RE: Driven: Aston Martin Vanquish

[cathalm]

sgq89 said:

I agree that 575 is "enough" power, but surely if you were spending that sort of money, you'd want it to be competitive with other cars of that price? Perhaps that isn't important to you, which is fair enough.

The other cars you're thinking about are not of that price. The Aventador and Ferrari are considerably more expensive than the Vanquish is. There is room for a Vanquish S to still be cheaper and have more power and 8 speed box. Remember, the engine is capable of 750bhp in larger form. Also a strange comparison people make, the Aventador is a balls to the wall supercar, this is a GT, albeit a bloody quick one. Now the Ferrari is a GT but much more expensive and aimed at a slightly different demographic.

For those that don't get Aston Martin, let me help out. A Ferrari is all about speed, racing and driving entertainment. What matters is very simply, how quick is it and what technology allows it to be so quick. A Bentley on the other hand is a luxury product, it must be effortlessly quick but what matters is that it must be supremely luxurious, fabulous quality leather, wood and metal hand assembled with infinite care and craftsmanship. Wont be as quick as a Fezza, which wont be of the same quality as a Bentley.

An Aston Martin is exactly between these two goals. It must be a quick and entertaining drivers car but also of wonderful design and hand built craftsmanship. A balance of the two. Not a quick and as a Ferrari, but superior design and quality, not such high quality as a Bentley but lighter and more of a drivers car.

Pretty simple to my mind, you pick a recipe and enjoy it.

Frankly it's the Lamborghini proposition I don't really get.

[porker9xx]

^^^
This one looks just perfect.

The new looks just the same as all other astons of the past decade.
Also while old Vanquish looked elegant and expensive, the new one looks cheap and bling.

[:J:]

porker9xx][img said:

^^^
This one looks just perfect.

The new looks just the same as all other astons of the past decade.
Also while old Vanquish looked elegant and expensive, the new one looks cheap and bling.

I guess you have never seen inside an original Vanquish then? More Escort than Aston in the earlier models

[porker9xx]

:J: said:

I guess you have never seen inside an original Vanquish then? More Escort than Aston in the earlier models

In interior - yes.
But we are talking about the outside.

[356Speedster]

:J: said:

It's funny reading the comments about comparisions with Ferrari, Lambo, etc.....

Aston owners buy an Aston because they want an Aston, not because of headline figures on a piece of paper

Understand the market, then comment

Nail. Head. I was just going to say this.

The Vanquish isn't competing toe-to-toe with Ferraris & Lambos, especially not at this price point where we're talking 458s & Gallardos. The Aston is a more dignified sports / GT car, not a hooligan mobile.

I know I'm not one to talk about what power is "enough", but in my view, 575bhp with all that torque is about right for the car and out on the road, in the real world, you'll barely notice the difference between this and other metal being discussed on here. It still thumps to 60 in 4.1 secs and against something doing it in 3.5 secs, the difference will be a bonnet length, FFS.

I think Aston have nailed it here. To my eyes having seen a few in the carbon, it's far prettier than old Vanquish (I think it looks quite dated now) and nicely evolves the Aston Martin design language that people buy into, sitting between the DB9 & One-77 - i.e. you can see the family lineage and where each car sits in it.

If I had £190K and wanted a sporting GT car, this would be it all day long. If I wanted a nutter mobile at that price, it'd be hard to look past a 458, but as I say, that's the difference, they're aiming at different market segments.

[DanielSan]

Let's balance the argument, the new Vanquish looks great from any angle, but look at the back of the old one. It's fking hideous!!

[:J:]

porker9xx said:

:J: said:

I guess you have never seen inside an original Vanquish then? More Escort than Aston in the earlier models

In interior - yes.
But we are talking about the outside.

Ah, you never specified.

I prefer the old Vanquish myself (S Black for me please), but the new one isn't that bad in the metal.

[Justayellowbadge]

DanielSan said:

Let's balance the argument, the new Vanquish looks great from any angle, but look at the back of the old one. It's fking hideous!!

In much the same way that Kylie's does.

[sgq89]

For £190,000...hmmm, nah, I'll have a Ferrari Daytona. In Marina Blue.

[raptor600]

:J: said:

It's funny reading the comments about comparisions with Ferrari, Lambo, etc.....

Aston owners buy an Aston because they want an Aston, not because of headline figures on a piece of paper

Understand the market, then comment

Well why would they not save £80k and get a DB9?

Only a small number of buyers spending £190k on a Vanquish would not consider a Ferrari as an alternative. So I don't agree with what you say.

[Obiwonkeyblokey]

do current Astons and indeed the Vanquish still have that message that pops up on ignition with Power, Beauty Soul or whatever claptrap it was. I cant fathom why but I was going to buy a DB9 a few years back and this put me off so much ( the word wky marketing dept sprang to mind) that I bought a 575 instead.

I cannot stand the idea of the marketing guys running the show.

[raptor600]

raptor600 said:

:J: said:

It's funny reading the comments about comparisions with Ferrari, Lambo, etc.....

Aston owners buy an Aston because they want an Aston, not because of headline figures on a piece of paper

Understand the market, then comment

Well why would they not save £80k and get a DB9?

Only a small number of buyers spending £190k on a Vanquish would not consider a Ferrari as an alternative. So I don't agree with what you say.

Hmmmmmm...maybe this photo has swung it for me...

[Agoogy]

Old one was way more muscley to look at but a woeful back end, the Kylie reference is considerably off the mark IMO
New one is clearly sharper, and puts enough distance between it and the DB9 for me.

The power war is is for pub braggers only.

Everyone knows that given the choice of keys, the Aston would be favourite....it isn't trying as hard as the Italians, because it doesn't have to.
Those that seek figures and techno oneupmanship normally end up in a GTR..

[George H]

Obiwonkeyblokey said:

do current Astons and indeed the Vanquish still have that message that pops up on ignition with Power, Beauty Soul or whatever claptrap it was. I cant fathom why but I was going to buy a DB9 a few years back and this put me off so much ( the word wky marketing dept sprang to mind) that I bought a 575 instead.

I cannot stand the idea of the marketing guys running the show.

What a load of utter bks. You didn't buy a car because it has a message when you start it? A message that you don't even see all of it unless you just put the ECU in and don't start the engine

And no it doesn't say it on the newer cars.

[franki68]

how can 570bhp not be enough ? Cars with 500bhp are too fast for the uk roads,the fact that ferrari make a car with 700+bhp is irrelevant ,its unuseable on uk roads.

[:J:]

raptor600 said:

:J: said:

It's funny reading the comments about comparisions with Ferrari, Lambo, etc.....

Aston owners buy an Aston because they want an Aston, not because of headline figures on a piece of paper

Understand the market, then comment

Well why would they not save £80k and get a DB9?

Only a small number of buyers spending £190k on a Vanquish would not consider a Ferrari as an alternative. So I don't agree with what you say.

You don't have to agree, but I am right

A lot of people put a deposit on the car before it was even built, so it was impossible to even make a comparison?

Edited by :J: on Wednesday 14th November 13:05

[willisit]

Looks stunning in red or blue - glad there aren't too many pictures of it in grey kicking about just yet.

Personally I like the car it's replacing (not the prior Vanquish, but the DBS). It's big, mean and muscular in a more obvious manner. Previously I'd have said "beautiful" but the new car is that; the old... mean.

Since both are just works of art and not really a car (i.e, I'm not likely to be using one to pop to Tesco in) I'm just glad they exist so I can look at them

[JaseB]

I would think it would be suicidal for AM to compete directly with Ferrari on say price, power and Nurburgring lap times, I can't imagine I'm alone in that thinking, which is probably why they don't. They have a different niche as someone mentioned earlier.

FWIW I'm lucky enough to be able to vouch for a mere 450bhp being plenty for road use.

What I think is great about this and the new DB9 (and the old one come to that) is that they work on real (ie sh*te) British roads as a GT should. Supercars don't tend to do that making them almost unuseable on anything other than the track in this country. They can then also cross continents and properly entertain on a hoon through the Alps when you get there.

[MrTappets]

It looks good, but now the 'new' DB9-that's-definitely-not-a-Virage thing is too close. I do think the power figure should really be starting with a 6 though, bearing in mind an SLS with the same power is over £20k cheaper.

[StottyZr]

raptor600 said:

Hmmmmmm...maybe this photo has swung it for me...

I must admit it does look better in a dark colour. The front splitter thingy doesn't stand out nearly as much.