Man Maths: 2009 Aston Martin V12 Vantage

It had its quirks, like the strange fly-off handbrake that completely flummoxes first timers, and how easy it was to slip the clutch when pulling away or stall the engine altogether. I would be intrigued to drive one again today because I suspect the ride would seem quite compromised to me now, even though I don’t remember it bothering me all those years ago.

A few months after surviving the temptations of the autobahn, I found myself in North Wales on one of those end-of-year magazine mega tests. I watched a colleague kick a V12 Vantage into a slide for the benefit of the photographer’s Nikon. I was the spotter, looking out for other traffic. There wasn’t a suitable corner nearby so we were using the junction of two roads instead. First time around, the car came hurtling towards the bend, the driver stomped on the accelerator and the car snapped into a big old drift, the steering wheel near enough on the lock stops to bring it back into line.

Like they always do, the photographer demanded another run. This time the car slid again… and it kept sliding. The front wheels were cranked around as far as they would go, but it wasn’t enough. I could see the precise moment the driver realised he’d overcooked it: all four wheels froze as he hit the brakes. The car continued to swing around, the momentum now too much for the four howling tyres, and it flopped headfirst into a ditch beside the road.

I can still see it there, tail pointing to the heavens, nose stuffed hard into mud and bracken. We hooked a tow rope around a rear suspension wishbone and dragged the Aston out with another of the test cars. We held our breath as we walked around to inspect the damage. The carbon fibre front splitter was twisted and hanging loose, but the damage was all superficial.

We phoned Aston to apologise, assured them the car wasn’t so busted up it needed to be retrieved right away and carried on with the job. The next evening, another one of our testers launched it over a narrow humpback bridge, lost control on landing and sent the thing 50 feet off the road into the undergrowth. That one required a local farmer and his tractor. I don’t think we told Aston Martin’s press department about the second mishap…

Potentially a handful, then, but I still love the V12 Vantage. The S variant that followed a couple of years later never quite hit the same spot for me, probably because it was only available with Aston’s clunky robotised paddleshift gearbox at first (a seven-speed manual did become available in 2016, but it was strangely unsatisfying to use compared to the old six-speeder). Nowadays you can buy an early V12 Vantage for less than £60,000, while the very best examples are listed for around £75,000. Quite strong money when a good V8 Vantage can be snapped up for less than £30,000, but you can bet they’ll hold their value well, not least because, as I write, there are only around 200 taxed and ready to go in the UK.

I still think I’ll have a V12 Vantage someday. And I will remember to be wary of photographers and humpback bridges.

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