When you drive the V12VS tomorrow please see how well it takes off in first. Many reviewers have said they could not get the car to launch in first gear very well which kept any of them from verifying the 3.7 0-60. I would like to know how the car feels taking off hard in first compared to a manual. I have never driven a SS that felt good in first on takeoff. Let us know what you think.

 

Hehe.. a 200k V12VS compared to a 400k Aventador..I know I was comparing transmissions but I'm sure a 400k Aston would be a great ride that's available to N.A..nonetheless we can compare apples to oranges and even apples to apples..in the end nobody buys an Aston to win races in Sunday..or at least not "Yet", we'll see how the AMG pairing goes..all I'm saying is if you drive the V12VS, compared to the existing Aston's for sale, the V12VS won't disappoint you..

 

It won't shift hard on take off until the engine is near operating temp..when we had the test car to play with I was able to due a standing burnout..only problem lauching we had was with cold tires and ****loads of torque at only 1,200rpm

 

The Aventador was just an example in response to your suggestion that only a DCT is faster. How about my 2008 scud, which I mentioned and you skipped over? It's now cheaper than the V12VS, and uses technology from 6 years ago. Aston can't come up with something like that in 2014?

Also, no one is talking about racing. If I buy a $200k sports car, I want it to shift when I want it to. I don't think this is too much to ask.

 

Dave, we really need you to go drive a new V12VS so that you can be the one that compares and tells us if it's really as bad as they say. I have driven the V12VS extensively, but I have no frame of reference because I haven't driven anything else comparable. Who knows, maybe it really is faster and better than the Scuderia.

I know it certainly is not slow when on the track. In fact, it was brutally fast when using hyper-shift. I can't imagine what it would be like if anything with a SCT shifted any faster. Sure a DCT might be smoother with the almost-constant power delivery, but the the SSIII is still very fast.

Like I said, the only time I found it slow was when putting it in D. I truly think the biggest mistake Aston has made is putting the darn "D" button on SportShift cars. By comparison, I drove a new Vanq around town and, even in Sport mode, I felt like there was a delay between pulling the paddle and the gear change occurring.

 

A brutal shift is not a good thing. Wear and tear and all that. That's why we have the DCT. I know the SSIII is not as good as the DCT. How it compares to the Scud will be most enlightening as I owned a 430 and it's single clutch was better than any Aston version I have driven. It should be better than the scud but I doubt it. We will see today.

 

You said it best bud!!

Guys I'm not trying to start a debate..all I'm saying, it's a great car and the best ASM shifting car that Aston has made to date..

Before listening to magazine reviews and commenting how slow or harsh shifting, please go road test and input your review, doesn't cost a dime..Like I'm sure everyone's mom has always said, Don't knock it before you try it!! :-)

 

You guys make a valid point. I probably should reserve final judgement until I try it myself. I'm not sure how much time I can get behind the wheel though on just a test drive. Wish I had an opportunity to do what KF did with the full-day experience. Anyone out there have V12VS that you'd let me borrow for a day or two?

 

I just wrapped up my afternoon of test driving which included;

• Aston Martin V12S
• Maserati Ghibli
• Maserati Gran Turismo MC
• BMW M5

For reference, I'm looking for a more family friendly car that can carry a baby seat in case of emergency (aka when my wife's car is not here and I need to drive my son somewhere). I really only drove the V12S just because I want to see how the SS III is and whether it's a contender to replace the Scud one day. I also had no intentions of driving the Ghibli but my dealer insisted I drive it so I figured why not. Overall I was very impressed with it. The side profile is very nice but the front end isn't for me. My wife however really likes it so who knows. I personally want the GT MC since it will easily fit a baby seat in the back seat, sounds amazing, is fun to drive, and can easily be a daily driver. It will most likely come down to a DB9 or GT MC but who knows as I haven't finished my research yet.

On a side note, I saw the McLaren 650S and the pics really don't do it justice. It's a great looking car! I will be driving that in a few weeks but ran out of time today .

Now back to the important test drive, the Aston V12S. First, the car I drove was gorgeous on the exterior. http://www.astonmartinwashingtondc.c...a461e302ac.htm. It's finished in China Gray with the satin carbon fiber and it looked just amazing. I'm not a fan of red interiors but the color combo looked very sharp and wasn't over the top. The red is not a bright red. To the important bits (skipping electronics, interior, etc due to them being the same as all V8V):

Suspension (9/10)
The suspension has 2 settings. The stock setting is very comfortable yet still firm. It's not so soft that you forget you are in a GT. For driving around town, it's perfect in my opinion. The firmer setting is much solid and less forgiving as you'd expect. I'd only use it on track or spirited drives. The only reason I didn't rate this a 10 is because I'd like a setting that is a touch softer for the horrible roads in PA. If you live out here you know what I mean .

Power (10/10)
Compared to other GTs the power of this car is awesome! The torque is incredible and the car just keeps pulling. I didn't redline the car since it's new but I don't doubt it will pull till redline. The car will also pull very hard in higher gear and it bellows out a V12 symphony. I was able to let the back end go with almost no effort but it was very controlled. I'd rate this as the perfect balance of control and power for a GT.

Brakes (10/10)
Similar to the V12V, the brakes are excellent. The pedal feel and grip are very predictable and I felt confident in hard braking. There was no brake squeal at all. I'm not sure if it was just a new car so they are squeaking yet but not a sound came from them.

Transmission (7/10) Note: I did not use automatic mode (D) at all since I never would if I owned.
The SS III is definitely improved over the SS II. The shifts between gears with no lift are much smoother and are closer to acceptable for normal driving. You don't need to lift if you don't want to and the passenger most likely won't get seasick unless you are buried 1st/2nd gear traffic. There were moments when I would shift and I expect the engage but it would be late. This would cause some lurch but it was tolerable. When you step on it the shifts speed up and bang in place like they should. I found the shifting at close to WOT to be much more fun, smooth, and visceral like I'd expect in this car. On track, I bet it's a blast! Downshifting was my biggest complaint. The car lurches a fair amount when downshifting to stop for a light. I found myself spending a lot of time trying to feather the brakes to minimize the lurch but it didn't matter. If I let the car downshift itself the lurch was less but I like hearing the rev match so I'd want to figure this out to continue to enjoy that symphony. I did not test reverse.

Overall
I really enjoyed driving the car. The power is intense, consistent, and very predictable. The sound was exactly what I expected and had me grinning. I loved it on backroads as the suspension is soft enough to not crack your teeth but stiff enough to not have too much body roll. The only downfall (outside of electronics being dated) is the transmission. If the car was 100k I'd be fine with it, but at 225k there is a certain level of refinement I expect from Aston or any exotic.

Would I buy the car? I really really want to. It's the Aston I dreamed my V8VS would be. The car is simply amazing in all aspects but 1 (2 if you include the electronics, but I don't care about that). Where the transmission is today, I simply can't justify the price. If this car had a better transmission, I'd be selling the Scud tomorrow and cleaning the garage in preparation for my China Gray V12S. I'm not saying this car is better than the Scud, it's different. I've owned the Scud for a year and I'm ready for different.

The Scuderia F1 Superfast is better. Normal shifts are smoother in the Scud and WOT shifts are closer to par but the Scud still pulls ahead. Downshifts in the Scud are also significantly better.

 

Thanks for the information. It is as I expected. No matter how hard Aston tries to sell us the SSIII it is not the answer for a $225K car. It's a shame really. If they offer a manual I will probably order one. Until then I'll shop elsewhere.
BTY being the best ASM Aston has built to date doesn't mean it's not outdated.
I'll drive one soon and post my thoughts but I doubt they will differ very much.

 

Thanks for posting the review, Ross. I love that color by the way. I need to get a car in a medium gray shade! Didn't know Aston offered cars in that color.

Well, I guess the transmission was better than you expected. Then again, your expectations were pretty low. It sounds like it's not that bad, especially when you're getting on it. That's good to hear. The downshifting concerns me though. Is it always lurchy when downshifting, or only when you're downshifting when slowing to a stop? If the latter, I suppose you could let the car shift for you (at low rpms) or put the car in neutral (which I'm not a fan of).

 

First off, Ross, thanks for your detailed review. I think we both knew the V12VS would fall short of our Scuds. But my conclusions and observations are a bit different.
So here is how my day went. I was getting over the flu and was about to cancel my appointment but managed to drag my *** to the dealership in Newport Beach.
As soon as I parked my 16M, I saw the V12VS on the lot in the pearlescent morning frost color, just gorgeous. The car was spec'd very tastefully as it had the rear black graphic, but not the roof graphic. CF everywhere and seemed to have a nice balance of aggressiveness and elegance.


I went on the test drive with low expectations. But I will simply say that the car exceeded well beyond my expectations.

Power: My chief complaint with previous Aston ownership was that the cars were a bit underpowered. Not the case with the 565 HP under the bonnet of the V12VS. Plenty of power and loads of torque. More torque feel than my 16M. I tried once to go quick off the line and I triggered TC so it's easy to break loose with all the power. I drove mostly in Sport Mode and the throttle response was very responsive.

Suspension: There is a 3 stage damping system - I believe: normal, sport and track mode. I drove mainly on the sport settimg which wasn't too stiff. However in track setting, the car is very responsive in handling, pretty much a 1:1 steering input to car turn ratio. Very direct and balanced with little body roll.

Transmission: Here is where my opinion is quite different. I am comparing this to generations of SMG's and F1's in my experience. In short, I was impressed. I am not sure why journalists are knocking the SS III gearbox. As Chris Harris described it, it is clean and smooth. The gear shifts were smooth in that I really didn't feel any lurching. The transitions were quite seamless IMO. I tried shifting both in normal slow driving as well as WOT, and the gearbox responded as I expected it to. Ross described lurching on downshifts, but I did not experience this at all. To be fair, I was not aggressive in my downshifts. I was aggressive in up shifts and even redlined the car at one point and the tranny felt great. When driving aggressively, there is a hyper shift which makes the gear changes even quicker.
The SS III is not as fast as the F1 in the Scud, but it is light years ahead of the SMG's. Normal driving in sport mode was very smooth and comfortable. Of note, I will never drive in D mode, ever.

Conclusion: I will be buying one. To me, this is the Aston that I've been looking for: the dichotomy of plenty of power and torque with aggressive modern styling. The gearbox is not the fastest but it suffices quite nicely with the amount of power it is mated to. For the purpose of a daily driver, this car is perfect for me.
My dilemma now is which car I'm going to give up for which the V12VS will replace.

 

Congrats to your 1000th post, Plastique999!!!

The Morning Frost White and The Tungsten Silver are my 2 favorite Aston exterior color. The white is along the same lines as the Balloon White on the Lamb. 3rd time is certainly the charm, friend!

I was going to go with the Maserati Ghibli SQ4 in Bianco Alpi color but I could not tolerate the lackluster interior so I am going back to my roots on hunting down the Aston Rapide I originally desired. I found one at Galpin but they are offering it significantly higher than the true market value. I too am slowly transitioning over from MT to Sportshift cars due to the lifestyle that I am in. I find most fine establishments in Hollywood/Beverly Hills/Malibu area only offer valet parking services so it limits me from taking my MT cars.

Often I lurk on forums nowadays, since this was your 1000th post, I thought come out and give my regards.

 

Regarding the lurch on downshifting. The lurch was fine at speed when downshifting for a turn but when I noticed it the most was when slowing and stopping at a light. 4th -> 3rd was mild, 3rd -> 2nd was noticeable. I was in Sport mode so maybe that had something to do with it. Either way, I'm happy to hear you will be picking one up! I really want one but I'll most likely pass since it would have to replace my Scud. The power and torque are incredible in the car!

 

Wow thanks! I didn't even know my post count since I was typing on my iPhone.
Yes the morning frost is akin to the balloon white ala Lambo, and I love the pearlescent colors of Aston - this is where Aston really shines, literally. I remember the saleman saying that of the 200 hours involved making an individual Aston, about 50 hours of that work involves the paint job! Previously I had Lightning Silver, which was brilliant and Casino Royale, which was sheer elegance.
I am on the hunt for morning frost this time vs stratus white. Although one other color I really need to see in person is Silver Fox. I was told this is similar to an off white? Has anyone seen silver fox?

When we eventually pick up our Astons, we will have to cruise through Malibu