Aston Martin Vantage: The Driver's Aston

While its bigger siblings lean into effortless cruising, this is the one built for a driver who actually wants to feel the road.

Illustration for editorial purposes

The One Built to Be Driven Hard

Every lineup needs a car whose entire reason for existing is to be enjoyed at speed, and this has quietly become that car for its maker. It shares showroom space with grander, more relaxed models, but it's the one enthusiasts talk about first.

Why Aston Rebuilt the Vantage Around One Complaint

The current generation launched in 2018 with a 510hp twin-turbocharged V8, borrowed from Mercedes-AMG — already a serious performance figure for the class at the time, but one that left reviewers feeling the car's chassis had more to give than the engine was asking of it. A substantial 2025 facelift addressed that directly, remapping the same AMG-sourced V8 for a power increase of roughly 30% to 665hp, alongside a wider track, a stiffer chassis and new adaptive dampers — Aston's clearest statement yet that the Vantage exists specifically to out-drive its more comfort-focused DB-series siblings, not just look sportier than them.

Generations at a Glance

Vantage vs Porsche 911 Turbo: The Real Trade-Off

The Vantage's most natural rival is the Porsche 911 Turbo, and the comparison is genuinely useful for understanding what each car actually is rather than just what it costs. Reviewers consistently describe the Porsche as the more complete, more precise engineering exercise — a car that rewards technical appreciation and simply gets the job done with less drama. The Vantage takes the opposite approach on purpose: a more emotional, more theatrical experience built around noise and feel rather than outright polish, "earthier pleasures" as one review put it, that trades some of the 911's ruthless precision for genuine character. Which one is "better" genuinely depends on which of those two things you're shopping for.

Why It Depreciates Faster Than a Porsche

Here's a genuinely important number for anyone cross-shopping the two: independent data puts the Vantage's five-year depreciation at around 38.4%, compared with roughly 17% for an equivalent Porsche 911 — a gap of over 20 percentage points that has nothing to do with either car's quality and everything to do with Porsche's famously deep waiting lists and disciplined production numbers versus Aston's smaller, more boutique output. It's a genuinely important factor to weigh against the Vantage's lower list price versus a comparable Turbo, since the total cost of ownership over a typical few years of use can end up closer than the sticker prices alone would suggest.

How Much Does an Aston Martin Vantage Cost?

UK pricing for the current, post-facelift Vantage starts from around £165,000 before options, with a well-specified car — Bowers & Wilkins audio, paint-to-sample colours, and the usual list of exotic-car extras — easily climbing toward £190,000-£200,000 out the door. As a current-production model, values track closely with new pricing and options rather than collector-market speculation, though the depreciation gap above means well-optioned examples in desirable colours are worth prioritising specifically because they'll hold their value noticeably better than a heavily discounted or unusually specced car when the time comes to sell.

Watch & Explore

More Aston Martin Icons

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• Aston Martin DB12 Overview — Modern Icon

Sources: evo, Motoring Research, Aston Martin press materials.