Used Aston Martin V8 Vantage N430 2014-2015 review

So this N430 handles terrifically. The hydraulically assisted steering is sweet – accurate, feelsome, well-geared and middlingly weighted – and near its extremes the Aston Martin Vantage has the sort of handling balance that other manufacturers would do well to use as a benchmark.

It nudges towards steady-state understeer, then can be easily provoked into a neutral or slightly tail-happy line, but every corner is a blank page – you can do with it as you please. 

On the road it’s pretty firm, mind you. The V8 Vantage S gets passive dampers, and so does this N430, so there isn’t the option to slacken or stiffen them like there is in the V12 Vantage S.

However, the ‘S’ is meant to be the keenest Aston to drive, so we’ll forgive it that. You wouldn’t tell off a Porsche 911 GT3 for being ‘a bit firm’. Charming engine? check. Average gearbox? check.

Where we’d send greater criticism the Aston’s way is inside it. We know the reasons and understand them. Aston doesn’t make many cars, and it gradually upgrades things when it can (the fit and finish and communications systems are far better than they were at the V8’s launch nine years ago), but understanding it doesn’t mean a customer will excuse it.

Should you buy one? Depends on your priorities. In some areas, like cabin efficiency, the competition has moved on, and while the Vantage still retains its feel of hand-built charm that’s absent from its rivals, the first time you try and retune the stereo, you’d swap the whole darned thing for a better system put into place by a robot.

Overlook that, though, and the rest of the V8 Vantage N430 package, such as the driving experience - which is, let’s face it, the most important bit of the lot – remain world class. You’re looking at one of the sweetest-handling cars you can buy. And that will never age.