Aston V8 Vantage N420

Aston V8 Vantage N420: driven
Sometimes we worry that Aston Martin is grossly cynical making cars like the N420. And then we drove it and were having too good a time to care, writes Paul Horrell from TopGear magazine.
No car company on earth exploits collectors with limited editions as cravenly as Aston. The latest, the V8 Vantage N420, is a paint job, some carbon peripherals and a plunder through the options list. On paper then, not earth shaking. But wait a minute...

N420 stands for the 420bhp V8 engine, which all V8 Vantages have these days. But here it gets a new sports exhaust and once you hit 4,000 revs there's a proper rock-gig V8 bellow. The transmission is a flappy-paddle job. It hits you with an old-school pause-clunk as it changes, but on the other hand there are, as we'll see, advantages to being able to keep both hands on the steering wheel.

Aston's optional ‘sports pack' chassis is standard on the N420 - it's stiffer and tauter than normal. Going slowly, it crumps at every little lump in the road, but put some speed through it and the springs really start to work with just the right suppleness.

On a straight back-road, the steering wheel twists and wriggles in your hands as the tyres are deflected by bumps. That's why the flappy paddles come in so handy as you brake and turn into a corner.
But at that point you're aboard a properly alive sports car. Aston has developed the Vantage steadily over the years, and it's now fluent and beautifully balanced, giving you near-heroic confidence as you load it up through a series of bends and project your way out and down the straight.
Strapped into the lightweight one-piece semi-race seat (the pair of them are the main reason it's 27kg lighter than a normal V8 Vantage), you might get fantasies about the race series that go with the paint.

The colour schemes celebrate various racing Astons, and they're two-tone liveries with a contrast band around the radiator grille, and an equally non-matching screen pillar and roof rail. Our car was in ‘Asia Cup' livery - white with black bands. A week later we're still seeing zig-zag flashes before our eyes.
But never mind about the race paint and seats. This is the best road V8 Vantage ever. And you can always order it in a plain colour.