Everyone has a silly idea from time to time, and some folks even follow through with said ideas, but taking an Aston Martin Vantage AMR car camping is on an entirely different level. To state the obvious, the $110,000 limited edition supercar isn’t designed for overlanding. Despite its somewhat mediocre performance figures, it’s at its best when whipping around a track or cruising down a particularly challenging backroad. It’s not really meant for dodging jagged rocks and navigating across rivers.
Despite all this, a father-son duo who post car-related content as “The Satin Crew,” who seemingly have more luxury cars than sense, decided to tail a RAM 1500 TRX down an off-road trail in a Vantage AMR. It’s part of a “supercar camping” trend that the pair are trying to start via their Instagram and YouTube channels. Accompanying the Vantage was a band of fellow high-performance adventurers in a BMW E36 M3, a Mercedes-AMG GT R, and a Mercedes-AMG G63, respectively. The RAM 1500, which was by far the only sensible choice for this venture, had a Hellcat engine in it. Because why not, at this point.
As predicted, the Aston Martin Vantage AMR took an absolute battering on the journey. While no seemingly catastrophic damage was done (both the sump and differential avoided getting smashed to pieces), the Aston did end up beached like a six-figure British whale on several occasions. And while it may not have ended its days spurting oil everywhere, again like a mortally wounded whale, its front splitter and other underbody aerodynamic parts probably didn’t make it out in one piece.
The Aston Martin Vantage AMR is one of the rarer things you can destroy
While plenty of expensive vehicles sustained near-comical amounts of damage during the aforementioned camping trip, the Aston Martin Vantage AMR was the rarest thing the group decided to wreck. Only 200 were made, and of that 200, only 137 of those were coupes. It was released to round off the previous generation of Vantage, which was replaced in 2018.
Under the hood, there’s a hefty 4.7 liter V8, which is capable of producing 430 horsepower. This is offset somewhat by the 3,500+ pound kerb weight, which ultimately renders the Vantage a bit sluggish. Still, despite its underwhelming performance figures, it’s still a thing of beauty and probably didn’t deserve the abuse it took.
Its sporty low profile, total lack of armor underneath, and rear-wheel drive configuration aren’t the only things that make the Aston woefully equipped for any sort of off-road driving. It also has a seven-speed automatic gearbox that’s specced for performance, not suspect terrain. Oh and The Satin Crew didn’t even bother to fit off-road tires to their out-of-place performance vehicle. It was on standard road tires, from the looks of things.
Supercar off-roading isn’t entirely stupid. There are examples of supercars configured to take on trails, with the Porsche Dakar arguably being the most famous example. Even a Taycan has a “gravel mode” and a not ideal but somewhat workable seven-ish inches of ground clearance. But taking a stock configuration
