The Newest Aston on the Block: The 2026 Vantage on Ocean Avenue

Wednesday of Monterey Car Week belongs to Aston Martin in Carmel-by-the-Sea. On August 12, Astons on the Avenue filled Ocean Avenue between Monte Verde and Lincoln with Astons old and new, and of everything we photographed, one car pulled a crowd all day: a brand-new 2026 Vantage in a pale ice blue over bronze wheels.

Up front, the Vantage looks nothing like the softer car it replaced. The grille is huge, the hood is sculpted with deep scallops and a pair of vents, and the headlights sweep back into the fenders. In Carmel's filtered light, the pale blue paint shifted from silver to sky depending on where you stood.

Under that hood is a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 making 656 horsepower and 590 lb-ft of torque, sent to the rear wheels through an eight-speed automatic. That's good for 0–60 mph in about 3.4 seconds and a top speed of 202 mph. Aston also offers a Vantage S for 2026, with roughly 15 more horsepower and a slightly quicker launch.

The cabin is where this particular car really stood out. The owner's spec runs light blue leather on the wheel and dash, ivory perforated seats with deep blue inserts, carbon fiber trim across the dash, and the new physical-button center console that Aston brought back after years of touchscreens and capacitive panels. It's a two-seater, with the cockpit pushed low and back.

From behind, the full-width light bar and the little ducktail spoiler give it a clean, wide stance, and the black diffuser and quad exhausts hint at what's underneath.

Just down the block sat Astons from decades past, which made the new Vantage a fitting place to start our coverage. Next up in this series: the classics.

Were you on Ocean Avenue for Astons on the Avenue? Tell us which Aston you'd take home in the comments.