Prodrive Aston Martin V8 Vantage

A subtle carbon-fiber front splitter and rear wing work together to reduce high-speed lift by 45%. And, they look great. A hint of body roll remains, but the suspension is composed, and high-speed stability is first rate.

Here’s the trick. It’s not a big trick, but it’s a neat one all the same. We think you’ll like it.

It’s a whole new world—a stereophonic, high-fidelity experience that will rock your very being. Your soul won’t simply be stirred; it will be slapped into life by a giant bear-hug embrace of all-enveloping sound. Whereas the regular 4.3-liter V-8 engine would never show its true colors until 4000 rpm, when a bypass valve opens in the exhaust and you finally get your money’s worth, a press of this little button opens the valve and delivers glorious acoustics.

It’s all so simple, as the technology is already in place. But it took Aston Martin’s GT racing partner and now owner, Prodrive, to think of it. Why?

Driving Prodrive’s edition of the V8 Vantage is a real eye-opener, and may well hint at its vision for the future dynamic traits of all things Aston Martin. It’s not just the exhaust that has come in for some fine-tuning here, but the engine and suspension, too.

Prodrive’s PR boss Ben Sayer explains why the company felt the need to prepare this latest in a series of seductive sports cars to roll off Aston’s Gaydon production line. “It wasn’t so much us, it was feedback from existing customers that prompted us to make the changes. We held a number of customer clinics and it became clear there was a certain amount of frustration with the sound, the engine’s performance, and the suspension.” Sayer says Prodrive has received 150 serious inquiries from U.K. V8 drivers alone, and the company will sell the kit in key Aston markets, including the U.S., U.K., and Germany.

There are visual tweaks at work, too. Look closely, and you’ll spot a thick black lip of carbon fiber running along the bottom of the wide-mouth Aston nose. This splitter works in harmony with a similarly discreet carbon fiber rear wing to produce a 45 percent reduction in high-speed lift. You can take it—for $5783—or leave it.

There should be no indecision over the exhaust. The aforementioned switch is a must-have, but the problem is that it comes as part of the engine conversion package, which means you’ll have to put up with another 44 horsepower and 23 pound-feet of torque. Life’s a bitch, really.

Those increases are courtesy of a remapped engine management unit (read: snappier throttle response) and sports catalysts in the exhaust, which costs $12,285. Holding it all together is a Bilstein damper and Eibach spring setup for the suspension, complete with switchable control from the cockpit—for $10,989. Finally, the lighter, larger, nineteen-inch forged-alloy wheels and Pirelli PZero Corsas require a down payment of $7866, bringing the complete conversion to a nice round $36,923, for a total of $147,523 including the V8 Vantage—Porsche 911 Turbo money, or 911 GT3/GT3 RS, if you like things a little more hardcore.

So, how does it all feel? It feels alive. Once you’ve pressed the magic button, every flex of the throttle gives onlookers a better view of your dentistry. No car enthusiast in his right mind could help but fall for the bellow of this V-8.

It’s NASCAR three-abreast on the top banking, a prototype flat out past you on the Mulsanne, or an Aston Martin DBR9 GT popping and flaring on the overrun under braking. It’s all this and more. And it’s legal. Praise be.

For, er, scientific purposes, we invited a friend along with a 911 GT3 RS (996) complete with sports exhaust, and there could be no argument over our boys-will-be-boys drive-by. The Prodrive V8 was the one that knocked spectators’ breath out of their lungs as it sailed by under full throttle.

As for the engine, the firepower is all there, only at the top end. So you have to work for it. But the rewards are appreciable. There’s proper performance here, the kind that makes you question every part of your driving and the surrounding environment. Match that 8000-rpm, full-charge potential to the right road and the Prodrive engine revels in revs but has a fatter helping of torque too, with 325 pound-feet peaking at 5400 rpm. It all helps drop the 0-62-mileper-hour time to 4.7 seconds.

The gearing remains unchanged, as does the six-speed manual’s shift action. It’s meaty, deliberate, and with short throws will call to mind a nightclub bouncer who has no time for pleasantries.

There’s not much subtlety to the suspension, either. It runs two settings: standard and sport, the latter activated via a switch on the transmission tunnel. Let’s start with the sport mode, shall we?

Actually, on second thought… it’s just so firm, so unyielding that it really is better suited to track work, especially when the weather is patchy. You don’t feel what’s going on below so much as you feel which quarry the asphalt has been sourced from. It’s that firm, and that detailed.

Better to stick with the standard mode. There’s still only a hint of body roll no matter how hard you drive, but the added pliancy instills a little more confidence to exploit the front-engine, rear-wheel-drive aluminum chassis.

In the dry, you can pitch the car hard into long fast bends, feeling all four wheels load up before opening the throttle and driving out of initial understeer with a dose of oversteer—assuming you’ve been brave and canceled the ESP.

A word of warning, though. When cold or wet, those Pirellis can lose grip pretty quickly, and sometimes without a whole lot of progression. Get on the steering fast, especially when you’ve canceled the driver aids.

Body control is what counts here most, though. Prodrive has blessed the V8 Vantage with a suspension that can tackle the roughest, most undulating, cambered roads without losing composure. A regular V8 wouldn’t cover ground anywhere near as effectively.

It’s good to find, then, that the standard cross-drilled brakes are more than up to the job, withstanding repeated high-speed stops on our test drive. As for the aerodynamics, well, we didn’t pass through any wind tunnels during our four days with the car. But high-speed stability is undoubtedly first-rate, helped in no small part by the suspension.

Prodrive has come up with a car that’s more aggressive, confident, and engaging. And it is developing this car for the U.S. market, so keep an eye on this space. It ain’t cheap, but with many V8 Vantage owners already downsizing from DB9s, money isn’t an issue.

Yet after all of that, the one thing that leaves an impression is that neat little button on the steering column. Did we mention it can be set to silent mode? Didn’t think you’d be interested.