I probably shouldn’t comment without having owned a VPI, but there’s no way I would go from any Aries to any kind of Classic. My old dealer Pete of Audio Atlanta (who I trust in all things analog) got frustrated with the direction VPI took when going from the Scoutmaster / Aries lines to the Classics. And since another commenter mentioned SOTA - I bet he’d be blown away by the stuff SOTA is doing right now; major tech and material upgrades with the latest series. And with a much better "classic table" aesthetic than any VPI Classic, IMO. So they’re definitely worth a look.
That said, I love the look of the old Aries / HR-X series. I’ve heard my friend’s HR-X and it’s a sweet table. The Aries 3 looks just like an HR-X Junior. I considered one strongly, before I bought a Clearaudio Innovation. You might consider keeping it while upgrading to the 3D arm, which is very nice - it even did a great job running my Koetsu Rosewood Platinum (I didn’t expect a VPI unipivot to do well there, but it did). I haven’t heard the Fatboy or gimbal version, which may be even better - but the Reference (?) 3D arm is already very good. Surely space can’t be so much at a premium; what’s the actual footprint difference between your Aries 3 and a Classic?
I think the Aries / HR-X will be considered the "real" classics of the VPI line.