The other Aston Vantage

An Aston Martin made for grand touring

Following Ford Motor Company's acquisition of Aston Martin in 1987, Aston Martin unveiled the V8 Vantage at the 1992 Birmingham Motor Show and it is essentially a high performance version of the Virage.

The base model comes with the 5.3L V8 engine that produces 344HP of power while the Vantage added two superchargers at the 5.3L V8 so it generates over 550HP of power and 549.7 ft-lb of torque. It's mated in either a 6-speed manual or a 4-speed automatic. Despite its 2-ton weight, it can go 0-100kph in 4.6 seconds and a top speed of 300kph.

For stopping power, the V8 Vantage comes with the large-diameter AP brake discs; the 362mm diameter front rotors were among the largest ever in a road car.

The V600 model boosted the supercharged 5.3L V8 engine to 600HP of power.

Production of the Vantage V8 commenced in 1993 and continued up until 1999. In 2000, Aston Martin's "Works Service" unit built nine bespoke Vantage Volantes (convertibles), one of which was built to long wheelbase specifications.

The Vantage and the R33

Unlike any other past model Astons, the V8 Vantage from the 1990's is not exactly more of a show-off but with the fighting stance of a street fighter, this car's always on the offensive rather than the defensive side. The outside though, I find it very confusing that if these came from the Nissan Skyline R32 or the R33 perhaps. If you put them on the same place, you'll know that they're highly identical in design terms.

The supercar of the old-school

What surprised me is the sound of its supercharged 5.3L V8 engine. It sounds like a combination between Pavarotti and the roaring noise of the fictitious Assoluto Squaldon from Rage Racer. What I'm saying is that the engine sounds like Pavarotti while the supercharger whine sounds like Rage Racer's Squaldon. Let's not forget that when it was launched in that decade, this is Aston Martin's most powerful production model they've ever made.

As you may remember, in a classic Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson reviewed the V8 Vantage but only the engineering prototype because Aston Martin can't lend him the finished production model for some unknown reasons. Unlike the finished product, the prototype that Jeremy tested has its rear lamps wrong (looks like it came from the Virage), the rims are wrong, and there are no rear seats but Jeremy doesn't really matter because he enjoys it. He called this V8 Vantage "it's a Rolls-Royce with attitude".

To see all this poetic violence the V8 Vantage does, I devised a little test...

It came from the Satan Pit

The devil's bottom

This is the Lamborghini Diablo SV, one of the most well-known sportscars of the 1990's, V12 engine at the middle, no traction control, no anti-lock brakes, and a Stig to handle the beast below...

This is what happens when you pit against a Diablo

...and he's facing against the V600 V8 Vantage, which is driven by a fat bloke in slacks. Stand by, ladies and gents, for a quarter-mile race at the Top Gear Track...

Diablo PWNed the V8 Vantage!

So, the V8 Vantage lost the drag race but now let's see how good they really are by putting them at the Top Gear Test Track for one full lap at the circuit. This should be interesting.

The Diablo SV done it in 1:23.023 while the V600 V8 Vantage did it in 1:26.319, meaning that the V600 lost the bout despite the V8 Vantage V600 has more power than the Diablo SV's. Sure, the V8 Vantage V600 may have lost the fight against the Diablo but in every intangible way, the V8 Vantage is a better alternative to the Diablo because unlike the Lambo, the Aston V8 Vantage V600 has room at the back and it has proper doors unlike the Lambo's scissor doors that others find it a bit of a show-off.

No matter what, the V8 Vantage has the pecks of the chippendale and the stance of the street fighter...

The Vantage evolution