The British manufacturer revisits the all-time favorite manual transmission in the V12 Vantage S and the expectations are reasonably high.
One of the biggest criticisms on the standard V12 Vantage S is that seven-speed automated gearbox which can’t compete with the double-clutch units of its rival sports cars.
Sure the rest of the car remains a delight, especially if you consider the age of its underpinnings but for a brutal V12 machine that wants to excite the driver, that gearbox was always stealing something from the experience.
Luckily the brand’s boss Andy Palmer is a big fan of the manual gearbox and it’s because of him we get to see Aston’s 565hp V12 warrior with three pedals and seven forward ratios. Instead of just bringing back the old six-speed manual, the company took the Sportshift III 7-speed automated unit and converted for proper manual use with a dog-leg first.
Aston Martin claims that the new manual version offers identical performance with its automatic brother, with a 0-100km/h (0-62mph) in 3.9 seconds and a top speed of 330km/h (205mph).
Carfection reviews the manual V12 Vantage S, trying to find out if the now-rare recipe of a manual V12 sports car has spawned the perfect Aston Martin.