or three other cars in the world can accelerate so strongly beyond 140 - and none of those can carry four people.
As you stop on a verge and get out of the car, cubic yards of exhaust heat billowing around your legs from the tree-trunk exhaust pipes below, two things will occur to you. One is that even the shortest high speed run in this car seems to add 30 or 40miles to the odometer reading; the other that your attitude to Astons and their builders has changed. Or changed again.
If, like me, your familiarity with Astons grew up in the middle '70s when the company were in the hands of men more concerned with the value of the assets than with Aston's heritage, you will remember that the V-8 model went unrefined and under-developed for years. They weren't very good cars then. Later, under new management, the cars were improved and the striking Lagonda saloon - alter live years still remarkable for the sophistication of its chassiswas produced. Yet somehow, Astons always seemed cars whose high performance had been included not so much to be used and enjoyed to the full, but so that middle-aged-to~elderly owners would not have to work for a lack. of it. Astons seemed to have a 'soft' kind of high performance that mostly suited cars driven at a filth of their potential, inside the stockbroker belt.
Right or wrong, that's how they appeared. The Vantage has no time for this old man's stuff. It is a heavily-muscled, hard charging extrovert of a car, built with a surplus of horsepower and the tautest of chassis to explore the upper limits of speed and cornering power. Its deep nose spoiler, huge tyres, blanked-off radiator grille and the thunder of its exhausts tell anyone that much.
The Vantage is a much-faster version of the 'standard' V-8 which Astons insist on calling a Saloon. This Saloon is, of course, a coupe except when its badges say Volante. Then it's a drophead coupe. The name Saloon is doubtless to remind us that this Car can carry four people and is thus irrevocably different from every mid-engined Italian that can crack a mere 150.
Aston Martin built Vantage versions of their regular DB4, DB5 and DB6 models in the '60s. When the latest coupe body appeared as the DBS in 1967, it used the older cars' twin-cam six-cylinder engine of 4.0 litres for a time, then the V8 in a mild state of tune. With the new body, the Vantage disappeared. If turned up again in 1977 when the name had been out of the price lists for a decade, as part of the late 70s spurt the company produced (which also brought the Lagonda and the Volante models to lile). Nowadays it is made in very modest numbers, selling to the few people prepared to pay a margin on the Italians' prices lor a super-fast British coupe of the old school. The only signilicant differences between the Vantages of '77 and '82 are in the shape of their torque curve. The latest cars' curve is flatter so that flexibility from 2000rpm is enhanced.
They make Aston Martin V8s one a week, at Newport Pagnell using time honoured techniques that amount to hand building. A bonnet, all in aluminium, is welded up from four shaped pieces. The air extractor vent in the side of a front wing is positioned,cut and finished by one craftsman. All panel fitting is done lovingly by artisans who have been doing it for years - or by young men whose apprenticeships have been spent at Newport Pagnall, crafting curves for coupes.
Like all Astons, the car has its aluminium panels rivetted over a steel chassis frame and superstructure. The suspension is by unequal length wishbones, coil springs and an antiroll bar at the front a De Dion layout with coils and parallel longitudinal locating arms and a Watt linkage at the rear.
The front suspension has a relationship with that of the cars made as far back as the DB4 of 1959 (though a power output of 390bhp has had to be declared for the German market, but in Britain, power and torque are stiff "not disclosed'" there are no common components) but the De Dion layout came with the DBS in 1967. The present cars use power assisted rack and pinion steering (giving an unimpressive turning circle of 38 ft on full lock) and their brakes are huge ventilated discs with power assistance and separate circuits front and rear.
An Aston Martin V8 Saloon is distinguished as a Vantage relatively early on its three month, 1200 man-hour journey through the Newport Pagnetl production process, For one thing, the front suspension pick-up points are different from the ordinary car's, calculated to provide more suitable camber compensation for the tauter suspension. Thus, the front spring _ and front and rear damper- rates are stiffer. It isn't the front coils themselves that are stiffened butthe rubber bump stops, which endow the front suspension with a rising rate. There is also a still anti-roll bar at the front of the car. In the engine,the differences are relatively few. The four twin-throat Webers are substantially bigger in choke size, the camshafts are distinctly 'hotter' than standard. The exhaust is also slightly modified to cope with a greater gas flow - at the cost of slighlly more noise. We can't imagine a Vantage owner caring about that.
The whole produces around 15 to 20 percent more power than a standard VB. Aston Martin have lor years had the irritating policy of refusing to quote power figures, The habit came about late in the '60s when the management olthe time fell they couldn't legitimately compete with the grossly-inffated figures attributed to torquey-but-weak American engines ofthe time,
Now, when power figures must be honest, there is much less excuse for avoiding the issue, and one is forced to the conclusion that the policy has become a marketing ploy; the sellers believe that those who guess will invariably guess high. There's evidence, of course, that it has been a successful policy_ In recent years, both CAR's friends and its competition have given that engine 'paper power' of 450 to 475bhp. In fact, 390bhp at 5800rpm has had to be stated for the German market but ludicrously, in Britain the power and torque figures are stitt 'not disclosed'. However the 390bhp power should be reliable enough, and informed estimates put the torque at 370 to 390lb/ft at a little under 4000rpm. It's enough.
That V-8 engine is no less than a work of art. It was race-tested at Le Mans early in its life, as a result of which much webbing was attached to its crankcase to promote rigidity. It has been renowned for its toughness during the whole of its 14 year run in Astons and Lagondas - and the firm aim to prove it all over again in a Group C racing application, just announced_ Racing engines will be prepared at the works but not the chassis. They come from a separate company in which the boss, Victor Gauntlett, has an interest.
In the works, each engine is hand-built by one of four specialist assemblers. One man does the whole job- from the stage where the alloy block arrives bare, apart from its shrunk-in cylinder liners. Everything that moves is balanced - even the water pump pulley - and at the end of the job (after an engine has run lor three hours on the bench and been dynamometer tested for maximum power), it is allowed to wear a small brass plaque on one of the cam covers bearing the name of the assembler.
Frank Matthews, a stocky middle aged man and a veteran Aston employee, built the engine that usually takes the Aston Martin executive chairman, Victor Gauntlet!, down the road. We know: we watched Mr Matthews at work and borrowed Mr.Gauntlett'sVantage, bearing the Matthews name,for this test.
It's a typical Vantage, we were told, apart from the fact that it wears monstrous Pirelli P7R tyres of 275;55 section on each of its 7.0in alloy rims. The specilication sheets say they should be 255/60 CN12s. Mr Gauntlet!, along with most of Aston Martin's staff, call the car the 'two ton brick'. It's a vivid, metallic blue car, squat and monstrous, but the two tons part is an exaggeration, Vantages weigh only 38cwt. They occupy quite some road area. though. They're about as long as a Ford Granada around 2.0in wider, and they stand only a couple of inches lower. They weigh, incidentatly, a massive 1500 lb more but it's worth remembering that the Granada even the last fuel injected 2.8i, has a lot less than half the Aston's power.
This Aston Martin horsepower, and torque, are transmitted to the rear axle through the old familiar ZF five-speed which sees service in Maserati Khamsins, front engine De Tomasos. and has been used in big BMWs.It seems to go on forever. Even its lever knob is a link with the past. Aston Martin have been using a ZF five-speeder since the middle '60s when they decided to stop making their own four-speeder (with Laycock overdrive) at the DB5 model change. This box is all you can get with a Vantage; there's no automatic option. In league with a 3.54 to one final drive ratio (inside its Salisbury limited slip differential) the Vantage's overdriven top gear (0.8510 one) gives 26.3mph. 1000rpm; the direct fourth is good for 22.2mph at the same crank speed.
The performance, as reported, is astounding. At the same time. Victor Gaunliett certainly finds it useable, to judge from the shredded state of his Pirelli P7s. Even with all that power, the slippery diff and the huge rear footprints make it a tough assignment to spin the rear wheels in the dry. You can do it, all right by taking the engine to 4000rpm (the torque peak, remember) and dumping the clutch, but doing it or seeing it done is to experience the abuse of fine machinery.
With 2500rpm and a tiny amount of slip the car chirps off the line and arrows down the road its engine bellowing towards the rev limit as quickly as you can think about it. Past 30mph in lass than 3.0 sec, past 40 to the first gear change just shorl of 50mph. It's a devilish, dog-leg movement and slow with it. You don't want to make mistakes with your management of this car's leviathan torque; it has the potential to bring about some monumental clashes and clunks right through that transmission. Past 50 in a mere 4.5sec (despite the difficull change) and on past 60 a second later, You pull the lever back to third (long throw action just a little sloppy and vintage in feel) just this side of 80, passed in around 8.5sec. The ton is just a number, 12.5sec from the start, and the change to fourth (neater dog-leg than the one-two change, but still slow) comes at 115mph, where the speedo reads over 120. Then it's nose high again, right up toward 140 where there's a gear to go and still more hard acceleration on tap. As we said, there's 160mph available on any medium-long straight; the last 8.0 to 10mph needs driver of icy temperament doing the investigating.
Aston Martin say this car will run a 13.5sec standing quarter mile, and though we didn't run one, the claim falls into line with our other figures. In short, the Aston's as fast as a Ferrari Boxer which weighs at least 600lb less and has 50bhp and two seats fewer. The best tuned Ferrari can add 10mph to the Aston's practical top speed of 160 (though you won't find many men around Newport Pagnell who agree with that) but it ought to: it doesn't have the Aston's bluff, 'pre-aerodynamics' front end. Perhaps Lamborghini's Countach S (about to reappear in Britain) is faster than both cars, but you won't find anything else. Come to think of it, you won't find ANY car as fast which will carry two rear passengers and a sensible amount of luggage for four people. If more than two must be carried, the Aston is a clear, commanding winner. Scratch the Ferrari 400i, fine car that it is. It just isn't fast enough.
Your performance need not be confined to straight lines; the handling and brakes are impeccable. When you approach a Vantage (taking in the no-nonsense appearaflce of its blanked grille and deep nose spoiler) it's still hard not to be struck by the old fashioned, upright appearance of the car. Can this big old thing compete?
It can. The chassis has all that late '70s development, the dampers and springs (and front bump stops) match one another magnificently, and on P7 rubber the car has a limpet grip on the road. Two things are overwhelmingly impressive in such a monster. The first is the way the car unfailingly turns in utterly on line, with more dependable front-end grip of any front-engined car we can remember. The second is the way the tautness of the suspension (which allows so little body roll) makes rapid, reflex changes of direction so effortless. A car of this body weight has no right to be so agile.
This is not to confuse agility with lightness of controls or ease of driving. The Vantage needs your best efforts. Its power steering, superb right down to the shape of the wheel's cross-section, will be considered heavy by many.
The ZF gearbox always needs concentration. It's not so heavy, but the driver's hand must move precisely if the correct ratio is unerringly to be chosen. The foot controls are hefty, but that merely makes them more progressive since a greater range of efforts may be applied to them. At first, the brakes (fade free) seem to lack initial bite, but the key to them is temperature. When they're warm, they are prOgressive in a way few systems are. The cars is extremely reluctant to lock its wheels, what with that massive body weight and the big rubber footprints. Yet an anti-lock brake system would sit well in the Aston's specification. It is a happy asset for a car with 40bhp, let alone 400.
That leaves the throttle. Its travel feels a foot long, in fact the first couple of Vantage miles may lead a driver to believe the car has far less power on tap than it does. Opening all those throttles takes a long, firm, deliberate movement which is as it should be, if all hell is not to break loose as a consequence. That throttle pedal plays a huge part in the handling, of course. You can break the tail with power in practically any bend you choose below 80mph, and it's an inspiring thing to do, even if it coats the road with vast amounts of rubber dust. The quick, sensitive steering can be wielded promptly enough to hold powerslides at exaggerated angles, while the tightly reined body shows no sign of lurches or other disturbing movements. The people at Aston Martin must have driven this Vantage ferociously hard and with the utmost
'Opening the throttles takes a long, firm and deliberate push which is as it should be, if all hell is not to break loose as a result' accuracy for many, many days during its development. It shows.
There is a price to pay for all this performance. The first is in fuel consumed. Expect no more than 10mpg when you're really using the car, and you won't be disappointed. At a cruise, keeping on the right side of the policemen you'll get 14 mpg. That means with the 23 gal fuel tank, you'll be stopping every 280 miles to put at least £30 in the coffers of the oil industry and the government. It is fashionable for timid testers to talk of the anti-social nature of this kind of consumption (and there's no doubting that fossil fuels are to be conserved) but another school of thought says that a man whose car purchase price includes £2700 in car tax and a whopping £5000 in VAT has earned his little indulgence. . .
A further price is paid in noise level and the brusque nature of the engine. This is no Jaguar. There is road-patter through the floor (Mr Gauntlett's car had some obviously-experimental lead-sheet-and-rubber sound-deadening mats in the boot) and the snuffles and roars and rumbles and whines of the engine are always heard. Even at idle, the car makes the most 'massive' sound of any in Britain. And the engine is a little unruly for a V-8, too. There is no choke on the Webers; you pump them three or four times before a cold start, and the running is rough for a time thereafter. Compared with a Detroit V-8, this four-cam Aston is a little intractable too. Detroit iron usually pulls hard from 1000rpm or 1200rpm; this Aston needs 2000rpm at least and it's happier with 2500 if you're expecting it to accept willing throttle openings in high gears. For that reason, the Vantage isn't happy pulling hard in fifth or even fourth under 50mph Nevertheless, it will rumble along in to at 30, as long as the throttle load is light of course, 5.0litre Detroit engines are mostly ready to throw in the power-tow at 4000rpm whereas the Vantage has 2250rpm up its sleeve at that speed.
You can't criticise the ride. It's firm but superbly damped and it keeps the car flat always. This stability, allied with th excellent support afforded by the car's leather bucket seats, makes it comfortable. Perhaps you hear a lot of road noise and rumbles of the suspension's workings, but you rarely object to the level of the road shocks it transfers to your body, especially considering the track-car levels of its grip and control.
Besides, if it's comfort you want, this cabin has it. It takes eight hides to cover the inside of an Aston with leather and the effect is spectacular. It's little more ~ if the Vantage you drive has a burr walnut facia such as Mr Gauntlett's car sports, Opulence - and the smell of it - is all about. The facia is well equipped with dials and switches (many of them Jaguar-derived) but its ergonomics are unspectacular. There are no serious faults but the tachometer and speedometer are set a little far under the dash's eyebrow than suits taller driven and a couple of the minor gauges are obscured by the wheel rim. The stalk controls work well enough, but those of the Mazda 323 'chase' car we used with the Vantage work more satisfyingly. Some steering wheel height adjustmer would help small drivers (though that would probably need too much engineering so late in the Saloon's life: Plus points are that the pedals are adjustable into two positions of reach (the pads move on the floor-pivoting shafts) and the car has a lovely fly-off handbrake. It is inconveniently located forward on the driver's left, but it works with a precision quite out of the class of the more usual ratchetted contraptions May it be preserved.
May the whole car be preserved. It allows Britain to lead the world in providing high speed motoring for four. This Vantage, so venerable yet so beautifully developed, has performane to see off Porsche Turbos and 928Ss, Jaguar coupes and Ferrari 400s. It has the sheer accommodation and boot space to render Boxers and Countachs all-but impractical. But most of all it it provides, when other members of a rare breed have passed on, agility with massive, progressive controls, and an old-fashioned, thundering power with its mile eating. A lot of us love that kind of thing.
