2017 Aston Martin V12 Vantage S Gains a No-Cost Manual Transmission Option

2017 Aston Martin V12 Vantage S (Credit: © Aston Martin)

Rowing your own with a manual transmission is a dying art form, but some automakers are hanging onto their DIY transmission as long as they can. In the high-end performance and luxury segments, however, the manual is effectively dead, save for a few special models here and there. Today, Aston Martin announced that it will join the campaign to save the manual by offering a manual transmission in the 2017 V12 Vantage S.

» Related: Aston Martin Reveals Its New Model Lineup

Previously, the only Aston Martin that was available with the do-it-yourself option was the Vantage GT, which featured a six-speed manual. The Vantage S’ gearbox does the GT’s one better by adding a seventh speed to the fun. Moving to a seven-speed unit also allows Aston to hark back to the years when the manual ruled the world by putting first gear in a dog-leg (over and back) position.

While the dog-leg first gear does pay homage to a day when manuals were the transmission of choice, the seven-speed gearbox in the Vantage S has plenty of modern bits to make it as driver-friendly as possible. One of the key features is AMSHIFT, which uses the positioning of the clutch, gear shifter, and prop shaft to activate a throttle blip that mimics the classic heel-toe shifting technique when braking and changing gears.

While the addition of the manual transmission is the big news for the 2017 V12 Vantage S, it still has its standard Sportshift III automatic. Both transmission help sprint the V12 Vantage to a top speed of 205 mph and to 62 mph in 3.9 seconds.

The Vantage S will start hitting showrooms in the third quarter of 2016. If you want a manual gearbox, you’d better hurry as the U.S. will get only 100 models with the new manual transmission.