People shouldn't be surprised that Aston used an AMG V8 engine for the new Vantage. Mercedes used to make their old 4.7-liter units too, but it somehow feels like there's more at stake in 2019.
You see, with yellow paint and twin turbochargers, the V8 Vantage is more exciting than ever. But Mercedes offers the exact same kind of car, which wasn't the case last time around. The AMG GT was supposed to be a rival for the Porsche 911, but looking at these two drag racers lined up, it feels like Aston was the actual inspiration. Or maybe the Dodge Viper...
Two very similar cars powered by the same engine - shouldn't that drag race be even? Well, Top Gear's ex presenter Matt LeBlanc proves that's not actually the case, and he also gives us a hint as to why.
The displacement may be the same, but AMG updated their 4-liter to make 522 horsepower back in 2017. Meanwhile, the V8 Vantage just has the 510 HP of the old GT S. There are other factors at play here, obviously. One of them is weight, which oddly favors the car that lost the race. Maybe German horsepower is measured differently to the British counterpart.
After an initial delay, the GT S pulls away convincingly, like a car with more power. So basically, if you want the best German sports car technology, you've got to get a German car. It's probably not a case of "Merc keeping their best engines for themselves," but more money and time spent on the package as a whole.
Still, you should feel bad for Aston. They're sort of a boutique automaker who only need to find a few thousands of customers per year. Yellow paint on a car shaped like a shark guarantees the success of the Vantage, but we're not sure the manual gearbox will help.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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