Aston Martin touts for this refreshed Vantage to be the most driver-focused and fastest in the nameplate’s 74-year history.
Aston Martin has recently decided that after 6 years on the market already, it was perhaps high time for its Vantage to be due for a mid-life refresh. And to that end, it has since debuted a newly facelifted iteration of its baby in the range, which handily brings with it a whole lot more than just a mild nip and tuck.
Starting with the most obvious changes first, this newly facelifted Vantage has received a wholly redesigned face. Set to be inspired by the One-77, this baby Aston Martin has had its grille enlarged by 38% over its prior pre-facelift predecessor and nets a new pair of Matrix LED headlights. Rather interestingly for just an update too, this sports car has actually grew by 30 mm in its width, with this newly widened body to be complemented by a widened rear bumper and larger rear tailpipes.
Aside from the aesthetic alterations, Aston Martin has proudly touted that it has also comprehensively re-engineered what lies under the skin of the Vantage. And just to start with the headline stats too, among the biggest changes made to this sports car during this particular facelift is to be its 4.0-litre AMG-derived V8, which has since been extensively tweaked to now produce 656 hp and 800 Nm of torque.
Up by a whopping 153 hp and 115 Nm of torque over its pre-facelift predecessor, this healthy boost in power in this newly updated Vantage comes courtesy of new cam profiles, optimised compression ratios, improved cooling (from a new lower radiator and two new auxiliary coolers) and, of course, a pair of bigger turbochargers. This revised Aston Martin also nets a few adjustments to the ratio in its 8-speed ZF automatic transmission, which in conjunction with its new and improved launch control system and an adjustable traction control system, further helps propel this sports car to the century sprint in just 3.5 seconds, and onto a top speed of 325 km/h (202 mph).
Moving to the other tweaks made under its skin now, the new intelligent Bilstein DTX adaptive dampers fitted to the four corners of its extensively re-engineered bonded aluminium chassis are to be complemented by a slew of more nerdy tweaks that include repositioned crossmembers, as well as a retuned electric power steering system. The most notable alteration on this front however will likely be its new standard staggered set of lightweight 21-inch alloy wheels shod in custom Michelin Pilot Sport 5 S tyres, which behind it hide front 400 mm steel rotors with six-piston calipers and rear 360 mm rotors with four-piston calipers.
Turning towards the inside meanwhile, Aston Martin has performed a functional redesign of the frankly outdated interior of the outgoing iteration and has since debut of a touchscreen in the Vantage. This new central infotainment display measures 10.25-inch and runs a bespoke in-house developed OS that supposedly connects to a dedicated smartphone app. Though happier news in this department to most drivers will be that the British marque has still decided to stick with a primarily tactile cabin layout, with plenty of physical buttons to control everything from the climate settings to the vehicle configuration.
The facelifted Vantage is set to land first in fixed-head form before being followed up by a drop-top Volante variant, with deliveries of the former set to begin come the second quarter of this year. There has yet been any word yet from the manufacturer on what special (or for that matter electrified) versions of this updated 911-rival is on the horizon, or more pertinently to Malaysians, when exactly will this updated model land locally.
