Why the comparison?
Any sports or GT car that aims to take sales in the £60-£100k bracket has to measure up the Porsche 911. It has become the benchmark product for rivals to pitch against. Aston Martin isn't the only manufacturer to try - Audi too has given the Porsche a real fright with its R8, while Jaguar's XKR and BMW's M cars all have to measure up to the Stuttgart machine. As such the Porsche is a tough rival, but the Aston Martin certainly has a lot of positives in its armoury to ensure that the 911 doesn't have its own way.
How are they similar?
Both the 911 Carrera S and Aston Martin V8 Vantage promise to deliver their owners the sort of performance ordinary car drivers can only dream about. From a standing start in either you'll reach 62mph in around 5.0 seconds, the Aston being bang on five, the Porsche managing 4.8 secs. On each it's only the rear wheels that are driven, though Porsche does offer a Carrera 4 option with four-wheel drive. Keep either accelerator pinned to the floor and you'll breach 170mph. Plenty then, even if you're visiting Porsche's German homeland and the famous speed limit-free autobahns. Six-speed manual transmissions come as standard on both and each comes as well equipped as you'd expect from machines wearing prestigious badges. Power for each is in excess of 350bhp, the Porsche boasting 355bhp and the Vantage 380bhp.
How do they differ?
As obvious as their similarities are the same is true of their differences. The British car takes the conventional front-engined (although it could be argued front-mid-engined due to its location far back in the chassis) rear-wheel drive layout, while the 911 has its engine resting behind the rear wheels. The engines themselves differ wildly too, the Aston having a 4.3-litre V8, the Porsche using a flat-six 3.8-litre unit. How those engines produce their performance is different too: the Aston needs big revs to produce its best, the Porsche's extra torque making it feel quicker and easier to extract its best from. The Aston's V8 has the 911 absolutely beaten on aural appeal though; the flat-six sounds great, but once you've heard the Vantage's V8 above 4,500rpm you'll want to hear it more and more. The Porsche counters by feeling more nimble and predictable on the road, the Aston fidgety and nervous where the Porsche would be more stable and composed.
The V8 Vantage also has the Porsche licked for style, it arguably one of the finest looking cars you can currently buy. Similarly the V8 Vantage has the nicer interior, a few cheap parts bin sourced pieces notwithstanding. The Aston doesn't feature the road noise of the Porsche either, and the luggage space in its conventional boot is far more useable. The 911 does however feature two additional rear seats, which though cramped are useful for short trips and can be folded to provide an additional luggage platform. The Porsche is cheaper too, by a not insignificant £15,000, and the German car is far more efficient, the official combined consumption figure of 24.6mpg absolutely hammering the poor 18.8mpg Aston quotes for the V8 Vantage. The Porsche also emits less CO2, just 277g/km compared to the Aston's 358g/km.
So which one would we have?
If it were a decision made purely on looks and exclusivity then the Aston would be the winner every time. But although the 911 might be relatively common - and not have the model looks of the Aston inside and out - it's the more appealing car to drive. It's faster, it delivers more feel, and is more economical too. The Aston is a beautiful car, that makes a noise to die for, but it's not quite enough to make up for its dynamic shortcomings and the large premium it commands over the Porsche.
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