Can the go match the show?

If this was ?Stylish car of the year?, we?d have a unanimous winner. The Aston Martin Vantage N400 is a stunner in every sense of the aesthetic word. It?s elegant enough to impress the snootiest Brit aristocrat yet muscular enough to scare most cars out of the fast lane.

Aston?s DBS was meant to take this spot in PCOTY, but due to availability constraints we accepted the Vantage N400, a relatively new special edition. The ?N? refers to the fact that it broke the eight-minute benchmark around the Nϋrburgring in Germany, while the 400 refers to its ?horses?.

In metric terms that's 298kW and 420Nm, thanks to an upgrade of the stock 4.3-litre V8 and engineers also fettled with the suspension for extra response and crafted in some special styling elements.

This Aston?s a beauty with orgasmic vocals too, if you can imagine an angry dragon with a smoker?s cough. Though looks and linguistics can charm, a PCOTY winner needs the go to match the show and a whole dollop of athletic ability too.

So then why is it slower than an M3 from 0-100km/h? That car commands less than half the Aston?s R1.9-million price tag. We also found a few ergonomic niggles in its stylish two-seat interior, but otherwise this Aston remains a highly desirable machine ? but you pay dearly for its exclusivity.

Aston Martin N400
Price: R1 900 000
kW/Nm: 298/420
0-100km/h (g): 6.0 secs
Top speed (c): 285km/h
Hot Lap (g): 2m05.5