Eenie, Meenie, Miny, Moe…

How do I couch this? Making choices can be so hard. It’s a problem many of us may face multiple times in our adult lives – what car do I buy? But this is a special car problem. And the subjects of today’s indecision are actually pretty old cars, one being 12 years old and the other 16 years old. 

Dude, really? Are you nuts? Who cares! Well, you’d be surprised…

It goes without saying these are not typical cars. Aston Martin’s have a following, a history. They are rare, and they have staying power. By and large, the people who have them, love them, and are dedicated to the brand.

I’ve always loved convertibles, so the chance to buy an Aston roadster was pretty much a no-brainer. But then there’s the other hot rod coupe version I now also have. People think I’m nuts but, really, they are two very different cars. Here’s why. 

The roadster has a V8 engine, the coupe has a V12. Huge difference in torque and horsepower. Throttle response is completely different, being much more aggressive in the V12. All that V12 torque can make it hard to control, so you have to be careful until you learn how the coupe likes to (mis)behave.

The convertible is not underpowered by any means, but with a more civilized throttle response and roughly 70% of the torque it’s a wonderfully behaved sports car. With its near perfect balance, driving through corners makes it very easy to direct, change directions, and calmly slither through the best series of turns. Really near effortless fun. 

On the other side of the coin, the V12 can be a handful. Compared to the wonderful balance of the roadster it’s a bit nose heavy. As a result, when you drive hard it tends to push or understeer a bit through a corner. While its suspension is tauter it’s still not quite as nimble as the V8 and gives a noticeably firmer ride. There’s also more road noise because in an effort to save weight there’s less sound deadening.

But the V12 is crazy fun. Like Steve Sutcliffe wrote a few years ago in Autocar, “You end up wondering whether it’s you or the car that’s in control. And in a warped kind of way that’s a delicious realization.” That raw surge of power and acceleration is accompanied by a back of the mind reminder to pay attention or things will go terribly wrong. Modulating the throttle in Sport mode takes a delicate touch because only 25% of pedal travel yields wide open throttle. It’s a glider, responding with ease to the slightest of notions, and how I imagine a cruising flying carpet – so attune to you it responds without question or complaint, serenely or with reckless abandon. Just think it and it happens.

Surprisingly, the clutch pedal on the V12 is noticeably lighter than the V8. Install a Velocity AP twin plate clutch and a lightweight flywheel and it becomes even more so. Other VAP tweaks, like new headers and exhaust with a re-programmed ECU, just bump the responses to yet another level.

The brakes on each car are also different. The V8 sports conventional drilled steel Brembo 4-piston discs while the V12 ups the ante by importing its 6-piston carbon ceramic discs from the DBS, Aston’s flagship of that now bygone day. Those brakes are epically effective. The car will out brake pretty much anything on the road. Something to think about when someone’s on your butt.

Interior-wise, they are very similar. Being four years newer, the V12 gets newer, nicer switchgear and a better layout of functions. They both sport the essentially unusable and ancient Volvo navigation system, but who cares? I never use it. I just Bluetooth my phone to the car and Google Maps gets me there. The seats in both cars are the same Recaro model and everything you see throughout the cockpit, and some things you don’t, are either leather or Alcantara. Luxury in a sports car. Comfort, ambiance and performance. What more can anyone want?

Alright, but I don’t have the several million for a Pagani Huayra, Bugatti Veyron, Chiron or whatever’s next.

If you like machine noises in a good way, the V12’s your ticket. The exhaust note is on a whole other level from the roadster, which in itself is just fantastic fun. Mix in the whine of transaxle gears, changing exhaust notes and a really slick 6-speed manual with that lightweight flywheel. Now that’s fun! With the roadster there’s a raspy, but refined classic V8 exhaust note but this V12, with its Velocity AP exhaust, sounds like a wailing Formula 1 V10 from the 1980s.

To sum it all up, in the V8 roadster is a car that’s marvelously quiet, powerful and easy to drive, suitable for long, enjoyable road trips. In the V12 Coupe is a marvelously noisy, crazy powerful, pay attention bit of a hot rod.

You want refinement and easy pleasure in a tailored suit, mixed with a little riotous noisy fun now and then? Go with the V8 roadster. You want raw, brutal, yet still a great road car in a tailored suit? Go with the V12 coupe. They may have the same wheelbase and nearly identical body styles, but they are completely different animals. Every day I love trying to decide which one I get to drive. Now that’s a real first world problem.