So despite all that aluminium and carbon fibre the new
Aston Martin Vanquish
, and especially the drop-top Volante version
we've just driven
, are heavy old beasts. Heavy enough to blunt the edge even of a 573hp 6.0-litre V12.
Given that, and the common (if perhaps not necessarily fair) accusation Aston Martin has failed to move the game on, why didn't it follow the crowd and fit ZF's all conquering eight-speed auto? It would give both the V12 more ratios to play with and Aston Martin a chance to curb the worst excesses of thirst and CO2.
Extra ratios might help offset Vanquish's bulk
"Tell me, did you miss the extra gears when you drove the car?" asked a forthright Aston boss Dr Bez on the launch when we asked him. Um, well, now you come to mention it. He's unapologetic though. "If you have eight speeds you are shifting all the time, maybe to save two per cent in fuel consumption; we will have it one day because they [as in ZF] will stop making the six-speed eventually but for now..."
Putting the same question to development boss Ian Minards and product manager Andy Haslam they toe the boss's line. "We talked about it but decided it can be a bit fussy and always hunting around for ratios," says Haslam. Minards agrees, saying the V12's torque means you don't need a huge spread of ratios and is intended to be used in its manual mode and this would simply be too busy with more than six gears.
Minards has driven the gearbox in - inevitably - the BMW M135i and a Land Rover Discovery. In the latter he said he never took it out of auto but the BMW impressed, even when shifting with the paddles. "They've done a good job on the calibration in the BMW. I always considered DCTs as a manual with an auto option and automatics the other way around but I think you could do a blind test and most wouldn't tell the difference between it and a dual-clutch."
More gears will come but not for now
So there must be a weight penalty then? Minards doesn't think so, at least not a significant one. Though he claims otherwise cost must be at the heart of it, Aston Martin being the only firm to mount the ZF six-speeder in a transaxle location with the diff mounted directly to the back. That requires a unique casing, which can't be a cheap investment. And, as we know, Aston Martin isn't exactly rolling in it at the moment.
It's perhaps a missed opportunity for the Vanquish range to put some clear water between it and the DB9 though. And given immediate rivals like the Bentley Continental GT and GTC use it customers might be forgiven for thinking they're missing out on the latest tech.