Aston Martin Vantage - Happiness in the Capital

Happiness is many things to many people. A smile from a stranger, a happy dog in a park, maybe a child’s laugh. How about a bright yellow Aston Martin Vantage on a summer’s evening? Let’s go with that last one, shall we? 

As well as being infinitely less sticky than a child, less grim than a dog, and more trustworthy than a stranger smiling at you in the street, the latest Vantage is a thing of beauty. Colour aside, the latest iteration of Aston’s entry level car takes everything that was good about its immediate predecessor, lobs in hints of One-77, the VH-platformed Vantage, and Aston’s known hallmarks, and makes something rather special. In darker hues, it grabs attention; in lurid yellow, you can see and hear it coming a mile off. 

London’s Car Scene

London, like many cities, has a vibrant car scene. Go to the right bit of town and you’ll find exotica parallel parked between a Fiat Panda and an algal Range Rover. Head to a different bit and you’ll see low slung motors burbling around, putting on a show for the assembled car spotters. Dig even deeper, and you’ll find a modified scene that pushes the boundaries of engineering tolerances, db limits on sub woofers, and taste. You can appreciate them for their looks, their burbles, their vibes, but not their speed. Inner city limits are rarely over 20mph, which makes the Vantage’s thunderous V8 a little redundant. 

Any performance car will struggle to reach its limits on the UK’s open roads, less so in town. You’d have to head to Germany for that. But it doesn’t matter. Because with a yellow Vantage, a setting sun, and the best city on the planet to play with, 20’s plenty. It, and cars like it, are as much for enjoying and making friends with as they are banging on a track and firing at the horizon. 

Slick and easy to use

Neatly installed in the hotseat, centre stack-mounted start button pressed, its quad pipes fire it into life, and away it goes. There’s no manual option here, nor will there be - Vantage buyers don’t tick that box, so why spend the money on developing it? This may make people who had posters of a Countach on the walls of their childhood bedrooms upset, but the sales figures beg to differ. Today’s Aston driver wants a slick, easy to use automatic to make town easy, and country fun. That means slipping through town is easy. You can let the car choose its own adventure in its various drive modes, or flip happily at the paddles to make your own way. 

Around Town

For town, ‘Sport’ mode is your jam. This is the Vantage’s standard setting because it’s a sports car and not a soft ‘n’ squidgy GT (so says Aston, anyway). It doesn’t cling to gears too keenly, nor does it ride hard, and the drivetrain isn’t set to ‘eat everything.’ You get a tuneful V8 burble as you go, though a gentle prod on the exhaust button on the centre stack and you’re treated to a far more sonorous tune. You’ll like it inside the car, and depending on the hand gestures, you’re greeted with the people of London either love it or hate it. You can’t please everyone. 

What goes down universally well is the shape. Stopping to stretch legs and take some pictures on a quiet side street, pedestrians come to have a look, pass comment, and enjoy. They want to know about the shape, the engine, and what it’s like to drive.They even dig the colour. Sure, yellow can be polarising, but when the light’s just right, the temperature is playing ball, and the night feels… right, it’s universally loved. 

Powertrain & Speed

Jumping back in and going for a tour of the capital’s landmarks, you get a sense of its specialness. Yes, its 4.0-litre turbocharged V8 has 656bhp and 590lb ft, it’ll get you to 62mph in 3.5 seconds, and even to the fun side of 200mph, but as you float around Trafalgar Square and tourists wave… things at you, that doesn’t matter. You can hear the engine and hints of the outside world from your leather-lined cocoon. The Vantage isn’t a huge car, but it’s not tiny either. Its footprint asserts itself on the road without making you nervous that something in the next lane is going to tread on its toes. 

Aston Martin & London - The Best of Britain

Of course, it suits rolling gently around Piccadilly and along the Embankment. Its Britishness suits the city perfectly, and as one would expect from a well dragged up Brit, it doesn’t shout, but it makes itself and its abilities known. It has nothing to prove, but will do so at the drop of a hat. 

Slinking home in the dead of night, I watched it flick from window to window along an office block, at happy faces marvelling at the silly yellow car from the top deck of a new Routemaster. It made me, and other people, happy. Which, really, is what these things are all about. Outside the city, it’s easy to find a set of roads and go for a cobweb-shaking blast. It’s a good old job to get out of town before finding your groove. Going for a gentle amble around some of the country’s best known landmarks instead might not have you pinned to the seat, but it’ll make you feel something rather special. 

There’s history in the walls here. Huge decisions were made behind the doors of Whitehall, huge celebrations (and protests) took place in Trafalgar Square, Soho was the home of a global cultural revolution, we all know what’s happened in Buckingham Palace, and lord knows what else has happened over the years in tiny nooks and crannies we know nothing about. Rolling by of an evening, not a care in the world, in something that feels… just right is a hard feeling to beat. 

Happiness is lots of things to lots of people, but to me it really is a bright yellow Aston Martin, and a bit of London for good measure. 

words: Alex Goy
pictures: Alex Goy & Aston Martin