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2017 Aston Martin V12 Vantage S coming to US with manual

A few years back, the lovely Aston Martin V12 Vantage was available with an honest-to-goodness six-speed manual transmission. It was capable of instilling serious cognitive dissonance. "If I sell the cars, the furniture, and remortgage the house twice ..." That sort of thing. The package is back, in a sense. For the 2017 model year, Aston will produce the V12 Vantage S with a seven-speed manual transmission. And not the automated manual business supplied by Graziano, that has attracted my ire for being about as subtle as a kick in the pants. There's a human-operated clutch and a proper manual lever. It gets better, at least if you're a manual-transmission geek. Aston fitted a dogleg box to this car, meaning first gear is to the left and down, below reverse and where second gear would sit in a traditional H-pattern floor shifter. Less traditional is the throttle-blipping function, which will make downshifts smoother for those unable or unwilling to heel-toe. If AMSHIFT, which is Graydon's code-word for the system, is not your thing it can be disabled or used in any driving mode. More good news: there's no real penalty for choosing the manual over the Sportshift III transmission. The two cars are mechanically the same, offer the same performance metrics and top speed, and are offered at the same basic price. New for 2017 but not exclusive to the manual are many exterior and interior cosmetic options, like brightly-colored exterior accents, in line with Aston's recent styling trends. As the subtitle suggests, there is a serious catch for Americans. It's not that we won't get the V12-manual combination – we will! – it's just that there won't be very many of them. It'll be a no-cost option in the rest of the world. If you want one, let's hope you've stopped reading this article the first few lines and hopped on the phone with your local Aston dealer to get a place on what looks like a very short list. Related Video:

The Aston Martin Rapide leads this month's list of discounts

Aston Martin was an early entrant into the coupe-shaped sedan battlefield with its rakish Rapide. It was first shown in concept form in 2006 at the Detroit Auto Show before finally going into production in 2010. Ten years have passed since then, and this could well be your last chance to drive a new Rapide off your neighborhood Aston Martin dealership's lot as the four-door is replaced by the DBX crossover. If you've got your eye on a new Rapide — and congratulations if so — you'll be pleased to know that you can snag a 2019 model for the low price of just $217,484. Sure, that's still a lot of money, but it's $24,341 off the car's average $241,825 sticker price. That's the largest monetary savings of August, 2020, and it represents a discount of a little over 10%. And even if the Rapide is getting a little long in the tooth, it's still a strikingly beautiful machine, particularly in its most recent AMR guise. Looking for something different but still extremely rapid? The 2019 Acura NSX is selling for an average transaction price of $142,141. That's an 11% savings off its sticker of $159,703. Or you could opt for a Maserati Quattroporte if you'd like the convenience of a luxury sedan but not the price of the Aston Martin – the four-door Trident-badged machine's average transaction price this month of $107,372 is a 12.4% discount. And if none of that is up your alley, you could go full baller with a Rolls-Royce Cullinan SUV for $320,085. That's a savings of $12,665 off the car's average retail price of $332,750. Just think of how much Grey Poupon you could afford with all that leftover cash. For a look at the best new car deals in America based on the percentage discount off their suggested asking prices, check out our monthly recap here. And when you're ready to buy, click here for the Autoblog Smart Buy program, which brings you a hassle-free buying experience with over 9,000 Certified Dealers nationwide. Related Video: Featured Gallery Aston Martin Rapide AMR View 10 Photos Acura Aston Martin Maserati Rolls-Royce Car Buying Convertible Coupe SUV Luxury Performance Sedan consumer best deals

This Aston Martin V8 Vantage prototype sounds like it has AMG power

We've known for a while now that the next Aston Martin V8 Vantage would get power from a turbocharged Mercedes-AMG engine, but this is the first time we've had a chance to hear it. The video above, recorded by Autoevolution, shows a prototype of the 2018 Aston Martin Vantage cruising around roads near the Nurburgring. The sound is definitely similar to other V8-powered Mercs, and absolutely does not an Aston power plant. As for how good it sounds, the office is split. At least we're in agreement that it's good the car will probably be offered with a manual transmission. We can also pick out a few little details from the body. This new Vantage will get fender vents like those on the DB11 starting from just behind the front wheel arch. The DB11's high and wide rear haunches will carry over as well. This particular prototype has a very deep chin spoiler up front, which may indicate there will be more than one version. The headlights are concealed well, but considering the similarities to the DB11 in other areas, we'd expect similar swept-back headlights up front. Basically, the Vantage is shaping up to continue Aston's tradition of similarly shaped sports cars in different sizes, but that's hardly a bad thing when the resulting cars look so good. Related Video: News Source: Autoevolution / YouTube via Road & TrackImage Credit: Autoevolution / YouTube Spy Photos Aston Martin Coupe Future Vehicles Performance Videos viral video mercedes-amg aston martin v8 vantage