Aston Martin V12 Vantage RS – The Car the Vantage should have been.

As anyone who has read anything I’ve written will know, I am a huge Aston Martin fan. There is not an Aston Martin made I wouldn’t love to own (even the Atari Lagonda!). But sometimes Aston don’t get it completely right. The DB7 was too small (well, it was if you’re 6′3″ with short legs and a long body) and the V8 Vantage was too slow. Yes, too slow. Aston trumpeted it as the ultimate 911 beater. Bad move. If they hadn’t done that then perhaps expectations wouldn’t have been so high. True, it is the most gorgeous looking car in its sector (but it is an Aston Martin, so that’s a given). But it wasn’t exciting enough. But we now know that’s all about to change.

Back in December Aston Martin showed us the wonderful Aston Martin V12 Vantage RS concept. Now it was pretty obvious that this was going to be a production car, but there is now no doubt, as the car has been caught testing at the Nurburgring (which is fast becoming Aston’s home turf). So what’s so special about the RS? Well, if you look at the likely output of 600bhp you have a car that has the same power as a 599, but weighs an astonishing 750lbs less. So in a drag race the RS will humiliate Ferrari’s most powerful production car (and remember, the 599 makes the Enzo look timid). Even if Aston decide to rein in the power a tad to around the 550bhp mark, you’re still going to see a car with 599 levels of performance. Now that is something to relish.

There appear to be lots of little styling changes for the RS, none of them hugely significant. But be in no doubt, this is a performance car. Aston have even had to add a cooler to the diff to keep things working! But its not going to be cheap. Is the Aston Martin V12 Vantage RS for sale yet? No. But it will be soon. At around £180,000.

The most powerful Aston Martin ever. Oh, yes please!

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