The V600 is Aston's fast last goodbye to the old Vantage

V600 was last used 20 years ago for the then-outgoing Vantage, last of the lacklustre Virage family before the DB7 came in. That car went out with a twin-supercharged, 600bhp V8 bang which has made it a rare cult Aston ever since, helped along by it being the first Aston to hit 200mph. 

Now we have the 2018 Vantage V600, 14 of which – seven coupes and seven convertibles – have been commissioned from Aston’s bespoke Q division. Aston is billing them as the “ultimate analogue Vantages”. 

With the new-generation Vantage plus DB11 and coming new DBS Superleggera taking over from the Vanquish, the fab 14 will be among the last cars based on the ubiquitous VH architecture that has underpinned Astons dating back to the DB9 of 2004.  

Not that you would necessarily think so. The reborn V600 gets a carbon-fibre body makeover so effective it will surely cause a few double-takes: is it new Vantage, or a dressed-up old one? 

The styling upgrade centres on plenty of aggressive styling cues along with re-imagined side-strake and power bulge in the bonnet. There’s a dark mesh grille up front and all-new carbon fibre diffuser bringing up the rear. Inside, too, the theme is dark and moody with lots of carbon-fibre and dark anodised aluminium. 

The cool new look rather belies what lurks below – and that is the running gear of the outgoing V12 Vantage with its naturally-aspirated 6.0-litre V12 and seven-speed manual gearbox. Getting it up to V600 spec required finding only another 20bhp. Well, almost. V600 20 years ago stood for real brake horsepower, of course, these days “600” represents PS or DIN hp, so we are being short-changed a little; the new car’s actual power is 592bhp.  

Will it matter? Of course not. There’s no performance data as yet but for what it will cost – a great deal more than the £138,000 of the standard old Vantage V12 coupe we would guess – it will have to do better than 3.9 seconds to 62 and 205mph.

A fitting last-hurrah to a distinguished (and still wonderful) old soldier? Absolutely.