Aston Martin V8 Vantage (2005 - 2017) – Aston’s long-serving foil for the 911

As it rumbled towards retirement, the Aston Martin V8 Vantage felt increasingly detached from its ever-more advanced and capable opposition, for better and worse. It is an unashamedly old-school car, and while that sometimes held it back in contemporary group tests, the tide has turned and now the V8 Vantage feels wonderfully pure and refreshing.

Launched in 2005, the V8 Vantage saw continuous development throughout its life, its heady, 380bhp 4.3-litre V8 engine quickly growing to 4.7 litres. It was a car of many iterations, the Vantage, with the N400, N420 and N430 specials demarcating moments of change and increases in focus for the model, laying the foundations for updates to the overall Vantage line. Almost all Vantages were available as a soft-top Roadster too, Aston’s sports car shirking the more leisurely ‘Volante’ moniker used by its larger grand tourer siblings.

The Vantage was offered with the Sportshift single-clutch auto or a six-speed manual gearbox, the latter rarer but far more involving. While it never did really reach a zenith, Sportshift was upgraded over time with quicker software. Sportshift II, a new seven-speeder, was brought in for the introduction of the Vantage S, courtesy of Prodrive.

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Arguably it was with the Vantage S of 2011 and subsequent Vantage model years, that Aston’s sports car hit its finest form, with its extra power and dynamic enhancements, including a quicker steering rack and larger brakes. 

With its 4.7-litre engine generating 430bhp, the Vantage S doesn’t grab headlines, but its performance, size and grip work together in supreme harmony. It made good on much of the promise of the Prodrive-fettled car, the N400 and the N420 but was more widely available.

The N430 special edition got sportier both in terms of visuals and equipment, with exterior paint accents that mimic those of the Vantage GT3 racers of the time, along with lightweight forged wheels and carbonfibre interior trim. It certainly looks and feels like a more focused machine, and it’s got rarity on its side with only 150 having been sold worldwide, but it’s not hugely dissimilar to the more plentiful and equally powerful S.

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A more intense, exciting and evocative V8 variant came in 2016 in the form of the bewinged GT8, but the Vantage has always been an elegant sporting GT at heart. The final flourish for the VH-era Vantage was the V8 Vantage AMR.

Unlike the GT8, the S is far more at home on the road than it is the track, and that’s fine by us. Set off and it’s the quick-ratio hydraulically assisted steering that gets you first, clear in its feedback and measured in its responses. A firm but pliant edge to the ride adds to the sense of connection. The S’s tweaked suspension feels very well-judged, and the car is exploitable and thrilling in the way that the best front-engined, rear-drive sports cars always are. 

The V8 feels muscular and sounds terrific without being overly sharp in its responses, with a strong, useable level of performance for the road. The Vantage doesn’t bite when you approach the limit either, partly because it communicates so well, but mostly because it has a neutral balance that draws you into carrying more and more speed with justified confidence.

Aston Martin V8 Vantage: prices and buying guide

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The Vantage was a car that got relentlessly nipped and tucked over the course of its lengthy production run, so the later the car you get, the more refined it’ll be, with more of the finer issues of the original ironed out. Conversely, the earlier (and leggier) you go, the cheaper the price of entry (as low as £20k), albeit with extra caution advised. 

The Vantage S represents great value from around £30,000 for a car with miles and Sportshift. A nicer manual will be more like £40k+ – more certainly than the very cheapest 4.3s but equivalent to or cheaper than some of the rarer specials with which it evenly compares and is certainly more readily available. The 2012 update carried over most of the revisions from the Vantage S, with a meaningful price reduction at the time.

Cars from 2016 onwards saw the baby Aston gain a new Vanquish-inspired dashboard with a far neater control suite and a slicker (for an Aston) infotainment system. Needless to say these rarer cars from the tail end of the V8 Vantage’s tenure command a premium. At every level of prospective Vantage ownership, you’ll pay less for the less desirable, more numerous Sportshift examples compared to an equivalent manual. The premium is worth it.

Whichever model you choose, the Vantage has proved to be reliable if maintained properly. The engine is as tough as it sounds and both gearboxes are more than up to the job of handling the V8’s outputs, though be sure to be aware of how much clutch life is left, especially on Sportshift cars. The extruded aluminium chassis isn’t prone to rust either, although the steel rear subframe can corrode. A Vantage in rude health, particularly with the manual ’box, emanates exactly the kind of noise, beauty and interaction that defines the greatest Aston Martins, making it a hugely desirable used choice.

What we said

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Aston Martin V8 Vantage (2009)

‘Prod the starter and the V8 barks into life; once you’re on the move it will also bellow gloriously every time you wind the revs above 4000rpm. If we’re being picky then the gearshift is not the best and there are times when the chassis doesn’t feel completely keyed into the tarmac, but the front-engine/rear-drive layout ensures you’re never short of cornering options.’ – Roger Green

Aston Martin V8 Vantage N420 (2010)

‘There’s good detail through the well-weighted steering and despite the firmer springs the ride is still comfortable. It can feel stiff laterally and a little choppy over lumpy B-roads, but there’s plenty of poise and grip in the corners. Pushed really hard it can feel rather elastic beneath you but if you’re up for it the set-up allows you to work the rear tyres up to and over their limit with decent confidence.’ – John Barker

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Aston Martin V8 Vantage S (2011)

'As in the V12 Vantage, you play gently with the grip on the front end through long, fast corners, although with less weight in the V8’s nose, it adjusts and reacts more quickly. It’s a car that makes you want to drive, and then keep driving.

‘The engine seems to have been unshackled too. With shorter gears it always seems to be eager to rev, spinning up easily and encouraging you to just keep accelerating or overtaking. The ride is firm and controlled, which I like, but not harsh.

‘The one small fly in the ointment is the way the gearbox changes up. Pull back on nicely weighted right-hand magnesium paddle and, even in Sport mode, the ECU dictates how fast the gearshift is depending on where you are in the rev range. Not a problem if you are changing on the limiter on track, as the shift is banged through brutally fast. Change at 5000rpm and there’s a niggling pause-engage, which just interrupts the flow on road and isn’t what we’ve come to expect from the best paddleshifts.

‘The brakes start fading a bit after three or four rounds on circuit, but ease the pace sympathetically for a lap (concentrate on going sideways instead of quickly) and they come back nicely’ – Henry Catchpole, evo 156

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Aston Martin V8 Vantage (2012)

‘There are faster and more technologically advanced cars in the baby Aston’s sector, but few offer its poise, balance and enthusiasm for being driven hard. The 4.7-litre V8 (still developing 420bhp) is a bit long in the tooth, but is no less endearing for that, while the chassis remains one of the best exemplars of all that’s great about a front-mid-engined layout.’ – Dickie Meaden

Aston Martin V8 Vantage AMR (2017)

‘In many ways, it drives in the manner its beefy but elegant looks suggest, with a reassuring weight to all the controls that’s complemented by a really ‘mechanical’ sense of tactility. And then there’s that V8, slightly sluggish at low revs and soft on response at the top of the accelerator pedal’s long travel, but hugely keen over 4,000rpm whereafter it closes in on the limiter with that characteristically hysterical wail. It might not be the quickest way to get from point to point, but it’s definitely one of the more enjoyable ones.’ – Adam Towler

Aston Martin V8 Vantage specs