Aston Martin V8 Vantage S launches

The Aston Martin V8 Vantage S - available as Coupe or Roadster

Aston Martin reveals the V8 Vantage S, with a bit more power, a new gearbox and cosmetic and handling tweaks. On sale now as Coupe or Roadster from £102,500.

The Aston Martin V8 Vantage S has launched with an extra 10bhp over the regular V8. Just 10bhp more than the regular V8 doesn’t sound a lot, but there is more than just a smidge of extra power to the V8 Vantage S.

The extra 10bhp the V8 Vantage S gets is tweaked from the regular Aston Martin V8 Vantage, but there’s also an extra 15lb/ft of torque. None of which sounds like it will set the world on fire, but coupling it to a new, seven-speed Sportshift ‘box could.

The new ‘box weighs a chunk less than the old six-speed, and offers a long-legged seventh gear for cruising. That leaves the first six ratios closer together to improve performance. That lift in performance sees an improvement of 0.3 seconds to 60mph, which is more about the gearbox than the extra power.

Aston Martin has also added a chunk of stuff derived from the GT4 track car. The V8 S gets a modified steering rack with a ratio of 15:1 compared to 17:1 on the standard Vantage, resulting in greater precision and improved agility. There’s also an upgraded braking system, with a new larger diameter front brake disc – 380mm compared to 355mm on the V8 Vantage.

The DSC on the V8 S gets retuned to be more ‘Sporting’, and there’s three-stages to let the driver decide how hard they want to play. Aston has also fitted Hill Start to the V8 S – a first on an Aston – and the suspension gets a revised rear spring coil rate (coupe only) and retuned passive damper valves and revised bump stop rates and lengths for better traction.

Cosmetically, the Vantage V8 S gets a carbon fibre splitter, wider sills and a bigger spoiler out back together with a revised diffuser. There are also a set of 19″ V-Spoke alloys.

You can get the Aston Martin V8 Vantage S as either Coupe or Roadster from £102,500, which is about £10k more than the regular V8 Vantage.

And the upgrades probably make it worth every penny.