Drove the new Vanquish II

[KarlFranz]

My dealer sent me an invitation to test drive the new Vanquish.

A few notes:

• The car looks a lot more modern than the previous generation. Still I wonder if it's worth the premium over the new DB9 which looks gorgeous.
• I'm not sure there are indeed a million stitches in the new interior as they claim. It sounds a bit far-fetched.
• There is no glovebox, so storage is limited to the center console and the space behind the seats.
• The test car had a 1-2mm gap in the airbag seam over the passenger-side window so you could see the bag inside. Not good QC for a $320K car.
• The nav screen has to be raised for most operations of the car and it ruins the design flow of the waterfall facia. I'm glad my V8V doesn't have nav.
• The plastic air-vents, column stalks, and some of the other hardware look a bit cheap inside the otherwise extremely nice interior.
• The exposed carbon details look very nice, but I would probably choose to keep the door handles body-colored.
• The sound is very nice with the windows down, but too quiet with the windows up.
• Switching gears with the automatic felt a bit sluggish to me. I still would prefer a manual and you can only get that in a Vantage.
• Rumors say a new Rapide will be available around April and a restyled Vantage will come out late in the year—possibly as a 2015MY.
• I didn't get much of a chance to experience the full 565HP. I only did one brief acceleration run because there was too much traffic (glad I don't live in Orlando). The engine did feel like it had a lot of torque.
• I'm probably an oddball in this regard, but it made me appreciate my V8V more. The Vanquish is undoubtedly an extremely nice car, but it didn't feel like a car that was worth almost 3 times more than mine. I think I'm biased by the fact that the Vanquish is an automatic—which seems a bit boring to me. I'm looking forward to a revised Vantage in a couple of years, or maybe I'll upgrade to a V12V which seems may suit me better.

[MaverickV12]

Car looks fabulous, but for £220,000.00, sorry not sure I could go to that, not that I have it by any stretch of the imagination, but, when the DB9 was £120,000.00 it was a sort of a dream that maybe, just maybe, one day ......... but £220,000.00, no its ok .....

[KarlFranz]

I think for that kind of money, I will be buying an MP4-12C instead of a Vanquish.

[jonby]

KarlFranz said:

I think for that kind of money, I will be buying an MP4-12C instead of a Vanquish.

very different car and arguably market but you are right insofar as most Astons, particularly this one, can;t compete with a lot of supercars at similar money. As a result, it definitely limits the potential market for Vanquish

Having said that, for a trip down to say the South of France, which a lot (but not the majority) of Aston owners will do, I'd take the Vanquish. Likewise as a DD. But as an 'only second car' for Sunday drives, occasional track days, etc, I'd take the 12C or 458 given that particular choice

Mind you whilst I'd love a 12C alongside my V12V if I could afford it, V12V is much more a competitor to the 12C than Vanquish

Edited by jonby on Monday 14th January 20:20

Edited by jonby on Monday 14th January 20:21

Edited by jonby on Monday 14th January 20:22

[jonby]

KarlFranz said:

I think for that kind of money, I will be buying an MP4-12C instead of a Vanquish.

IMO once the fuss as a 'new new car' dies down, biggest competitor to the Vanquish which in the real world is not far off half the money, is the new DB9