Sometimes an automaker doesn’t get everything quite right on what appears to be the perfect car. Perfection is hard – if not impossible – to achieve, but Aston Martin has been on a roll lately with new offerings like the Vantage, DBS Superleggera, and DB11. But there’s one thing the new DBS Superleggera and DB11 don’t have the Vantage soon will: a manual transmission option. While the new Vantage will have a seven-speed manual (said to arrive sometime next year) or the current eight-speed automatic, the DB11 and DBS Superleggera come with the latter only.
From what we’ve been told, Aston Martin does not have plans to offer the either of those two wonderful cars with a manual, but one person has started a petition on Change.org to, uh… change that.
Greg Kelleher writes in his petition that “Aston Martin has a definitive brand, especially through the iconic DB line, of British Engineering and Design, sophistication, power, comfort, and performance. Part of the driving experience, that is present in all truly classic cars is, of course, the manual transmission.” Kelleher acknowledges to the British automaker that automatics and double-clutch transmissions do provide for a smoother ride and faster and more reliable shifting, but they do lack that purist driver control.
Hopefully, the automaker will remain true to its word to offer at least one manual in its lineup (the Vantage), but again, why just one? The DB11’s predecessor, the DB9, had a six-speed manual option with its 5.9-liter V12, so wouldn’t it be nice to see a similar combo once again?
Remember, the DB11 is powered by a choice of twin-turbo engines, the in-house developed 5.2-liter V12 and the AMG-sourced 4.0-liter V8. The Vantage is available solely with the latter engine, and if Aston Martin is already prepping to equip it with a manual, why not do the same for the V8 DB11?
However, just because something is technically possible does not mean there’s a business case for it, and that’s what we fear most. There may not be a big enough market for a manual DB11. In any case, you can read the petition in full by clicking the link above and please sign it if you feel the same. A manual-equipped Aston Martin DB11 AMR V12 sounds mighty fine to us.
