Item: Aston Martin Vantage 2018-2024
Rating: 4.5

Find Used Aston Martin Vantage 2018-2024 review deals

Used car deals

From £59,995

Other Services

Sell your car

84% get more money with

If you have a wad of cash to splurge on a luxurious and fast sports coupé but don’t want to follow the crowd into a Porsche 911, allow us to posit its brawling British rival.

“We can’t think of another super-sports car that would make you smile more often” is how we described the second-generation Aston Martin V8 Vantage when we road tested it in 2018.

We fell for its old-school V8 charm and impressive dynamics so utterly that it was our pick of the super-sports car class at the time.

Depreciation hasn’t been kind to the Aston, but that’s good news for prospective used buyers, because you can now bag a tidy example for around £65,000, which is roughly £100k less than the latest Vantage.

But if that tantalising saving alone doesn’t have you leaping for your laptop to boot up the classifieds, perhaps you’ll be convinced by the Vantage’s awesome firepower.

There were some reservations that a Mercedes-AMG-sourced twin-turbo V8 would fail to imbue Aston’s entry-level sports car with the character it needed to fend off rivals from McLaren and Audi. But with 503bhp and 505lb ft of torque, the AMG V8 was more than up to the task, propelling the car from 0-60mph in a mere 3.7sec.

A test drive of a McLaren 540C or Audi R8 will reveal that they’re tangibly faster cars, but the Vantage will win you over for how it trades all-out pace for real drama when you’re flexing its muscles.

It sounds immense whether you’re pootling along at low speeds or snatching ratios from its snappy eight-speed automatic gearbox at the redline.

It’s never raucous or overbearing day to day, though – and if you’re planning to use it for more than just weekend hoons, you should be able to achieve 25mpg on a motorway run. No hypermiler, sure, but it should be able to skip at least every other service station.

Keen self-shifters will be drawn to the seven-speed dog-leg manual, which has a tactile throw that bonds nicely with the V8. Good luck finding one, though: we saw just two in the classifieds as this was written, and an equivalent auto will cost you less.

For a stiffly sprung sports car, it rides pretty well and is a comfortable GT over a long distance. But divert onto a mountain pass and the Vantage shows impressive duality in its dynamism, thanks to predictable steering, excellent close body control and trick adaptive dampers.

Because it corners with such immediacy, the Vantage is serious fun on track too, with its various modes (Sport+ and Track) turning it from a relaxed GT car to a supercar-baiting circuit weapon.

If you want your Vantage to be even more track-focused, there’s the F1 Edition, launched in 2021 to mark Aston’s return to Formula 1. With stiffer suspension, an extra 25bhp, faster gearshifts and a suite of aero parts, it has even sharper handling on track – although you will need around £120,000 to buy one today, and there are no interior upgrades over the standard car.

But that’s okay, because the Vantage’s cockpit was a strong point at launch and it has held up well. There are plenty of physical switches for the secondary controls, lots of cubbyholes and a nice, low driving position.

The 8.0in infotainment screen – operated by a rotary dial – is a little dated and you don’t get smartphone mirroring, but several specialists such as CBS Automotive can upgrade the system to include wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which is definitely worth doing.

Sure, it could have some more modern accoutrements, but we’re forgiving the Vantage for one simple reason: it’s among the most fun, characterful and affordable Astons money can buy.

Verdict

Aston Martin Vantage 2018 review hero front

Model tested:

Rating: 9

Used Aston Martin Vantage 2018-2024 review

Faster, cleverer, more hardcore baby Aston tops its class

Good

Transformed accelerative performance

Grip and composure to excel on a circuit

Proper exotic-grade desirability

Enriches everyday drives

Bad

A touch wide for some UK roads

Styling too aggressive for universal acclaim

Relatively heavy

RELIABILITY

Is the Aston Martin Vantage reliable?

The Aston Martin Vantage is an exceptionally well built sports car that shouldn't present any major reliabilty issues. Of course, any car isn't totally free of problems, but most of the issues that afflict the Vantage are known and parts are widely available.

If the engine is well maintained and regularly serviced, you shouldn't have any problems.

Engine: Coil pack failure is common with the AMG engine due to water getting inside the coil pack itself. An engine management light should appear in the dashboard to highlight the issue. The pack can be replaced under warranty.

Gearbox: Be wary of any jerky or hesitant gearshifts from the eight-speed ZF auto. If the ’box is a little sluggish on downshifts, this could be a software-related issue.

Drivetrain: A whining noise when cruising on the motorway is typically caused by the electronic differential. Most dealers will replace the diff under warranty.

Tyres: It’s always worth checking the tread on the standard-fit Pirelli P Zeros. A set of four new tyres will set you back around £1000. You can fit Michelin Pilot Sport 5s but it won’t cost you much less.

Body: Check the front splitter and rear diffuser for any scuffs and scratches, and inspect the diamond-cut alloys for any damage because these are expensive to refurbish.

Infotainment: The Mercedes-sourced infotainment system is prone to glitches and can be unresponsive to inputs. Ensure any updates have been carried out and check the system works properly on a test drive.

Bluetooth connectivity issues and the sat-nav lagging aren’t uncommon too.

An owner’s view

Ian Slater: “I bought my 2019 Vantage in April 2021 with 8000 miles on the clock and have done 25,000 miles in it since then. During my ownership, it’s been fitted with an aftermarket rear-view camera and CarPlay – both essential.

“The car has been recovered twice: once for an airbag fault and once for a sensor issue, both fixed under warranty. The only bills I’ve had have been for tyres, corrective work on the seat leather and a battery. A major service is coming up, and that will be £1500. Running costs aside, the only thing that could replace it is another Vantage. It’s fast, comfortable and an event every time I drive it.”

Also worth knowing

The convertible V8 Vantage Roadster is a whisker slower but does enhance the sound of that V8 motor with the roof down – a decent compromise.

Aston Martin launched the V12 Vantage in 2022, with its twin-turbocharged 12-pot boosting output to 690bhp. It’s a proper track weapon, but the bigger engine seems to distort rather than necessarily enhance the driving experience.

Limited-run specials include the 007 Edition and beautifully sculpted V12 Speedster. Budget six figures for the latter.

The standard V8 Vantage is £600 to tax annually. A service costs from £700-£1000.

DESIGN & STYLING

Pros

Agressive styling brings whole new identity to baby Aston

Near perfect weight distribution

Cons

Heavier than many of its closest rivals

Longer, taller and wider than its handsome predecessor

Aston Martin Vantage 2018 review hero rear

Aston used words like "aggressive" and "predatory" to describe the appearance of its its two-seat coupé when it launched in 2018 — and it was clear that the Gaydon-based firm wanted to this to be referred to as a sports car rather than a front-engined sporting GT.

The fact was that the Vantage retained the long bonnet, front-mounted engine, cabin-rear silhouette and driven rear wheels that, most would have agreed, continued to define modern GT coupés, but its styling was a significant departure from that of the almost delicately pretty V8 Vantage that preceded it.

The Vantage's large and imposing front grille typified a design that seemed to suggest this car’s creators didn't much care whether you thought it was particularly pretty.

Rather, they probably did care that you noticed when you were in the Vantage’s presence and, moreover, that you could tell that it meant serious business.

The Vantage was 80mm longer, almost 80mm wider (with its door mirrors folded) and very slightly taller than the car it replaced, and its wheelbase had grown by more than 100mm.

It was built on a bonded aluminium superstructure related to the one you under the Aston Martin DB11 but made of 70% new metalwork, making it 30% more rigid than its GT sibling

The Vantage also carried its 503bhp 4.0-litre V8 engine almost entirely behind its front axle line and used a propeller shaft and rear-mounted transaxle eight-speed automatic gearbox, both of which distinguish it from the DB11.

Aston also claimed a perfect 50/50 weight distribution front to rear, but when we measured it during the road test almost ten years ago, a figure of 49/51 was recorded.

Perhaps more telling, we also measured our test car’s overall mass at 1720kg. Aston’s claim was that, with every weight-saving option selected, the car’s dry weight could be as low as 1530kg.

Even so, considering it was competing against one or two rivals that weigh little more than 1400kg in running order, weight plainly had the potential to be a handicap for the Aston.

Suspension was via double wishbones at the front wheels and a multi-link configuration at the rear that differed to that on a DB11 primarily by its rigid mountings.

Steel coil springs and Skyhook adaptive dampers cradled the car’s mass and, in a first for any Aston, a clutch-based active torque-vectoring e-diff distributed driving torque between the car’s rear wheels.

INTERIOR

Pros

Seating position is excellent; low down and snug

Refined and luxurious cabin with tactile switchgear and high quality materials

Boot space is impressive

Cons

Visibility could be better

8.0in infotainment screen isn't the slickest

You felt deeply rooted in the driving experience you were about to have when you stepped down into the Vantage.

In the previous Vantage, you felt as though you were perched on top of it when sat at the wheel, but here you were nestled low and snug, with a steering wheel that homed in towards your chest.

Driving position was lowered and much improved over the outgoing model, but the slim glasshouse and high shoulder line impacted all-round visibility
Matt Saunders
Road test editor

Visibility took a hit as a result. The Vantage’s scuttle seemed high, and its glasshouse was slim and slightly obstructive compared with some rivals. The driving environment was a rich, luxurious and enticing one, though.

It was also an interior that more discreetly integrated what switchgear and cabin architecture had been sourced from the Daimler parts supply network than the DB11 managed, not least because it contained so much switchgear that we hadn't seen anywhere before.

Whereas the Aston Martin DB11’s heating and ventilation systems were controlled on a sleek touch-sensitive black panel on the car’s centre stack, the Vantage had an array of physical knobs and buttons presented in close proximity to the glass ‘engine start’ and transmission control buttons, the latter being set in an arrowhead shape at a more accessible level on the centre console than was the Aston-typical shoulder-level location.

Below, there were a couple of lines of quick-fire shortcut buttons for the infotainment system and easily accessible switches for the parking sensors, hazard warning lights, engine stop/start system and dynamic stability control.

You needn’t go rooting around in infotainment sub-menus to manage the systems you were likely to want most commonly to turn on or off. Thumbs up.

The Vantage’s 8.0in infotainment system was instantly recognisable as Daimler componentry — and those who knew Mercedes cars well would also know that it was not the best equipment the German maker offers. Merc’s bigger cars had later-generation systems with screens of up to 12.3in.

Still, it served the Vantage pretty well. It wasn't a touchscreen, so you had to operate it with the touchpad for fingertip gesture, a rotary input device and voice command; and because the voice recognition software was Mercedes tech, it worked well.

You got navigation, a AM/FM/DAB radio tuner and Bluetooth media streaming as standard. The Aston’s standard-fit audio system, sounded pretty powerful and clear, but a more powerful premium system was also available.

Storage was in strong supply in the shape of shelf-like interior door pockets, a good-sized armrest cubby and a shallow shelf behind the seats that could accommodate smaller bags and boxes.

The boot was easily accessed by a liftback-style hatch, was wide enough for a small set of golf clubs and could be expanded longways for larger cargo.

All of which made the Vantage one of the super-sports car class’s more usable constituents.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

Pros

Trades outright pace for more combustive drama which makes it fun in almost every situation

Gearbox is smooth and responsive

Cons

Not as fast as some of its closest rivals

Did the Vantage’s Mercedes-AMG V8 have the richness, character and strength Gaydon was looking for to turn what was the cheapest Aston into a car that could persuade someone out of an Audi R8, Porsche 911 Turbo or McLaren 540C?

The cars at the very quickest end of the Vantage’s competitor set offered outright acceleration that wouldn’t shame a modern supercar. Several were capable of hitting 60mph from rest in quite a lot less than 3.5 seconds, 100mph in around seven seconds and a standing quarter mile in little more than 11 seconds.

The Vantage lets you carry big speed into corner-braking areas, and stays stable under hard acceleration on the way out
Simon Davis
Road tester

And although the Vantage got a lot nearer to those competitive benchmarks than its predecessor, the fact that it missed all three by fairly significant margins on a dry test day was your first clue that it was offering a particular compromise compared with its quickest rivals; a touch less outright pace traded for a touch more combustive character and drama, and an ability to enrich everyday miles and speeds in a way that its opponents couldn't

That wasn't intended to suggest that this car didn't feel very fast in subjective terms. The torque of that turbo V8 shouldered the car’s mass easily, so the Vantage felt instantly and accessibly fast in a way the old V8 Vantage never did.

The car needed less than five seconds to get from 30mph to 70mph in fourth gear and it was quicker in that respect than the last Mercedes-AMG GT S we tested (2015), the R8 V10 Plus and the 911 Turbo S (2013).

The Vantage’s engine was loud but sounded predictably great in all sorts of dimensions; epic at high revs, operatic through the mid-range and soulful and interesting at low speeds under load. It suited a modern sporting GT car almost perfectly.

The Vantage’s gearbox mixed smoothness with responsiveness in a way that was equally befitting of a daily driven sports car. In D, it was rarely out of step with your intentions and kept up with inputs very well, even during full-blooded track driving.

The iron brakes, meanwhile, had strong outright stopping power and worked through a well-metered, progressive pedal, resisting fade well.

RIDE & HANDLING

Pros

Precise, predictable and communicative steering

Excellent grip, stability and composure through corners

Dynamic and entertaining both on the road and on track

Cons

So much grip it can be slightly less engaging than rivals

Little bit of fidget and head toss on uneven Tarmac

Aston Martin Vantage 2018 review cornering

Aston’s decision to make the Vantage a wider, meaner and more purposeful-looking sports car made it physically wider on the road — and it felt like it to drive.

You were aware that there was plenty of bulk to keep from straying across the white lines of a typical British B-road, and plenty of mass for the suspension to manage, too.

The steering was, thankfully, every bit the precise, predictable, weighty and feelsome instrument it needed to be to guide the car with real accuracy. Although this was a much firmer-sprung car than we were used to from Aston, it was still a great, soulful, unwearying tourer over distance.

Mostly, it was the lateral stiffness of the car’s rear axle that set it apart from its forebear’s dynamic mould. That made for a little bit of fidget and head toss over uneven Tarmac but was also responsible for the first-rate handling precision and agility, comparable with that of its most agile opponents.

Even though you felt the car’s mass in the slightly brusque way, it deflected over bigger lumps and bumps, and the suspension’s ability to keep close vertical control of the body seemed particularly sophisticated when you were using Sport+ mode on the Skyhook dampers.

There was very little hint of excess mass evident from the flatness and immediacy with which the Vantage cornered, or the ability of the rear axle to follow quickly and neatly in the wheel tracks of the front when you wanted it to.

The Vantage offered Sport, Sport+ and Track modes for both its powertrain and suspension, and you would likely enjoy dabbling with Sport+ and Track on a circuit; as well as with the TrackDSC and ‘off’ settings for the stability control.

Track mode showed how great a dynamic departure this car was from its immediate forebears, because although the more sporting Astons had long been ready to indulge in big, smokey slides, they never had the first-order grip or handling precision of the Vantage, or its ability to carry speed so purposefully.

The sheer stability of the rear axle on turn-in could be breathtakingly good. In Sport+, your options were expanded to include a very lurid cornering style, if you wanted one.

The Vantage was never willing to be ‘backed in’ to oversteer on a trailing throttle and, once enticed to slide with power, much preferred a lot of drift angle to a little of it.

In characterising the effect of that active locking differential on the Vantage’s handling, it was remarkable how stable and well tied down it made the car’s driven axle when you were carrying lots of speed on a circuit and also how mobile it made it when you were in a bullish mood on the road.

In the latter respect, the Vantage could find very strong traction and adopt an indulgent but controlled slew of attitude, if you fired it keenly away from T-junctions or tighter bends, and doing so was particularly good fun.

At other times and at bigger speeds, the sheer grip level and handling composure made the Vantage perhaps a tiny bit less effusive and involving as a road car than the very best rivals.

In general, though, the car’s evident, ever-present dynamism and its capacity to entertain were highly compelling.

MPG & RUNNING COSTS

Vantage was around £20,000 dearer than its predecessor when new, but you won't pay £120,000 for one today.

The going rate for a tidy, well used car is around the £65,000 mark, which makes this 503bhp V8 sports car a undisputed bargain today.

Should you buy one over the previous Vantage?

Taking into account its burbling muscle car character, its fairly big-hitting performance and its remarkably purposeful, multifaceted handling, the answer’s not difficult to arrive at.

It’s unlikely that Vantage owners will expect any different, but this car isn’t one to delight you with its unexpectedly good touring economy; our testing suggests you’ll do well to record a true 25mpg on a long run.

Still, a 73-litre tank at least helps put a few extra miles between fills.

VERDICT

Aston Martin Vantage 2018 review hero static

Verdict

Model tested:

Rating: 9

Used Aston Martin Vantage 2018-2024 review

Faster, cleverer, more hardcore baby Aston tops its class

Good

Transformed accelerative performance

Grip and composure to excel on a circuit

Proper exotic-grade desirability

Enriches everyday drives

Bad

A touch wide for some UK roads

Styling too aggressive for universal acclaim

Relatively heavy

The Vantage’s rivals might have been more or less a common price, but they were designed to be used in subtly different ways and to appeal quite differently.

What the Vantage brought was real breadth to the super-sports car class and covered a lot of territory.

It was a car you could drive every day if you wanted to, and was probably more easily, comfortably and widely than anything with a mid-mounted engine.

It could perform at close to supercar pace and had fully formed track handling credentials, but was also more characterful and fun at everyday speeds than plenty of its opponents. It had the kerbside desirability, interior richness and sense of occasion to rank as a genuinely exotic luxury product, too.

That was a pretty complete array of qualities for any sports car. Aston’s decision to give the car a more impactful look made it less visually alluring (to most testers’ eyes) than its predecessor, as well as less compact and perhaps less well suited to some UK roads.

Still, we couldn't think of another super-sports car that could make you smile more often, or for quite so many reasons.

Sam Phillips

Title: Staff Writer

Sam joined the Autocar team in summer 2024 and has been a contributor since 2021. He is tasked with writing used reviews and first drives as well as updating top 10s and evergreen content on the Autocar website.

He previously led sister-title Move Electric, which covers the entire spectrum of electric vehicles, from cars to boats – and even trucks. He is an expert in new car news, used cars, electric cars, microbility, classic cars and motorsport.

Sam graduated from Nottingham Trent University in 2021 with a BA in Journalism. In his final year he produced an in-depth feature on the automotive industry’s transition to electric cars and interviewed a number of leading experts to assess our readiness for the impending ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars.

Matt Saunders

Title: Road test editor

As Autocar’s chief car tester and reviewer, it’s Matt’s job to ensure the quality, objectivity, relevance and rigour of the entirety of Autocar’s reviews output, as well contributing a great many detailed road tests, group tests and drive reviews himself.

Matt has been an Autocar staffer since the autumn of 2003, and has been lucky enough to work alongside some of the magazine’s best-known writers and contributors over that time. He served as staff writer, features editor, assistant editor and digital editor, before joining the road test desk in 2011.

Since then he’s driven, measured, lap-timed, figured, and reported on cars as varied as the Bugatti Veyron, Rolls-Royce Phantom, Tesla Roadster, Ariel Hipercar, Tata Nano, McLaren Senna, Renault Twizy and Toyota Mirai. Among his wider personal highlights of the job have been covering Sebastien Loeb’s record-breaking run at Pikes Peak in 2013; doing 190mph on derestricted German autobahn in a Brabus Rocket; and driving McLaren’s legendary ‘XP5’ F1 prototype. His own car is a trusty Mazda CX-5.