New Aston Martin Vantage S review: a wonderfully ferocious sports car

Verdict

Part exhilarating sports car, part brutish muscle car, part intrepid sculpture, the herculean and wonderfully ferocious new Aston Martin Vantage S delivers big thrills and plenty of character. We’ll have to wait to see whether this and other more focused offerings can help the 113-year old British institution finally get back in the black, but one thing’s for sure: we’re going to have a lot of fun while it tries if this is the calibre of car it will deliver in the process. 

Aston Martin can’t stop hemorrhaging money, with the company burning through cash like a rookie footballer on their first contract and sales numbers not able to support the business. But the luxury car maker thinks it’s finally found a way out of its financial black hole: speed.

Bosses have told us that from here on, Aston is going to be focusing its efforts on creating more special, more potent, more dynamic and, unsurprisingly, pricier versions of its DBX SUV and sports cars. Enter the new Vantage S, which ups the ante and drama yet again on the British brand’s answer to the Porsche 911 Turbo and Ferrari Amalfi. 

This is the latest evolution of the second-generation Vantage which launched in 2018, but received a top-to-bottom overhaul in 2024, with a significant power boost and a stunning new interior among the highlights.

Used - available now

2023 Aston Martin

Vantage

16,400 milesAutomaticPetrol4.0L

Cash £79,999

View Vantage

In terms of styling tweaks for the S version, the fresh look of the revamped Vantage – which has hints of the brand’s million-pound One-77 and V12 Speedster in it – has been subtly massaged. For instance, there are new vents in the bonnet that allow hot air to escape from the engine bay, which you occasionally catch a glimpse of and looks like steam coming out of the nostrils of a pent-up bull. 

On the wings are hand-made S badges made from red glass enamel, while the bespoke 21-inch Y-spoke rims accommodate massive brakes, with our test car featuring the optional carbon ceramic discs. Meanwhile, a small extra spoiler sits atop the Vantage’s existing ducktail, and while it may not look significant, Aston says it adds 44kg of downforce at the car’s 202mph top speed.

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Even under the cold light of a petrol forecourt, this car’s muscular physique exudes a palpable air of sophistication and menace all at once.  

Then there’s the stuff you can’t see, like the new front airdam and venturi vanes that, combined, create an additional 67kg of downforce. New suspension hardware, engine mounts and control software have also been added, to deliver greater agility and make the S feel more engaging and composed. 

Aston has even binned the rubber bushings for the rear subframe, bolting it directly to the body to make the Vantage S feel more direct. The suspension’s camber, toe and caster have also been fine tuned, supposedly to sharpen responses and improve front-end grip. 

Lift the long, low bonnet and you are not bathed in golden light as if you’re staring into the famous briefcase from Pulp Fiction. You don’t even get to gaze upon a piece of mechanical artwork. Instead, you’re greeted with hard plastic, tubing and bracing, but hidden beneath is a twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 made by AMG and enhanced by Aston. 

The Vantage had already jumped from 503bhp to 656bhp during its mid-life makeover, but the boffins at Gaydon have managed to squeeze out an extra 15bhp for the S, along with a deep mechanical growl and a titanic 800Nm of torque to hurl you forward. 

Add to that some recalibrating of the powertrain, a new throttle map and refined launch control system, and the Vantage S blasts from 0-62mph in 3.4 seconds  – one-tenth faster than the regular model, if not quite as ferocious as the 911 Turbo S, which does the same sprint in 2.5 seconds. 

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But enough talk of suspension and stats. Lower yourself into the driver’s seat and close the swan door, and the red light from the glass-covered start button calls to you. Press it and the V8 rumbles into life; it’s not so loud to attract warnings of anti-social behaviour from the parish council, but it’s more than sufficient to make its presence known. It’s also guaranteed to generate plenty of giddy excitement from your passenger. 

Find a straight (as well as quiet) bit of road and batten down the hatches, because with the full might of the V8 unleashed, the Vantage S is sensationally, stupidly quick. With all 671bhp sent to the rear wheels in a relatively compact car, you can feel it squirm a little when you launch it hard, but once the huge 325-section rear tyres hook up, you’re flying. 

The bellow of the V8 makes the Vantage feel more like a muscle car most of the time, with the sound deepening as you switch into Sport Plus and Track mode. This is done via the anodised metal ring around the start button, which turns with an incredibly satisfying heaviness that makes you feel like a safe cracker turning the final tumbler on a vault. 

This isn’t a Dodge Charger, though; the revs climb quickly, with other noises like a supercharger-esque whine from the differential appearing in the angry melody as you edge closer to the 7,000rpm red line. 

Aston promised the Vantage S would have “a thrilling appetite for corners”, and it’s certainly a hungry animal. The steering is weighty but direct, quick and precise, while there is only the smallest amount of body movement as you attack corners and flow behind the bends of a B-road. The speed and power of this car can make you cautious, but we found it’s not an intimidating or spiky beast, and one that you can enjoy both at a relaxed pace or being driven hard. 

Importantly, while Aston’s engineers wanted the S to display greater agility, this still has to be a compliant car you want to drive not just on a mountain pass or a track. So, they softened the rear springs for improved low-speed ride – perfect for prowling around Knightsbridge – and fitted slightly less stiff transmission mounts. 

This is still a taut, focused sports car, and you feel that even while cruising on the motorway. The ride is firm – the softest suspension is Sport after all – and quite a bit of noise makes it into the cabin. However, it’s not punishing by any means. It’s also incredibly stable, as you’d hope for a car this fast, and it can even soak up a speed bump pretty well around town. We covered hundreds of miles in the Vantage S, and would happily cover a few hundred more. 

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Our only niggle with the driving experience is the eight-speed ZF automatic transmission, which occasionally seems to forget its role in this operation. If you’re cruising along and push the throttle for a little extra speed, it doesn’t do anything. It’s only once you put the pedal to the metal that the gearbox finally goes ‘oh, alright then’, drops down a few gears and you’re fired forward into the next county. 

In addition, the shifts maybe aren’t as sharp or quick as they would be from a dual-clutch, and pulling the paddles behind the wheel perhaps isn’t as satisfying as it is in a Ferrari. But we’re splitting hairs, here.

The Vantage’s new interior is not just more ergonomic than before, but feels far more special, with our test car featuring a sublime blend of carbon fibre and gorgeous green leather. The large ‘S’ emblazoned on the seats apparently requires more than 16 metres of thread and 2500 stitches. However, this dedication to detail also serves to make the cheap plastic indicator stalk – presumably Mercedes-sourced – stick out like a sore thumb.  

Aston’s infotainment system still isn’t the finest we’ve ever tested either, as we found it can be slow at times and fiddly to navigate. However, the Vantage has a trick up its sleeve, being one of the only cars in the world right now to offer Apple CarPlay Ultra. This system takes over both the central touchscreen and driver’s display, providing cleaner and sharper-looking graphics, and a more intuitive user interface. There’s also a sizable 346-litre boot big enough to accommodate a long weekend’s worth of luggage.

The new Vantage S starts from £175,000 – around £10,000 more than the standard car. However, that’s before you’ve begun to peruse the bountiful options list, or consult Q branch – the brand’s personalisation division – which can add that extra special touch, should customers wish. And we’re sure plenty of them will. 

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