2026 Aston Martin Valhalla review: First drive of the 793kW supercar

The Valhalla may be an Aston Martin like no other, but it isn’t a supercar like no other.

It’s a two-seat, carbon fibre-tubbed coupé, with a mid-mounted turbocharged vee engine supplemented by an electric motor, plus two electric motors driving its front axle. And if that sounds familiar, the likes of the Lamborghini Revuelto, Ferraris F80 and SF90, McLaren Artura and even Honda NSX have had some kind of shades of this layout. Did the Porsche 918 Spyder do it first? But will the Valhalla do it best?

This brief drive of the new supercar/hypercar, as you prefer, to be priced at £850,000 (A$1.77 million) and limited to 999 units when deliveries start next spring, was of a late prototype, with production ready hardware but software about 85-90 per cent complete. Software sign-off can be left to the very last minute before deliveries these days.

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And there’s a lot of it to wrap together when you consider how many Valhalla systems need to be tuned into becoming a cohesive driver’s car. The major mechanical piece, the engine, takes Mercedes-AMG’s 4.0-litre V8 as a starting point, but rather than the usual Aston cross-plane crank kind, it’s the AMG GT Black Series version, which has 180deg planes. It makes 817bhp (609kW) and 632lb ft (856Nm) on its own, both at 6700rpm (see below), Aston says, and revs to 7000rpm.

It’s mated to an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox that has an integrated electric motor and no reverse gear. After the gearbox is an electronically controlled limited-slip differential for the rear axle. At the front there are two electric motors, one for each front wheel (the front e-motors also do the reversing). Aston won’t share individual motor outputs, but combined they add 248bhp (184.9kW). Meld these four power contributors together and their combined maximum outputs are 1064bhp (793kW) and 811lb ft (1099Nm).

Then there’s the electric power steering, adaptive dampers from Bilstein, electric regeneration and brake-by-wire while slowing, plus active aerodynamics that can produce up to 600kg of downforce from 240km/h (wings and diffusers bleed off their effect at higher speeds to avoid making any more and overloading the suspension). Aside from the carbon fibre tub, bodywork is also carbon fibre, as is the upper clam section, with aluminium subframes front and rear for the suspension, which is by double wishbones at the front and a multi-link set-up at the rear. The front suspension uses pushrods, partly to reduce unsprung mass, but mostly so the spring/damper units can lie flat, which allows a lower scuttle and windscreen and a lower driving position.

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The Valhalla is 1161mm tall, 25mm lower than a Revuelto and about the same as an SF90. Our drive is at Aston’s Stowe circuit at Silverstone, with Aston’s director of vehicle performance, Simon Newton, on hand and keen for us to get a feel for the natural handling of the car before a drive of the completed one, somewhere faster and perhaps early next year. Then, it’s likely the Valhalla will be demonstrated on hardcore Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tyres; for now it’s on Pilot Sport S5s (285/30 R20 at the front, 335/30 R21 rears), which are less aggressive, with a lower limit and easier breakaway, to show that Aston “has started by giving the car a base, fun-to-drive character,” according to Newton.

Astons traditionally have a ride quality that breathes, and they move around benignly at the limit. That’s the kind of behaviour Newton wants the Valhalla to have – and to retain even after it has been through high-speed development testing. Basically he’s told the team going off to perform high-speed lapping to not ruin the inherent character he believes it has now.

So let’s see. The Stowe circuit has two notable straights, a couple of high-ish-speed esses (typically taken in fourth gear) and a series of lower-speed turns. In some sports cars you would be in second gear for those slower corners, but because of the torque modern Astons typically have, and because their behaviour suits surfing along on that torque rather than thrashing out the last few revs, you might take them in third.

But the Valhalla is a different kind of Aston Martin. Not a Valkyrie, they’re keen to note (you don’t need ear defenders, for a start), but still a departure for a company that typically makes daily-sensible GT cars. The absence of a typical V8 woofle is unusual. With the engine idling and supplementary systems whirring and fanning, the Valhalla sounds – I don’t want this to sound unkind, but I fear it might – a bit like a generator.

But the appearance, as you swing open the big doors and drop deep into the cabin, is fully exotic. There’s liberal use of recycled forged carbon fibre (it looks chopped; I like it) plus proper high-grade materials such as a solid metal door pull that’s cold to the touch. Aston’s interiors have taken a significant notch upwards in quality of late, and this is another.

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The driving position is high of leg and low of bum, with a racy, squared steering wheel that has paddles attached to the rim. Maybe if your hands are guaranteed to be at a quarter-to-three then these wheels are fine, and if so then wheel-mounted paddles are better than column-fixed ones. But the steering ratio brings 2.4 turns between locks and this is supposed to be a playful car, so… I don’t know. I grant you that, as with an F80, having a round steering wheel in here would seem at odds with the Le Mans refugee ambience. But I do like round wheels and they always looked okay in Group C cars, no?

Anyway, there are drive modes, including an EV one, but I’ll stay in those that bring firmer damper settings, plus there’s three-stage stability control (on, track and all off).If it’s off, there’s still eight-stage traction control, including an all-off mode where you’re on your own. It’s a mode I am encouraged to use.

Even in its firm set-up the Valhalla has some compliance. This is a flat circuit so it’s hard to know for sure, but some body movement is allowed and it rides kerbs with absorbency. The steering is relatively light and quick but not hyper .It’s an approachable car.

It’s fast, too, of course: dry weight is 1655kg and it has more than 1000bhp (although six days earlier I’d been in a Lotus Evija, so even 1000bhp-plus is relative these days). There’s a hard 7000rpm limiter, immediate gearchanges, strong torque-filling and explosive response in every gear, and you wouldn’t really know where engines and turbos start or motors stop.

I wonder what customers will think of the sound. It’s an effective one, powerful too, but, some exceptions aside, these flat-plane layouts aren’t known for their soul. It’s more McLaren than Ferrari 458.

The by-wire brake feel is good and here, as it is in cornering, the body isn’t locked so tightly that you can’t feel what’s going on; in fact, you can turn in with a trailed brake or off the throttle to wilfully upset the balance. Then on the power on the way out of a corner it’ll smoke up its rear tyres, and that difficult job of melding all the systems together to decide how much the differential locks, how much the front wheels help out, all of that happens pretty seamlessly as the Valhalla adopts an easygoing slide.

For all of its mid-engined track-ready potency and focus, the Valhalla still drives and slides like an Aston – and there’s lots to like about that.

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Engine tech

Flat-plane-crank V8 cranks fire on alternate cylinder banks for more even gas flow and smoother primary balance than cross-plane V8s, but they can suffer secondary vibrations. Mercedes-AMG’s 3982cc unit makes 720bhp (537kW) at 6700-6900rpm and 590lb ft (800Nm) from 2000-6000rpm in the GT Black Series. With larger compressors for the two hot twin-scroll turbos, new cams and new exhaust manifolds, that’s up to 817bhp (609kW) and 632lb ft (856Nm).

Remarkably, Aston claims both peak at 6700rpm and promises more details of how and why at the Valhalla’s ultimate launch. It’s supplemented by a motor attached to the shaft of the even-numbered gears; so the V8 might be using third but, depending on load or throttle, the motor could be supporting it via, say, second or fourth. The motor can be geared to assist whatever the road speed.

Specs