Aston Martin Vantage in its latest iteration, is wider, lower and features added power to take the fight to the feisty 911s.

Back in the day the Vantages by Aston Martin weren’t really in the hunt against their natural foe, the 911, lacking in sheer acceleration and with odd transmissions. But that all changed in 2019.

Vantage got a twin-turbo powertrain, the output processed by an eight-speed auto transmission. It was the first Aston I’d piloted that was truly quick, and put it on a real footing with the 911.

Back then, it cost $250k but didn’t have adaptive cruise control. Now it has come in for a radical overhaul, and it gets ACC this time. And different style matrix LED headlights too.

It looks better, the grille 38 per cent bigger, the body wider by 170mm, more grounded and aggressive. Plus it comes with gobs more power but, like everything, the price has risen by, er, $125k to $375k.

Hell’s bells. But to be fair, the 911 it competes with is the Carrera GTS Coupe and that’s nudging $350k. Only the car we drove had more than a few extras.

For this pre-production press vehicle came adorned with all the available fruit, all $144k of it. They weren’t itemised but you can bank on the carbon ceramic stoppers costing at least $20k, and you’d probably pay about as much for the carbon fibre diffuser hanging off its tail.

Ditto the 1170wpc 15-speaker B&W sound system. The special paint job by Q mustn’t have come cheap either, and then there’s the lashings of carbon lining the interior.

On top of which the seats are carbon race items, not the comfiest I’ve encountered but they certainly do lock you in place. Not that they make entry and exit exactly a snip. Then there are the other carbon finishings on the outside of the vehicle.

The frameless carbon mirrors are a thing of beauty too. It looks sharp with the big black wheels, the burnt orange paint and those functional air tunnels.

People certainly notice this car. But then, they’d have to be deaf not to hear it first.