2010 Aston V12 Vantage RS Spotted In the Wild

By Marty Padgett April 4th, 2008

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This is the real thing: the new Aston Martin V12 Vantage RS.

Last week Aston confirmed that the stunning concept will go into production in the first quarter of 2009, and just two days ago we caught the test mule. Now we have snapped the real car in full glory testing as it was on the roads around the Nürburgring, with a rear diffuser remarkably similar to the concept's.

The V12 is one of two new Vantage models due in the next 12 months. The new rear diffuser set-up and the air-intakes on the hood of this car are the most obvious change over a regular V8 Vantage. The rear is very similar to that on the Vantage RS concept, and with a big V12 putting big power through the rear wheels, decent cooling for a rear differential is a must.

The new V12 Vantage RS will be fairly extreme, though not as hardcore as Porsche’s RS models. For Aston, RS stands for "road sport," rather than Stuttgart’s track-focused ideology. That doesn’t mean it won’t be fast. The V12 gets its name from the 6.0-liter unit shoehorned under the hood. In production form, and with durability on Aston’s mind, expect about 550 bhp, rather than the concept’s 600 horses.

Other changes for production will probably include the replacement of the static concept’s pop-up rear spoiler with a raised trunk lip. The V12 should also get new wheels. The Mako Blue color of the concept will be available, too. Production itself will probably be at Gaydon, and the price is expected to be in excess of 225,000 Euros or over $350,000.--Brenda Priddy

Posted in : 2010, Aston Martin, Exotics, Shoppers, Spy Shots |

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6 Responses to “2010 Aston V12 Vantage RS Spotted In the Wild”

This car makes the DB9 totally irrelevant. They share the same engine, the same interior, and look similar, but this car is lighter, presumably faster, and cheaper.

I agree jon. Why exactly does Aston want to do this? Don’t get me wrong the DB9 and the Vantage are both SEXY cars, and I’d love to own either one, but why have the DB9 and a V12 Vantage? It doesn’t make any sense. It’s not like sales in that category are in the hundreds of thousands, so now let’s not only compete with Porsche and on some level the Lamborghini Gallardo, but let’s compete against ourselves…..Nice car, bad move.

I’m not an expert on Astons, but they appear to be an excellent value compared to other imported exotics.

They have huge snub appeal, since their US Sales are not even a tenth of what Ferrari and MAserati sells! It is very rare to see an Aston on the street, I only saw one in memory, while I see ferraris all the time.

Its price, despite its scarcity, is really low, at $150k or so. There are even MErcedeses that cost more than that, and one that costs much more!

Astons look great, all of them, inside and outside.

I am curious to see what they fetch in the used market. I’ll go look at cars.com

i did, and found only about 250 of them on sale in the entire US. Prices were not cheap, ranged from the $40,000s to $375,000.

Aston needs to rationalize its product lineup similar to the job Ferrari has done. They have the 430 which is the mid-engine racer, the 460 (used to be the 456) which is the 2+2 Touring car, the 599 which is the 2 seat GT you can supposedly drive every day (if you have more money than brains) and finally the F60 which is the ultra-exotic you’d be a fool to ever drive on a public road. All I see is a bunch of Aston Martin models trying to play the same role.

I think Tom is right. All of their cars look great and are plenty fast, but they’re too similar. To me there is no compelling reason to buy a db9 over this V12 Vantage.