Driven

Back to Library >
ti icon

Driven

Aston Martin V12 Speedster review

4 years ago

not bookmarked

Writer:

Andrew Frankel | Ti co-founder

Date:

24 May 2021

What should we think of a car whose finest features are best appreciated while it is parked? One whose appeal lies principally in the image of him or her an owner thinks it likely to project, with the driving experience demoted down the priority list to a rather distant second? Knowing you lot, not much. Such a car is the Aston Martin V12 Speedster, on sale now for £765,000 and with a handful of the 88 units that will be built still to be sold.

In engineering terms it is rather simplistically described as the front of a DBS married to the back of a Vantage. So you get the 5.2-litre V12, plus the two seat layout. Suspension and brakes are DBS too, but the gearbox is Vantage, meaning the V12’s power has been pegged just a little and its torque quite a lot. Carbon panels and lack of a roof means mass has not spiralled, but at perhaps 1750kg, nor is the Speedster any kind of flyweight.

I try not to bang on about looks too much in reviews because they are so subjective, but I will here first because they are so core to the car’s appeal and second because I’m not sure I know another modern car less well served by the camera’s lens. You really have to be up close to realise what great work has been done here. It has enormous presence, real beauty, fascinating details and it really couldn’t be anything other than an Aston.

But to drive it’s a cruiser. The suspension is soft and, with no screen, wind is such you’re encouraged to keep to modest speeds or wear a helmet. You can feel the big V12 being held back: bluntly it’s just not as quick as I’d hoped, and you can’t hear its voice either, which means there’s no aural theatre to go with those looks. This then is a beautiful trinket for someone interested in cars as art. As a thing to drive, I expect you’d be better off with a Vantage Roadster

Aston Martin V12 Speedster
Engine: 5204cc, V12, twin-turbo
Transmission: 8-speed auto, RWD
Power: 690bhp
Torque: 601lb ft
Weight: 1750kg (estimated)
Power-to-weight ratio: 343bhp/tonne
0-62mph: 3.5 seconds
Top speed: 186mph (limited)
Price: £765,000
Ti rating: 6/10
More DrivenDriven Archive
Back to Stories >
ti icon

Library

Porsche 911 Carrera T (992) review

Does the base engine, a manual gearbox and a locking differential make for the perfect 911 Carrera recipe? Andrew Frankel went to LA to find out

not bookmarked

Traffic enlightenment

It’s not the orange Gallardo. Nor is it Philip Seymour Hoffman’s performance as Owen Davian. Nor is it even the excellent Chesapeake Bay Bridge scene, where the blast...

not bookmarked

Breakthrough: The slick tyre

Why did it take the racing world until the late 1960s to embrace the slick tyre? As David Twohig explains, until then its advantages were not in the least bit clear

not bookmarked

Becoming a record breaker

When I was a kid growing up in the Seventies I only wanted three things in life, save marrying a Charlie’s Angels cast member which didn’t seem very likely...

not bookmarked

Postcard from Rennsport 7

The Rennsport Reunion is not just world’s largest gathering of Porsches and Porsche people but, as Andrew Frankel finds out, an event unlike any other

not bookmarked

Serious fun

Building a model car with your kid is fun but, as James Mills finds out, the benefits are far greater than that

not bookmarked