The long version

Most V12 Vantage S buyers got the Sportshift III single-clutch gearbox, competent but dated even when new, the same automated-manual compromise that capped involvement on plenty of cars from this era. Aston Martin's late correction, a proper dogleg 7-speed manual offered for just two model years, turned out to be the car enthusiasts actually wanted, and the used market has been re-sorting itself around that fact ever since. Manual cars now trade at a real premium over the automated majority, while ordinary Sportshift examples sit closer to where the whole model bottomed out a decade ago.