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He’s a dawdler, this German-registered Mk II grey Golf, swiftly dispatched on a long sweeping left-hand corner from 40mph with a determined exploration of third gear. There’s a brief pause as the revs build, a slurp of induction noise and then a hefty and relentless vertebrae strainall the way to a change-up around 7,400rpm – at which point, the noise is doing a good impression of something symphonic and faintly bestial. I’m going to be a bit deaf tomorrow if this carries on.

No surprises, really. Except that for an Aston Vantage to provide such easy fury from relatively low in the rev range, to not ask for an extra stirring of the gearbox to maintain pace, means that this isn’t the Vantage we all know and are faintly disappointed by. It’s new. And even though it looks exactly the same, it’s a completely different car.

Before you try to spot the aero tweaks and subtle body modifications, don’t bother. There are some new alloy wheel designs, but otherwise Aston thought the Vantage looked perfectly Giselle, and so didn’t bother pimping it into a taste void. Like colourful snakes, rusty needles and used Marmite, some things are best left well alone.

Thank goodness Aston chose a conservative course – the Vantage still looks eye-popping, even after three years on the market, and would suffer if waylaid with stuck-on bits. After all, if you want a more aggressive small Aston, then look to the forthcoming Vantage RS V12. That’ll have more performance costumery than you can shake a splitter at.

So the changes to the Vantage proper are all subdermal and the better for it, but that’s not to say they aren’t significant. The engine has swollen from a 4.3 to a 4.7-litre V8, power is up from 380bhpto 420 and – more importantly for Vantage owners – torque has risen from 302lb ft to around 347lb ft. That’s the most relevant figure, because although the Vantage is now slightly faster than before (0-62mph in 4.8 seconds and a 180mph top end), that torque has transformed the driving experience.

Where the ‘old’ Vantage required dedicated stirring of the gearbox to match the enormous noise to forward motion, this car suddenly has the ability to pull through a gear without the histrionics.

Before, there was a chance that you’d become a little bored of those exhaust valves unleashing hell above 3,500rpm announcing your intentions to all and sundry, while you’re comfortably shadowed by a well-driven hot hatch. Not now. Now, second, third and fourth gears are an absolute joy that can dispatch any kind of A and B-road all on their own. Now you need not fear.

On the bumpy, oddly-surfaced mix of fast sweepers and tightening hairpins that surround the Nürburgring (where Aston launched the car), the revised Vantage pulls hard and cleanly in a linear and genuinely exciting way. That extra torque really counts.