Drive RSA in Aston Heaven

Aston Martin. Surely no two better words have ever been put together on a badge. So there could no better place for Drive RSA to start a wonderful journey into the world of super cars. Yes that’s right, today here and now Drive RSA will drive the pants off an Aston Martin V8 Vantage, complete with bright yellow paint, just in case an Aston wasn’t already inconspicuous enough.

However this is no ordinary test of a super car. As usual at Drive RSA we’re mixing things up, bringing power to you the reader. As we all know the problem with reviewing super cars is you have to take the reviewers word for everything. So I could lie to you, claim it has vertical take-off and fuelled by molten lava, conscience clear in the knowledge that very few of you would even be allowed to step foot in the showroom, let alone drive one.

So how are we different I hear you ask? Well simple really. We’ve teamed up with the Supercar Club – and not the horrible Supercar Club of old that you saw hanging around airports where you needed to hand over more than your entire net worth and a spleen to make the yearly membership fees. No, this is the new better and improved Supercar Club.

More on them later though, back to the job at hand. The Aston Martin V8 Vantage. As with all supercars, it’s about the experience. Indeed every supercar manufacturer designs their cars in a different way, using different philosophies and different techniques. This means that an Aston is a completely different experience to a Ferrari and so on. So what does the Aston deliver exactly? Well to be honest, pantomime and noise – beautiful, beautiful noise.

The engine is an absolute masterpiece. Put your foot down in any gear at any revs and a surge of torque picks you up and moves you quite literally towards the horizon at a massive rate of knots, enveloping you in the sublime sound from the glorious V8 sitting out in front of you – egging you on to rev her more and more, all the way up to a glorious 7000 rpm.

Coupled to the engine in this version is a proper manual gear box. None of that flappy paddle nonsense, this is for real men. With a heavy clutch and gear change, the resultant experience is simply a joyously purposeful one. Every time you go for a gear change, blipping the throttle, a physically pleasurable sensation runs up your arm as the gear slides perfectly into place and you put the hammer down, immediately accompanied by the rapturous roar of the Aston’s V8.

So as you may imagine from my gushing, the driving experience is something desirable. But what you may be wondering is what the car like to live with? Well the last thing in the world you want from a supercar is for it to be run of the mill. So for a kick off all the buttons should be exactly where you’d least expect them and simple things like driving out of a parking lot should be needlessly complicated. Luckily for us, the Aston panders to this view completely which is a good thing. You see what it does is give a car oodles and oodles of character. For example, a normal car would have the electric seat adjusters on the actual seats, which as I’m sure we’d all agree is the most sensible solution. Aston Martin however feels that putting them next to the driver on the centre console was a better idea, so as you move your seat back the buttons move away from you as well, which is entertaining. Other fun things include the fuel filler cap button which is inaccessible to all but those with the secret technique as taught by ex MI 6 agents.

So it’s mind blowing to drive, mental to live with and obviously you want one. Well guess what, Aston’s are not cheap, so unless your bank account stretches as far as your imagination you can’t afford one. Don’t be disheartened though as luckily the Supercar Club has come to our rescue. As I mentioned earlier, we’ve teamed up with them to bring the supercar experience to all of you. Now just to give you an inclining of how expensive a supercar is to maintain, break discs on the V8 Vantage cost R35000 to replace. Take a moment and let that number sink in. Now compare it to how much in total your car costs to run a year. I’m guessing the number is somewhat smaller than that.

So what can the supercar club do for you? Well quite a lot actually. First off they take care of all the astronomical costs of maintaining a supercar. Then the Supercar Club have structured their driving programs to cover pretty much everyone’s needs, so they do everything from the brief taster of 30mins in the car to half a day of driving fun.

However not only will you get to drive, you’ll also get to taste everything there is to experience about owning a supercar. To start with you’ll be shown around what I like to think of as Q’s garage. Located underground in a secret garage its where the Supercar Club keeps its automotive pornography. There you’ll be given the full tour round your car of choice before driving out into the daylight to begin the driving experience of a lifetime.

So is it worth it? In a word, yes. Driving an Aston Martin has been one of the most amazing, truly fulfilling experiences of my life and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. In fact, stay tuned to Drive RSA as we have some serious supercar fun coming in the pipeline.

Aston Martin V8 Vantage Pricing

Supercar Club Contact

Brett Cowell

• Cell: 082 445 7104
• Tel:  011 794 2452
• Email: brett@supercarclub.co.za
• Info: info@supercarclub.co.za