RE: Driven: Aston Martin Virage

[EBruce]

Godzuki said:

Because they are just trotting out the same car with different bits on, or different engines. Come on, you must eager to see what their next design will look like? It is a nice design, {I preferred the DB7 to be honest), bit the same style has been there since 1994...

And what would you say Porsche has been doing with the 911? It's looked the same for 40+ years and not near as good looking

[Twincam16]

EBruce said:

Godzuki said:

Because they are just trotting out the same car with different bits on, or different engines. Come on, you must eager to see what their next design will look like? It is a nice design, {I preferred the DB7 to be honest), bit the same style has been there since 1994...

And what would you say Porsche has been doing with the 911? It's looked the same for 40+ years and not near as good looking

Thing is, Porsche have done other things too. I get the feeling some times that the '911' only looks the way it does as a result of conservative-minded customer demand. Only Morgan and Avanti have pressed on with the same basic style for so long, and their customer bases are similarly conservative.

But what of the 914, 924/44/68, 928, Boxster, Cayman etc - yes, there is a vague family resemblance, but Porsche have done other things and explored other avenues too. It could be said that Porsche's least successful moments have been in trying to force the 911 design on other things - the Cayenne and Panamera, for example.

I don't have a problem with the Virage - it sounds like an amazing car - but drop the DB9/S and restyle the AMV8 range and give it some more diverse identity! Please!

There's a lot more to Aston Martin than the 'DB6 shape'. What about the DB3S? Or the original DBS Vantage and V8? Or the Lagonda V8 saloon? Or the Vantage of the '90s? There are lots of Aston 'looks', all of them great, and this is just one of them that's become so ubiquitous it's getting hard to differentiate any new model they've produced over the last 17 years!

[hiawog]

If they wanted to revive a name, I'd have preferred if they called it the 'Oscar India'. I believe it would've been more welcome.

[Twincam16]

hiawog said:

If they wanted to revive a name, I'd have preferred if they called it the 'Oscar India'. I believe it would've been more welcome.

Wouldn't have made sense. 'Oscar India' was internal A-M code, being IPA for 'OI', or 'October Introduction', reflecting the fact that the major facelift of the V8 (including the kamm-tail) was released in October 1978. It wasn't the name of some elusive plutocrat customer who ordered a special V8 that went on to define the marque.

[hiawog]

Thanks Twincam16, I had checked on that before writing. However, the story of the October Introduction (Oscar India in radio call sign alphabet) seemed somewhat similar to the introduction of the new Virage. http://www.astonmartins.com/v8/v8_s4_oscar_india.h...

The names of Astons make no sense anyway, Virage is the french for a bend, Volante is a two wheel chariot pulled by a horse with Vantage, as in vantage point, making the most sense, perhaps.

Okay, enough of the fun. I do believe 'Oscar India' is an excellent brand name for a car whatever the origin and it'd be great if Aston held onto it.

The call sign alphabet is a great source for car names and who knows, perhaps the following found their names there - Alpha Romeo, Vauxhall Victor, VW Golf, Lancia Delta, Ford Sierra, Fiat Bravo.