Coupe 5.9 Liter V-12 on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Win an Aston Martin Vantage and an L.A. dream house

Autoblog may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page. Pricing and availability are subject to change. No donation or payment necessary to enter or win this sweepstakes. See official rules on Omaze. If you’re a fan of sunshine, beaches and luxury performance cars, this giveaway is for you. Omaze is giving away not only an Aston Martin Vantage, but a 5-bedroom, 6-bath modern farmhouse in the City of Angels. Win This $4.3 Million Los Angeles Dream House and an Aston Martin - Enter at Omaze HereÂ’s what we said about the Vantage when we last drove it: "Aston wrapped its aluminum-tubbed baby – its chassis 10% stiffer than the pricier DB11Â’s – with aluminum, steel and composite panels, for a svelte dry weight of 3,366 pounds. It goes down further with optional, weight-saving forged wheels and ceramic composite brakes.  "Combine that with a wicked-fast 13.1:1 steering ratio; an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission (with a carbon-fiber prop shaft); and Mercedes-AMGÂ’s superlative, 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 with 509 horses and 505 pound-feet of torque, and youÂ’ve got a British-German missile that cracks 60 mph in 3.5 seconds, and reaches a 195-mph peak. The DB11 has adopted this optional V8 as well, which only improves its handling versus the V12, though the Vantage gains more off-the-line advantage with a shorter final-drive ratio of 2.93, versus 2.7 in the DB11. "Driving the Aston is easy peasy in contrast, but thereÂ’s still rewarding effort involved. The AstonÂ’s street-killing, track-worthy intent is underlined by a three-mode drive system – adjusting throttle map, transmission, stability control and that basso-profundo exhaust – with no “Comfort” mode, only “Sport,” “Sport Plus” and “Track.” The steering is bristling with feedback, the chassis supremely balanced. ItÂ’s the kind of sports car that likes to be grabbed by the scruff of the neck and flogged, and if things get out-of-sorts occasionally, all the better. IÂ’d been on some of these same roads a few weeks ago in a $240,000 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S, and itÂ’s just a different experience. It may be faster than the Aston, as youÂ’d expect from a 640-horsepower 911 with a Bugatti-like 2.6-second launch to 60 mph, but the Porsche is also a more-effortless, surreal traveler, as much spaceship as sports car. If you can afford either or both, the choice is up to you. "This being an Aston, there are other flaws and quirks.

Last original Aston Martin DBS found in barn headed to auction

There's still big money in auctioning off barn finds. For example, the relatively tattered 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider from the Baillon Collection is now the highest priced 250 GT ever after its recent sale for $18.5 million. UK auction house Coys is hoping to hit a similar goldmine with its upcoming offer of the final, original Aston Martin DBS ever made. This dinged and rusty 1972 DBS in a shade called Dubonnet Rosso rolled off the assembly line as the last of its type in September 1972. These models were meant for the Aston driver looking for a slightly larger GT car, and they sported a 4.0-liter inline-six. This one also has an automatic transmission and 40,000 miles indicated on the odometer. Unfortunately, it has been sitting in a barn in Surrey, England, since 1980. As is plainly obvious, this Aston Martin is far from perfect with busted windows and missing trim pieces. Stuffing straw in the open portions of it is probably taking the ratty look a bit too far, though. Still, the auction house estimates the final DBS to sell for between 25,000 and 40,000 pounds ($38,000-$61,500) when it crosses the block at the Royal Horticultural Society on March 10. A practically perfect 1970 example once driven by Roger Moore fetched the equivalent of $900,000 in 2014. THE ULTIMATE BARN FIND 02/03/15 from COYS The last original Aston Martin DBS to come off the production line has been found in a barn in Surrey and will be auctioned by international auctioneers COYS in London on March 10th. The car was discovered by Chris Routledge, the Managing Partner of the auction house, and is one of the features of COYS 'Spring Classics' auction at the Royal Horticultural Society. Aston Martin Mayfair is hosting the barn find car for a week before the event takes place. Chris Routledge said: "This is the ultimate barn find and an important part of Aston Martin's history. It has been sitting in a barn since 1980 and now needs to be brought back to its former glory." He added: "The windows are broken, the interior trim is missing and its rusty, but it's all there and there has been huge interest from collectors around the world.

How chasing Ferrari improved Aston Martin, with help from Mercedes-Benz

GAYDON, England — After decades of ups and downs, British carmaker Aston Martin Lagonda is charting a more efficient and profitable way forward, leaning on technology from shareholder Mercedes-Benz to make the costly leap to electric vehicles (EVs). Less than two years after billionaire Lawrence Stroll drove to the rescue of James Bond's car brand of choice, Aston Martin has undergone a manufacturing makeover to lift margins and help it become more like rival Ferrari. Stroll, Aston Martin's largest shareholder and executive chairman, who is also an avid fan of Ferrari, says after vehicle sales jumped 82% in 2021 the carmaker's transformation to long-term profitability is well under way, with new cars coming and funding secured through 2025. But analysts say Aston Martin, which has gone bust seven times since it was founded in 1913 and has flirted with death as often as Agent 007, is still burning through piles of cash. Some question its ability to generate Ferrari-like sales to fund the vast cost of electrification. "It's precarious and it is possible for this company to go bust," said Redburn equity research analyst Charles Coldicott. "I don't think it's a controversial thing to say even though Aston wouldn't like to hear it." Asked to comment on perceptions of a shaky future, an Aston Martin spokesman reiterated Stroll's view that the carmaker is well on the way to long-term profitability and that it has adequate access to cash. On a tour of the carmaker's Gaydon factory, Tobias Moers, formerly head of Mercedes' high-performance AMG brand and Aston Martin chief executive since August 2020, rattles off a list of moves including cutting one of two assembly lines and bringing more bespoke items like seats in-house. Perhaps the biggest shift has been to focus on higher-value customer-driven and customized orders — a big part of Ferrari's success — rather than over-producing and churning out sports cars wholesale, which then had to be discounted. "When I came in, the company was manufacturing-dominated instead of engineering-led, which for an auto luxury business is insane," Moers said. "In a company this size, you need maximum flexibility and agility." Moers has cut Aston Martin's inventory to 600 sports cars from 2,000 — its cars sell for an average of around 150,000 pounds ($195,750) — and customized orders now account for 50% of sales versus 6% when he joined the firm. At that point, the carmaker was in trouble after a disastrous 2018 public listing.