Along a bend in the road at Buttsbury Wash near Billericay in Essex sits a stretch of water that regularly catches drivers off guard. On a recent day the silver Vantage, fresh from the factory and valued around £165,000, approached it with the same confidence plenty of other cars had shown moments earlier. Larger vehicles and even some smaller ones had crossed without drama. The low-slung sports car rolled in, water climbing the sides, and kept going until roughly two-thirds of the way across the ford.