Wednesday 19th June 2013

Aston Martin Vanquish Volante - official

Summer is here (apparently) - Aston celebrates by chopping the roof off the Vanquish

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As expensive ways to ruffle your combover go the all-new Aston Martin Vanquish Volante offers a distinctively different way of going about it compared with its mid-engined rivals. In this league - prices start at £200K - you're talking 458 Spider or McLaren 12C Spider, pseudo racing cars with F1 lineage worn on the sleeve the pair of them.

As fast as coupe, meaning 0-62 in 4.1 and 183mph

Like the Mercedes SLS AMG Roadster, the Vanquish Volante takes a more traditional approach. Front-mounted 573hp 6.0-litre V12 plays 571hp AMG V8, the extra £25K over the Mercedes also scoring on-the-money talking points like all-carbon skin over the latest variation on Aston Martin's Vertical Horizontal 'philosophy', just like its coupe relative.

Also just like its coupe equivalent the Vanquish Volante is hardly what you'd call svelte, the 'did I read that right?' 1,844kg kerb weight a burly 105kg more than the standard Vanquish. And a similar penalty over the hardly dainty SLS. Begging the question is the carbon there for functional weight saving or just the bragging rights of being the first carbon-skinned Aston soft-top? Barely a line in the press release goes by without mention of carbon this, aluminium that or weight saving here there and everywhere but in practice the Volante is carrying nearly half an extra tonne of flab compared with those racier mid-engined alternatives.

First carbon skinned Volante in Aston history

Blame all that plush 'Luxmil' leather, optionally quilted and finished in a colour diplomatically summed up as 'daring' in the car illustrated. You can drop the roof in just 14 seconds apparently but with an interior that lurid do you really want to be? Each to their own of course and Aston is happy to accommodate any well-stocked wallet with any number of personalised options.

Still, it's hardly slow and Aston is claiming provisional figures of 4.1 seconds to 62mph and 183mph top whack to match the coupe. That latest AM11 6.0-litre V12 is going to be using every one of its 573hp to achieve that, the 457lb ft of torque coming in at a racy 5,500rpm but no doubt making a fabulous noise doing it. Unlike most rivals Aston Martin is sticking by a traditional auto, the Touchtronic 2 six-speeder probably appropriate and slick enough for the Volante's cruisier nature.

'Luxmil' leather with thankfully optional quilting

A 14 per cent increase in stiffness over the DBS Volante should help the three-mode ADS dampers do their job with out undue twist and shout from the body, standard-fit Brembo CCM ceramic brake discs trimming unsprung weight to further help the suspension. Whether 'Track' mode will ever be required is a moot point but Aston has included it anyway. If you want a V12 Aston to demonstrate your manliness and maybe scare you on occasion there's always the new V12 Vantage S of course.

Really though the Volante is about making noise, both aural and visual. In both these regards it will doubtless excel, deliveries starting before the end of Aston's centenary year.

 

[chrissull]

Not a fan of the interior at all.

Would be fine in another colour, but that blue is awful.

[JRH1]

Absolutely blooming beautiful. Want.

[Montaver]

Incredible, best looking Aston in a longtime. Love the spoiler.

[dfen5]

Nice outside but that centre console - awful looking job.

[Phil Dicky]

Stunning

[TheBigUnit]

Incredibly beautiful. An unashamed grand tourer, and all the better for it.

[MonteV]

Just to set the context, first, I really love Astons. Second, this rear end reminds me of a Porsche. Rounded and tapered. Third, the wheels are exquisite. Fourth, thankfully they kept the Aston grille and none of the Rapide nonsense. Fifth, I wish Aston had made more (than one) Volantes of the original Vanquish.

Edited by MonteV on Wednesday 19th June 07:15

[Dusty964]

Awful.
Oversyled, with a horrific interior.

[Lordbenny]

Not liking that car, blue car with yellow calipers?......Nah.

Jag F type looks so much better.

[anonymous-user]

TWO HUNDRED GRAND.

A fifth of a million pounds?

Dreamworld.

[chrisironside]

I like the quilted seats!

[dandare]

I don't normally go for convertibles, but I think it looks very nice. Well done Aston. I also don't mind the quilting. A more sombre shade of blue would be preferable though.

[kambites]

Hmm, not really keen. As with the coupe (unsurprisingly), they seem to have kept the traditional shape and tacked on weird surfacing treatment and plastic appendages to ruin it.

[F.C.]

Aston are obviously not bothered about how it handles then, 1844Kg's!! It'll be hard to hide that mid bend.
Still if it keeps Aston in the "super luxobarge" league then hopefully they will stay afloat ( see what I did there . )

The comment about not removing the grille is a good call, it is Astons trademark, though I doubt the Rapide would sell in bigger numbers if it were present. Remember you can't polish a turd, putting a grille on the Rapide would be akin to rolling said turd in glitter.
ETS. That interior

Edited by F.C. on Wednesday 19th June 08:34

[sinbaddio]

Think i'd save a few bob and go for a maser gran cab. If only that dilemma existed.......

[GroundEffect]

Oh bloody hell that is beautiful.

[bob1179]

Gorgeous.

[ZOLLAR]

Holy bum sex that is Stunning!

[da_murphster]

Seats make me think of:

[TNH]

Absolutely stunning. Wow.