Tag: V12 Vantage

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Cars

Aston Martin V12 Zagato from London

Aston Martin V12 Zagato is the product of 50 years in collaboration with the +Aston Martin  and Zagato. V12 Zagato is a very unique Aston Martin, I know most of the Aston Martins are unique but Zagatos are really rare. Hopefully, I had chance to spot one at Mayfair, London. 
Aston Martin V12 Zagato is based on Aston Martin V12 Vantange, a tiny Aston Martin with a V12 engine. Zagato is hand crafted at Aston Martin factory at Gaydon delivers a very distinctive look. Especially the Zagato’s interpretation of the existing Aston Martin designed vanished the photocopy look of the Aston Martin V12 Vantange.
The uniqueness of the Aston Martin V12 Zagato is the 2000 man-hours of craftsmanship, exquisite detailing. Despite these existing notes from the Zagato, I still don’t get the point of offering manual gearbox!
Anyway, Aston Martin V12 Zagato is powered by a 6-lt V12 engine with 510 HP and 570 Nm of torque. Engine is coupled with a six-speed manual gearbox and only needs 4.2 seconds to  reach 100 km/h with the top speed of 305 km/h.

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Cars

Aston Martin in University of Birmingham Campus with the New Vanquish and V12 Vantage

Yesterday Aston Martin visited University of Birmingham Edgbaston Campus with new the Vanquish and V12 Vantage. This shouldn’t sound that interesting, University of Birmingham has one of the highest number of international students and that’s a great environment for Aston Martin to promote their cars.
Of course, I am joking Aston Martin came to campus for the career event and may be find some potential customers :)
Anyway, if you read my previous post about Aston Martin, you may realise that Aston Martin is not my favourite brand and I criticise many things about them. For example; V12 Vantage is faster than Vanquish. V12 Vantage is the entry-level car and it cannot be faster than the flagship. Porsche Cayman cannot be faster than a Porsche 911. This is the rule we learned from German brands. And I embrace this rule and find it reasonable. However, things are not the same in Aston Martin and, today I found it out.
Firstly, Aston Martin is not obsessed with electronic gadgets like electric steering wheel adjusting, seat ventilation, radar guided cruise control or 18-way seat adjustment. For me, all these things are the mandatory parts of a GT car. However, Aston Martin’s approach is to reduce the gadgets and focus on driving experience. From the engine to chassis to transmission. And I cannot ignore that Aston Martin is doing a great job with their limited budget, they are not owned by Volkswagen! I got the Aston Martin’s point of view for gadget oriented automotive world and do respect them. However, I am still obsessed with electric steering-wheel adjustment and seat ventilation (You may order these with the new Ford Mondeo).
Secondly, Aston Martin cars are not limited to overlap with bigger Aston Martins. Such as, V12 Vantage is way faster than any other Aston Martin, because it is light and powerful. And Aston Martin let’s a smaller car to be faster than a bigger one. With Porsche, A Cayman cannot be faster than a 911, full stop! Aston Martin left the engineers to push the boundaries of the limits and let customers to buy a small and a very fast car. Fair enough, and that’s a good strategy but they need to share this with people!
Thirdly, Aston Martin accepts that they are not the best fastest, quickest, safest or most advanced. They know where they are. And this really altered my perception to Aston Martin. Still I will not buy an Aston Martin if I have a chance but I would recommend. Because, they know where they are and know what are doing.
And lastly, Aston Martin accepts that Virage was a bit mistake. Accepting a mistake is an important step as well.
Honestly, I wrote more than a page for a car brand in my blog. This happens extremely rare, sometimes I am not able to write many words. After my small chat with the passionate electric engineer from the Aston Martin, I had so much motivation to talk about Aston Martin.
And I should admit that, he did a great PR for Aston Martin.

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Cars

Aston Martin DBS vs. Aston Martin V12 Vantage

Aston Martin DBS and V12 Vantage are the products of the most iconic British brands in the world. When you visit London, you would be probably end up in Aston Martin dealer. Aston Martin has a different type of attraction, which does not exist in most of the other car brands. Many people love Aston Martin, they have an emotional bond with the brand. However, everything is not emotions!

Aston Martin DBS and Aston Martin V12 Vantage have some interesting points. Firstly, Aston Martin DBS is the third top model just below the über expensive Aston Martin One-77 and Aston Martin V12 Zagato. Also, Aston Martin DBS was the James Bond’s car in last Bond Movie. So, it is one of the coolest cars!

On the other hand, Aston Martin V12 Vantage is based on the entry model Vantage (I ignore the Cynget, because that’s a fashion accessory.) with V12 engine under the bonnet! This makes the Aston Martin V12 Vantage very fast. Actually, V12 Vantage is so fast and destroy the rules of marketing.

For example, in Porsche; any of Cayman or Boxster never accelerate faster than a Porsche 911. This is against rules of the marketing. A cheaper product cannot be better than a more expensive one.

Unfortunately, this basic rule is a bit misinterpreted by Aston Martin. The Aston Martin V12 Vantage turns out to accelerate faster than Aston Martin DBS. Aston Martin V12 Vantage accelerates from zero to 100 kph (62 mph) in 4.2 seconds and Aston Martin DBS accelerates from zero to 100 kph (62 mph) in 4.3 seconds. I know this is only 0.1-second gap but still faster.

Moreover, the engine in Aston Martin V12 Vantage is the same one with the Aston Martin DBS. And Aston Martin DBS and V12 Vantage share the design concept, from a distance they both look the same. I know Aston Martin will reject this, but you have to get close to understand the difference between these cars. For many people, they look very similar or the same. Everyone is not like car bloggers or journalists.

And the worst part is the price tag. Aston Martin V12 Vantage costs around £135,000 ($213,000) and Aston Martin DBS costs around £185,000 ($192,000). So you do the decision!

For me, I would definitely go for a Masearti GranTurismo :) But in terms of Aston Martin, go for the V12 Vantage. I am sure, you will have more fun with this car than the big DBS!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Aston Martin