Ethan Jupp

New V12 Vantage: harder, faster and the last of its kind

The formula for the very coolest Aston Martin over the last decade or two has been very simple: take the smallest car and stuff the biggest most powerful engine in it. We of course refer to the V12 Vantage, which has made its debut at the 2022 Goodwood Festival of Speed in its second generation.

Wider, more aggressive and louder, the new V12 Vantage packs a 690PS (507kW) 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12 from the DBS, detuned slightly to stop its transaxle gearbox from exploding. This car, as with all of them, feels like a proper skunkworks project. It’s not necessarily the most focused track car, it’s perhaps not going to topple the immortal 911 GT3 from its throne, but there’s an indescribable character that makes the V12 Vantage and cars like it impossibly addictive. A shame, then, that this latest car is also the last of its kind, limited to 333 units exclusively and branded a run-out model by Aston itself. We’re almost welling up.

So it’s fabulous to see those engorged arches, that enlarged mouth, that sculpted carbon bonnet and that sprawling wing here, moving to the beat of twelve drums, especially now the weather’s improved.