The speedo readout flicks past 170 mph, the basso V-8 growl from under the hood louder and more urgent than ever. We’re closing on 7,000 rpm, near the top of sixth gear, when I do something rarely done in a 500-horsepower sports car these days: Simultaneously lift off the gas, dip the clutch pedal, and tug at a leather covered shift lever. There’s a momentary lull while a series of links and cables shuffle gears into place. Then, as the lever thunks home, the clutch pedal is released, and the throttles snap wide open, the V-8 roars again and the 2020 Aston Martin Vantage AMR continues its mad, epic lunge down the autobahn.
The Vantage AMR is anything but an afterthought Aston, a car hurriedly created to cash in on the growing demand for high-end sports cars with manual transmissions, though Aston Martin boss Andy Palmer no doubt watched the 2017 feeding frenzy around the limited-edition, manual-only Porsche 911 R with keen interest. In truth, Aston Martin’s history with the concept pre-dates Porsche’s: The previous-generation V12 Vantage S manual was launched in 2016, and Palmer insisted from the outset the new Vantage be equipped with a manual transmission.
The Vantage AMR uses the same rear-mounted Graziani seven-speed dogleg transmission as the V12 Vantage S, right down to the ratios. But it’s no cut-and-paste engineering job. Not only is the transmission sitting in an all-new platform, surrounded by all-new suspension and driveline hardware; it’s also the first manual ever hooked up to the versatile Daimler-built 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 that powers the Vantage. Recalibrating the powertrain management software so the German-made engine would play nice with the Italian-made transmission—done in-house by Aston Martin but signed off by Daimler engineers in Germany—took months of work. Compared with the regular Vantage, the Vantage AMR is a subtly but substantially different car.
Let’s start with the engine. Power is unchanged—503 hp at 6,000 rpm—but the overall torque output has been dialed back from a peak of 505 lb-ft to 460 lb-ft from 2,000 rpm to 5,000 rpm and limited to 295 lb-ft in first and second gears. That’s to keep the Graziani’s internals intact, says Aston’s chief engineer Matt Becker, who adds that a transmission with stronger components and a higher torque rating would also have weighed more. Even so, Aston claims the AMR is only four tenths of a second slower to 60 mph than the regular Vantage with its fast-shifting eight-speed auto, taking 3.9 seconds for the sprint, and has a slightly higher top speed, 200 mph versus 195 mph.
Despite the addition of a clutch pedal and additional interior parts and wiring, the AMR weighs 220 pounds less than a standard Vantage, and about 60 percent of that weight reduction is down to the lighter manual transmission. A new torque tube between the engine and the transmission weighs 8.8 pounds less, and the AMR’s transmission cooling system is 25 pounds lighter. Standard 20-inch forged alloy wheels and carbon-ceramic brakes—with 16.1-inch rotors up front and 14.1-inch units at the rear—help trim a further 53 pounds.
In addition to reducing the overall weight, the lighter transmission means less weight over the rear axle, and so a subtle shift in the front to rear weight balance from a perfect 50:50 to 51:49. To compensate, the Vantage AMR’s rear spring rate has been slightly softened, and the rear anti-roll bar slightly stiffened. Software controlling both the revalved shocks and the electronic power steering has also been rewritten.
As in all modern Astons, there are three powertrain modes—Sport, Sport+, and Track—but with the gear shifting all down to you, they only change the engine mapping and exhaust note. Sport and Track modes deliver linear throttle response, the former for smooth driving around town, the latter for ultimate precision when pushing hard. Sport + is showoff mode, a non-linear map that delivers more urgent thrust the moment you touch the accelerator. There are matching suspension modes, too, each delivering successively firmer damping rates. Sport and Sport+ are on the money for most roads, endowing the Vantage AMR with a primary ride that’s slightly more compliant—and quieter—than that of a Porsche 911.
Having been developed from the outset with a manual transmission in mind, there’s plenty of room in the Vantage’s footwell for an extra pedal. Becker’s team spent a lot of time finessing pedal weights and placement, benchmarking their efforts against a manual Porsche 911 GTS, and you only need a couple of miles in the Vantage AMR to appreciate it was time well spent. The short-throw clutch uses a dual-piston master cylinder originally developed by AP Racing for Formula 1 cars to reduce effort, and the brake master cylinder has been revised to deliver less aggressive tip-in, to assist with smooth heel-and-toe downshifts. It all works beautifully, offering wonderful feel and feedback.
If you’re not confident matching revs yourself, the Vantage AMR will do it for your via AMSHIFT. This driver-selectable system uses clutch, gear position and prop shaft sensors, together with the engine management program, to mimic the technique of heel-and-toe downshifts. AMSHIFT also offers the capability of full throttle upshifts—just keep your right foot buried as you dip the clutch and the computer stops the engine revving to destruction.
That doesn’t mean the Vantage AMR is easy to drive from the get-go, however. Though the pedals are a joy to dance over, the Graziani transmission doesn’t have the oily rifle-bolt action of the Porsche 911’s seven-speed as you work it through the gears; the throw is longer, clunkier, clumsier, and the gate not as well defined. The shifter weighting favors the central fourth-fifth gear plane, but even so you have to be very careful not to slot into sixth gear on upshifts from third to fourth. On downshifts from third to second it’s far too easy to get fourth gear instead. It takes time and practice to get the feel for the Graziani’s quirks, to learn when to use your palm or your fingertips to guide the lever into the right slot.
It’s a difficult and frustrating experience, all wrong slots and bad language, especially when you first try to explore the Vantage AMR’s performance envelope and the road starts rushing towards you. This is no point-and-pull-the-trigger supercar; you have to understand that less haste means more speed before you can start having fun with it. And then, if you’re on your game, it delivers. The chassis is well balanced, its limits easily approachable, and the feedback from the steering and brakes rich and rewarding.
However, make no mistake: The Vantage AMR is more work, more effort to drive, and indisputably slower than the standard Vantage. Despite its expensive performance hardware—the forged wheels, the big brakes—this is an Aston Martin best enjoyed at seven-tenths, where you have the time to shift gears with care and deliberation and can concentrate on driving as smoothly and precisely as possible. And yet, despite—or maybe because of—the flawed transmission, it’s an oddly appealing thing. It’s like driving a brand-new classic car; its imperfection involves you.
Hooked up to the Graziani the 4.0-liter twin turbo V-8 under the Vantage AMR’s hood is like an old friend who’s learned new tricks. It feels extra alert and responsive; you’re more aware of its muscular punch out of the corners, and strength with which it pulls all the way to redline. It’s a thunderously effortless engine, characterful and engaging, the snap-crackle from the exhaust on the overrun in Track mode somehow more authentic than it is in automatic-transmission cars. There’s a hint of the gloriously mad Virage-based Vantages from the 1990s, with their monstrously powerful twin-supercharged V-8s, in the way the Vantage AMR goes down the road.
Priced from $179,995, the Vantage AMR will be limited to 200 vehicles, available in five designer specifications, one of which celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Aston Martin DBR1’s win in the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans. Named Vantage 59, it will be applied to the final 59 cars of the production run and features a Stirling Green and Lime exterior paint scheme with Dark Knight leather and Alcantara and lime highlights inside. The Vantage 59 spec is priced at $204,995 in the U.S., and all 59 cars have been sold.
The manual transmission will be available as an option on the regular Vantage lineup from the first quarter of next year. The Vantage AMR suggests it could be, despite its foibles, a curiously characterful take on the entry-level Aston Martin. Stick with the automatic if you want a faster, fuss-free Vantage, though. It’s the better supercar.