Since the dawn of the automobile, people felt the urge to shoehorn big engines into their cars – at least those who see cars more than a means to travel from point A to B. Fortunately, not only individuals do that, automakers do it too from time to time.

When that happens, spectacular cars appear, and the Aston Martin V12 Vantage S is no one of them. By putting the enormous 565hp (573 PS) 5.9-liter V12 engine into its smallest car, Aston Martin got its second-fastest model ever behind the One-77 supercar.

It goes from 0 to 60 mph (96 km/h) in 3.7 seconds, from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 3.9 seconds, and reaches a top speed of 205 mph (330 km/h).

When MotorTrend’s Ignition tested the acceleration times however, the V12 Vantage S fell short of the claimed figures, with the single-clutch automated manual gearbox being blamed as too slow.

But does this transmission spoil the V12 Vantage S experience? You’ll have to watch the video to find out.

By Dan Mihalascu

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