2003 - Aston Martin Vanquish on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2018 Aston Martin Vantage Drivers' Notes Review | English style, German heart

Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore — The Vantage continues Aston Martin's evolution as a modern sports- and supercar maker. This machine feels special. It's gorgeous and translates Aston's design language effectively. It sounds intoxicating. I blasted around Detroit's sleepy suburbs one chilly night and felt a bit like James Bond. The AMG-sourced V8 is well-calibrated and works smoothly with the eight-speed automatic. Pulling the paddles is obviously fun. The steering returned proper feedback with adequate weight. The chassis is tight but not abusive. Considering the Vantage has so much power and technical prowess, it's still imminently drivable. I was comfortable almost immediately, and it's the kind of car that left me feeling satisfied and wanting more. That's the essence of Aston. Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Synder — The V8 Vantage holds a special place in my heart, and my heart was beating faster just looking at it in our parking lot. It's a gorgeous car, and it stands up to close inspection. I love the detail, the colors, the look of the materials and how they accentuate the car's design. That attention to detail is even more pronounced inside the car, where there's something interesting going on everywhere you look, including the headliner. Driving the car is a lot calmer than you might expect. Yeah, it's fast and a bit stiff, but not jarringly so. The AMG V8 and eight-speed transmission work wonders together. The acceleration is smooth and linear, with shifts happening in an instant, and without drama. Plus, I love the giant paddle shifters mounted on the steering column. They're thin, but extremely long, and they're always right where you expect them to be when you reach out with your finger. There were just a couple things that stood out to me as imperfect. On the infotainment interface on the center tunnel, the control wheel is tucked away, which helps keep you from accidentally bumping it, but makes it a little awkward to use. The other thing was that the whole driver seat moved around underneath me. I'm sure Aston saved some weight with these seats, but this didn't feel very securely attached to the floor. I forgot about both of those things as I found my way out of traffic and onto some curvy roads. This thing builds and carries a ton of speed with ease. And as good as it looks in its natural state of motion, this car was turning heads — and cellphones — when prowling through the parking lot.

Aston Martin's Vanquish S Red Arrow aerobatics special edition is a stunning tribute

Aston Martin's in-house custom car division, Q, has just revealed its latest model, the Aston Martin Vanquish S Red Arrows Edition. The Vanquish is themed around the Red Arrows, a British aerobatics team like the American Blue Angels. The connection to the team starts from the outside, with a bright, gloss red paint job with white and blue accents on the carbon fiber trim to replicate the look of the Red Arrows' planes. The badges have red, white, and blue enamel to evoke the Union Jack flag, and a white stripe along the side is meant to look like the smoke trails left by the planes. Inside, the interior is finished in black leather with khaki green leather inserts and matching seatbelts. According to Aston Martin, this color scheme echoes the flight suits worn by the Red Arrows team. The flight team's logo, which shows their diamond-shaped flight formation, is embroidered into the seat backs. The door panels also receive custom embroidery, which shows the "Vixen Break" maneuver. This particular Vanquish S loses its rear seats to make space for a pair of racing helmets that come with the car. The helmets are painted in Red Arrows colors. In addition to the helmets, Aston Martin will include scale models of the car and a Red Arrows plane, a racing suit, embroidered bomber jacket, and a custom luggage set. In keeping with the Red Arrows theme, only nine of these cars will be sold, one for each member of the aerobatics team. Each car will also be signed by the corresponding Red Arrows pilot. Aston will build a tenth car that will be donated to the RAF Benevolent Fund, which helps support veterans and their families. Related Video:

Aston Martin DB5 from ‘GoldenEye’ will be auctioned

Think of an Aston Martin DB5 in a Bond film, and you're likely to think of "Goldfinger" — the film and the car are forever linked in cinema history. But it's not the only Bond film with a DB5 chase, as the producers were eager to establish Pierce Brosnan as a credible Sean Connery equivalent, and put him in a DB5 on a mountain road in 1995's "GoldenEye." There was no white Mustang to chase in "GoldenEye," as Brosnan's Bond played with a red, reportedly rented Ferrari F355 driven by Famke Janssen. A few years after the film's premiere, in 2001, the DB5 was sold for $200,000. That doesn't sound fantastical for a Bond car, but at the time it was the most expensive piece of Bond memorabilia ever sold. At the end of the decade, the actual "Goldfinger" DB5 sold for roughly $4 million, which is unlikely to be topped by the "GoldenEye" car this summer. The car is not a barn-find or a lost cinema classic, either, as it has been on display in several museums such as the National Motor Museum in Britain. Bonhams will be auctioning this DB5 on July 13 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The car's estimated at $1.6 million to $2.14 million, which is still half or less than half of what the "Goldfinger" car brought in. Still, it's a silver Aston Martin with actual cinema history, and it's believably one of the reasons why restored classic Astons still get resprayed in Silver Birch. Related Video: