New Aston Martin Vantage vs Ferrari Roma and 911 Turbo

Open gallery Porsche is comparatively subtle, unlike its front-engined V8 companions Three cars from three blue-blood companies and 1908bhp in total New Vantage has the sweetest cockpit of the three for GT escapades Close News by Richard Lane 13 mins read 2 November 2024 Follow @@_rlane_ The Ferrari nearly fails to materialise. With the official press car out of action, locating a good, representative Roma is proving to be a proper head-scratcher, something we can’t understand. Since 2020 the model has been the ‘affordable’ departure point into Ferrari-land and sells steadily in the UK. It’s not like we’re sniffing about for a 166 MM. But then, with days to go, a solid lead surfaces, followed by a friendly phone call, and an arrangement is made to borrow the rather beautiful junior Ferrari GT before you: Abu Dhabi Blue, low miles, factory-correct Michelins. The group test of the year can now commence. Related articles The Roma simply had to be here. For those in the business of building super-coupés with not only prodigious long-range chops but also the potential for both B-road mirth and 200mph, should the opportunity ever present itself on an empty autobahn, it is the product to beat. It’s arguably the most complete Ferrari of modern times, even if it has never been as celebrated as its V12-engined older sibling, the 812 Superfast. However, the Roma may finally now have met its match. It comes in the form of the latest Aston Martin Vantage, a car whose recent stylistic nip and tuck belies an upwards recalibration of its positioning. Today our would-be Ferrari slayer is a 656bhp silver sledgehammer with gold wheels and green innards, yet somehow VN59 AML is making it all hang together aesthetically, as perhaps only an Aston Martin can. In fact, regardless of the finishing order, the Brit has already won the game of spiking your pulse from 10 yards out. The power-crazed new Vantage does indeed look superb: rippling muscle, tight proportions and fabulous details, even if the blinding chrome exhaust outlets are tacked on. When we stop for a lunchtime sarnie, the people of Kimbolton will gravitate to it, only afterwards noticing the blade form of the Italian car. They will ignore the Porsche Turbo, but that has always been the appeal of a machine that thrums softly while carrying a Californian redwood on its back. The 911 is, in point-to-point pace, a demon. It is also the most practical car of the trio and the most economical, and when it comes to prosaic but meaningful elements such as infotainment and visibility, neither glamorous rival can lay a glove on it. As a 911, the handling will have polish to match the Aston’s fake exhaust tips. It may not get the Kimboltonians swooning, but in this sort of contest, against more aristocratic opposition, Porsche’s 911 Turbo is often a cold-blooded killer. There’s nothing cold-blooded about the Vantage, and it certainly does not in any sense thrum softly. Approach it, peel the door away on its upward-angled trajectory from the devastating contours of the midriff panelling, which sits fully half a foot inwards of the cartoon rear haunches, and enter. Latest Reviews Dacia Duster 9 Dacia Duster View all car reviews Read our review Car reviewFerrari RomaGorgeous coupé looks to be a proper grand tourer with a front-mounted V8 and an obvious focus on usabilityRead our review Back to top Boy, what a difference a heavy update makes. With no changes to the old car’s body-in-white, the pillbox view forward remains to be savoured, but the fussy switchgear, the awkward centre console and the ancient Mercedes-sourced electronics haven’t survived. There’s now an elegance the spacious Porsche can’t capture, no matter how much houndstooth and ‘cognac’ leather the £5k Heritage Design Pack levels at its granite-solid interior. The Aston’s environment will also, as today unfolds, make the economically packaged Roma feel fussy and baroque. In Gaydon they still haven’t quite nailed ‘fit’, but the atmosphere is ebullient GT sophistication. It begs for day-long drives. Foot on brake and hit the Babybel-sized start button, about which spins a rotary for drive modes. Then nada. It’s a quirk of Astons that the electronics often need a moment to process the life-giving command – and it’s usually just as you’re reaching for a follow-up prod that the starter motor drumrolls from inside that clenched fist of a snout, then boom. It’s quite the introduction to the most powerful V8 yet fitted to a street-legal Aston and the AMG DNA is right there in the gargling bassiness of the idle. So, the somewhat new Vantage: stiffer, wider and, holy moly, more powerful than before. It also looks the business and, in a Germanic way, sounds it. But the standout news from a dynamic