Man Maths: Aston Martin V8 Vantage N430

There really was a time when the biggest news of Aston’s year was a bit of paintwork on a near decade-old sports car. Those PRs won’t be in the least bit nostalgic for those days.

It would have been all too easy to dismiss the N430 as Aston Martin flogging a dead horse, just as I suspect many of us in the press did at the time. Until we drove it. I remember testing one alongside several far newer and more sophisticated rivals, including the Mercedes-AMG GT S and Porsche 911 Turbo S. The N430 was massively outgunned in that company and on the Scottish Borders roads, it rarely saw which way they went.

But it had several things in its favour. Like fundamental simplicity – naturally aspirated engine, manual gearbox, no bewildering drive modes. Unlike the rest it also had hydraulic steering, which helped make it by far the most communicative car there. Like all Vantages of that era, there came a moment when it all started to make sense. At low speeds a Vantage can be a bit tricky, with a curious fly-off handbrake, a clutch that’s easy to slip, hefty steering and a knobbly ride. But with a little speed, it all comes together beautifully, like an orchestra that’s remembered all at once to look at the conductor.

I remember guiding that N430 along a Borders lane, beneath the overhanging trees and along the hedgerows, feeling the front axle just smudge a little on corner entry, enough to let me know I’d used all the grip, the body leaning into the apex, giving a clear impression of how hard the chassis was working, then a small twitch from the rear end under power so I knew I could not have got back on the gas any sooner, or any harder.

It was driving like we all imagine it to be. A great road, a wonderful car, engine howling to heavens, manual gears that needed consideration, the driver feeling connected to the machine and wringing everything out of it.

It’s a real analogue sports car, the Vantage, and in N430 guise it is absolutely at its best. Other variants are rarer, more powerful and much quicker, but the N430 is the best driver’s car of the lot. You can find them now for less than £50,000, but most are Sportshift cars with robotised manual gearboxes. If ever there was a car that deserved a proper manual, the N430 is it. It has been on my ‘some day’ list since 2014 – here’s hoping I can one day strike it off the list for good.

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