Queen's Verdict
Aston Martin Vantage: the velvet hammer
The new Vantage brings about 665 twin-turbo horses and dresses every one in black tie. I met her, coupe and Roadster, on the travertine at Aston Martin Sydney.
Mon 20 July 2026 · Queen of Cars
“Four crowns delivered in a dinner jacket, with the fifth withheld purely to keep the peace at the DB12's end of the table.”
I called in at Aston Martin Sydney and found the new Vantage holding the floor: a coupe in tungsten grey with a Roadster beside it, both on travertine like a very fast art gallery, and a Ducati in the corner like a footman who turned up on two wheels. Tungsten suits her. It's grey the way a storm is grey, all pressure and promise, and under the lights the coupe's haunches looked carved rather than pressed.
The Vantage has always been the personal Aston, the one you buy with your own heart rather than the family trust, and the new one roughly doubles the seriousness.
The velvet hammer
The headline is a twin-turbo V8 making around 665 horsepower, a number that used to belong to hypercars. But it's the manner that matters. She delivers it the way a great hotel delivers room service: instantly, beautifully arranged, with a flourish at the door. Quiet isn't on the menu, though. The V8 wakes with a bark that makes everyone in the room stand a little straighter.
She's a proper front-engined sports car, engine ahead, drive behind, steering that actually talks, and the cabin has finally caught up: real switches, clear screens, someone clearly thought about where your hands land. The Roadster is the same with the sky added, which in Sydney is basically a civic duty.
The verdict
Four crowns, every one in a dinner jacket. Why not five? Family diplomacy, honestly. The DB12 lives across the same floor, and I refuse to start a fight at the Aston dinner table. This is serious money, but it's money spent on the version of you who always takes the long way home. If your dream garage has an Aston-shaped gap in it, my advice is simple: manifest the tungsten.
The V8 barks its farewell, and the Ducati in the corner pretends not to be impressed.
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