| First Drive | Peebles, Scotland | Aston Martin V12 Vantage |

Now I'm not saying that the consumption of alcohol was definitely instrumental in the idea to shoehorn the DBS's V12 under the bonnet of the Vantage, but it's a good bet. It's also fair to assume that a little Dutch courage was probably needed to bring the idea to Aston's CEO, Dr Ulrich Bez. Yet here it is in the metal and you can now buy the smallest car Aston makes powered by its biggest series production engine.

In the Metal

While Aston Martin has been criticised in some quarters for not going far enough with the styling of the DBS, we think it's got it just right for the V12 Vantage. The lower stance is augmented by subtle aerodynamic and cooling tweaks, many of which have been adopted from Aston's N24 endurance racing programme. The most obvious differences include prominent bonnet louvers, a carbon fibre splitter, wider side sills and a carbon fibre rear diffuser, while the rear spoiler is larger too. The goal was to improve downforce without increasing drag and the result in aesthetic terms is a more menacing edge to the Vantage's lithe lines. Colour choice determines whether the changes stand out or not, with bright hues really accentuating the bonnet vents for instance.

On the inside, carbon fibre and Alcantara touches set the V12 apart from its V8 brother, though it's a largely unchanged cabin. That means cosy accommodation for two, separated by the high transmission tunnel. There are plenty of interesting design touches, though the gear lever position is too far back for our tastes - and that's not just because I'm short...

What you get for your Money

At £135,000 the V12 costs not far off fifty grand more than the V8 Vantage, so you had better hope it's good. For the record, the V12 is actually significantly better equipped, surprisingly featuring niceties such as a hard disk drive satnav system and cruise control as standard while the V8 does not. One of the must-have options are the carbon fibre and Kevlar composite seats. The standard-fit, electrically adjusted items are hardly shabby, but the hand-trimmed, lightweight versions really suit the character of the car and they remove a significant 17kg from the weight too.

Driving it

It's fair to say that we assumed that the engine would be the V12 Vantage's standout feature, but that's not the case at all. Though that's not to say that it's anything other than a fabulous powerplant. Peak power of 510bhp is delivered at 6,500rpm, while maximum torque of 420lb.ft is found at an equally high 5,750rpm. This is from a massive 6.0-litre V12 remember. Despite the high speeds at which the headline numbers are produced, this engine delivers significant urge at all times, negating the need to shift the chunky gear lever with any great hurry. Lever position aside, it's a pleasingly mechanical shift and a joy to have a proper manual gearbox in a car like this - at a time when automated manuals and dual-clutch transmissions are becoming the norm.

Aston applied the same fundamental approach to the V12's chassis, opting to stick with double wishbones all-round, with coil springs and regular dampers. The ride height is lower than the V8's, while the V12 gains carbon ceramic brakes as standard. That should give you a clue to the car's remit. It's a driver's car, pure and simple, much more so than the V8. Body control is kept rigidly in check, while response from the brakes and steering matches that of the V12 engine under the bonnet. It doesn't take long behind the wheel to feel at one with this car, yet it's so quick and so capable that it feels like you'd never tire of learning how to drive it. Taking into account its hardcore focus, it's not at all uncomfortable on a normal public road.

Worth Noting

Like in all the most extravagant cars, the V12 Vantage's engine barks into life with a gratuitous flare of revs before settling down to idle. The merest blip of the throttle has the rev counter needle flicking anti-clockwise (which is strange to get used to at first). If you have the Sport button pressed it takes even less movement of the throttle pedal to achieve the same result, while the exhaust's bypass valve is opened for much more of the time. An Aston insider working on the V12 programme admitted that one of the main reasons for the Sport button was to allow the driver the option of satisfying heel and toe throttle blips on downshift, while ensuring that the car was still easy to drive smoothly at low speeds when the setting is in its default mode. Aston also would have liked to have had the exhaust bypass valve fully open all the time in Sport mode, but noise legislators reckoned it was a step too far...

Summary

While it's difficult not to compare the regular V8 Vantage to the Porsche 911, it's equally hard to find a true rival for the V12 version. It's so different in personality to the V8 that it's laughable how similar it looks. Aston Martin quite happily admits that it won't be to everyone's taste, or possibly its core buyers', but it certainly has a place in the line-up as a more hardcore offering. And that's not the drink talking.