The oldest trick in the automotive book is to stuff the most powerful engine you can get your hands on into the smallest car you've got. Just ask Carroll Shelby. So we weren't too surprised when Aston Martin crammed its most powerful engine—the 510-hp, 5.9-liter V-12 from its alpha-dog DBS—into the wee Aston, the Vantage. Nestling a V-12 into a space usually reserved for a V-8 necessitated a few tweaks to the front structure, a new hood with large vents that help to lower underhood temperatures, and stiffer front springs to support the heavier V-12. How much heavier? Although the V-12 weighs 220 pounds more than the V-8, Aston saves weight elsewhere (carbon-ceramic brakes and forged aluminum wheels, for example), so that the overall increase is a claimed 154 pounds. Fifty-one percent of the big-engined car's 3750 pounds is over the front wheels; with a V-8 Vantage, 49 percent of its weight is over the fronts. Nearly balanced weight distribution, extreme Pirelli P Zero Corsa tires developed specifically for the V-12 Vantage, and a lower and firmer chassis, similar in concept to the "Sports Pack" available on the V-8 version: All together, it makes the V-12 Vantage as comfortable lapping a track as it is lapping up attention from restaurant and hotel valets.
