Update GH Friday, 3/6/2026 Episode (March 6, 2026) | General Hospital Spoilers

Aston Martin Valhalla: A Modern Hypercar Masterpiece The Future of Performance Has Arrived—and It’s Unbelievably Good “So, how was it?!” The question echoes, echoing across garages, coffee shops, and motorsport forums—and it has always been the proper query for anyone who has just experienced a pinnacle of automotive engineering. Yet, as the years slip by and the definition of a supercar evolves with breakneck speed, this tradition of reviewing exclusive automobiles has shifted from the thrilling to the surreal. When this question was posed to me after a session behind the wheel of the 2026 Aston Martin Valhalla, the price tag hovering around $1.1 million, I paused briefly. My answer? Something along the lines of, “Exactly how you’d expect it to be.” But this isn’t flippancy. This is a statement made only in the context of a decade that has seen the impossible become pedestrian. If you haven’t experienced the cutting edge of this decade, this response means nothing. A Seven-Year Evolution It’s hard to believe that it’s been seven years since the 2019 Geneva Motor Show when Aston Martin unveiled the concept known as the AM-RB 003. The name, now changed to Valhalla (a Norse realm of honor), acknowledged the automaker’s sponsorship ties to Red Bull Racing, whose legendary Formula 1 design chief Adrian Newey had a hand in its inception. A lot has changed. Aston and Red Bull parted ways after the 2020 F1 season when Aston’s boss, Lawrence Stroll, rebranded his Racing Point team. More importantly, the automotive world itself was accelerating faster than ever. Internally, Aston went through a period of turmoil, and the hybrid powertrain—originally planned as a 3.0-liter V6—was ultimately switched to a hybridized version of the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series V8. They beefed it up with larger turbos, a redesigned intake, stronger internals, and unique cams, boosting output by nearly 100 horses and 50 lb-ft. This engine is now exclusive to the Valhalla. When I saw the mockup at Pebble Beach in 2022, sitting in the F1-style reclined position with my legs elevated, the projected power figures had already jumped to a combined 1,012 hp and unstated torque. Back then, I was told it wasn’t finalized, but I didn’t care. I just needed to drive it. Worth the Wait Based on Aston’s development roadmap, I thought the wait would be shorter. But the production car’s hardware has surpassed all expectations. The flat-plane-crank, dry-sump 4.0-liter V8 makes a staggering 817 hp. Add the 248 hp from three Aston-designed radial-flux electric motors—one on the front axle and one integrated into the new eight-speed dual-clutch transmission (an Aston first)—and you get a total of 1,064 hp and 811 lb-ft of torque. The hybrid system is capped off with a 560-cell battery pack. According to the engineers, this is an off-the-shelf AMG unit that Aston doesn’t manufacture itself. What sets it apart is its dielectric liquid cooling. Chief engineer Andrew Kay explained, “We’re able to push energy into the battery and cycle it out very quickly, which is very good for track use in particular.” Unlike the original concept and its bigger brother, the Valkyrie, the production Valhalla is also a plug-in hybrid. It can cruise in EV-only mode for up to 8.7 miles at speeds up to 80 mph. Hypercar vs. Supercar? Now, the hypercar vs. supercar debate: Über-nerdy readers may already be bristling at the term. But Aston Martin itself calls this their first mid-engine supercar. Is it a hypercar? Yes, except for the Valkyrie. That’s what forced Aston into a corner, where “supercar” has become the safer prefix. Regardless of labels, the Valkyrie is barely a road car. With a starting price over $3 million and only 285 units built, the Valhalla’s $1.1 million price and 999-unit production run look almost pedestrian in comparison. This absurd-sounding comparison speaks to a broader truth in modern high-performance automobiles. Car enthusiasts among Millennials, Zoomers, and Gen Alpha seem accustomed to seeing a new million-dollar car flood social media feeds with staggering power figures, neck-snapping acceleration, and tech specs that stretch longer than the Nürburgring. But for those of us who remember the shock of the 627 hp McLaren F1 in 1993 or the arrival of the Bugatti Veyron twenty years ago—the car many consider the first thousand-horsepower hypercar—the 2020s feel like science fiction. Since I sat in the Valhalla prototype at Pebble Beach, the automotive world has only gotten crazier. We’ve driven the Porsche 911 GT3 RS, a car with half the horsepower and significantly less tech but equipped with so much racing-derived aero and hardware it requires pro-racer skills to master. Its road manners are debatable. Moving up the ladder in price and complexity, we’ve sampled the Ferrari F80, the 849 Testarossa, the Czinger 21C VMax, and the incredibly fast but surprisingly manageable Porsche 911 Turbo S. Hell, you can buy a hybrid Corvette ZR1X with 1,250 hp, something nobody saw coming when the Valhalla was first being dreamed up by Aston and Adrian Newey. Drive It First Given how high the dynamic limits have been pushed, “comparison is the thief of joy” has never been more relevant when talking about these vehicles. It’s also convenient because a proper comparison test between all the cars mentioned above is nearly impossible. Ferrari, in particular, hates lending its cars to publications for head-to-head battles. But it doesn’t matter. When the performance ceiling is this high, it’s more satisfying to drive something like the Valhalla on its own terms and experience the unique journey it offers. The overall experience is paramount in a car like this. It’s no longer enough to be fast on the road and handle like a garbage truck on the track, or vice versa. We knew from Angus MacKenzie’s earlier test drive of a prototype—which was basically the finished car, save for some transmission tweaks—that this Aston was a winner. The Road Experience Unlike Angus, who only drove it at Silverstone Circuit, Aston gave us a 50-minute road loop for this drive. At first glance, the Valhalla’s Le Mans-style bodywork and low, wide stance scream “compromised daily driver.” But that’s not the case at all. The only real compromise? Luggage space. There are small cubbies in the doors, but no frunk. All that potential cargo area is taken up by three radiators, the electric motors, and the race-spec, pushrod-actuated inboard suspension layout. This suspension choice was partly due to the F1-style driving position. You sit so low that a conventional setup would have raised the roofline too high for a clear forward view. There’s no backrest adjustment, so you must adapt. The seats are bolted directly to the carbon-fiber monocoque, so there are no motors to slide them forward or back. Instead, you pull a leather strap between your legs and push to adjust. You get used to the driving position quickly—it’s not that extreme. Within two miles, you realize the Valhalla-specific Bilstein DTX active dampers and the overall suspension setup (the rear has a five-link layout) provide a shockingly comfortable ride for a megacar. The Spanish roads weren’t perfect, but they weren’t billiard-table smooth either, and there was no massive gap between the Sport and Sport+ settings. That’s a welcome trait we’ve seen in other new Aston Martins, like the Vantage. Race mode introduces a harsher ride that you’d likely grow tired of during normal driving, but you can manage it, especially on a smooth, fast highway when playtime begins. The square steering wheel feels mostly nice to use, but the molded-in ridge on the backside, right where your fingers naturally curl, might bother some people. It’s designed to give you a firmer grip than a round wheel, but it’s a divisive design. The steering feel, however, is intuitive. It maintains a lovely weight that’s neither too light nor heavy across the different drive modes. When I found a long, wide-open stretch of country road with no one around, I stopped, braked hard, and launched the Valhalla. After a slight, slidy wiggle from the rear as the tires found traction, it was pure acceleration—goooooo. Aston claims 0-62 mph in 2.5 seconds, so expect 0-60 in 2.4, maybe 2.3. The speed isn’t more or less shocking than in other comparable cars, but an impressively flat torque curve means 90% of that peak 811 lb-ft is available from 2,500 rpm all the way to the 6,700 rpm power peak. It just never stops pulling. The Soundtrack and RPMs If there’s a relative disappointment for supercar