I come back with a late lunch for the others and while they’ve tucking into cold pizza and a large
bag of the Italian version of Hula Hoops (which could easily double as
polystyrene packing – I know how to spoil them), I hop into the Vanquish. I
feel like I’ve been neglecting the Aston since yesterday afternoon as I’ve had
my head turned by the more obvious charms of the Italians, ignoring its
diamond-quilted interior in favor of the more spectacular shock diamonds
(credit to Nick for remembering their name) coming out of the Aventador’s
exhaust. But although it’s the least expensive and least powerful car here, to
dismiss the Vanquish is to miss out on a wonderful car.
But
although it’s the least expensive and least powerful car here, to dismiss the
Vanquish is to miss out on a wonderful car
Back up on the ridge where I’ve just been
with the mighty Lambo, the Aston is a more assisted, relaxes experience and
there’s greater pitch and roll. It all feels quite soft-focus if you set in it
after the Ferrari – part of the reason it makes for a better GT. But it also
has a brilliant balance to its chassis, and with a bit more load coming through
the front tyres on this dry road, the steering has the best feel of the trio,
weighting up nicely as you increase the lock. This allows you to really push
the front end until it nibbles into slip before picking up the throttle and
feeling the loads move rearwards. The DSC Track mode is really well judged too,
but the limited-slip diff only seems to lock lightly on the way out of corners
so you can be quite aggressive with the throttle, knowing that a certain amount
of the energy will dissipate through the spinning inside tire before any slide
gets too big. It’s not quite as dynamically exhilarating, but the balance and
well-matched grip levels front-to-rear do give the Vanquish a friendlier and
more approachable character.
It’s a good day when 565bhp feels merely
adequate, and as we’ve already established, this is a very good day. As the
0-62mph figures suggest, the Aston’s V12 doesn’t quite offer the awe-inspiring
acceleration of the other two, but the gargling growl is easily a match for the
Ferrari’s wail in terms of tone if not volume. The one area in which you really
can’t defend the Aston in this company, however, is the six-speed Touchtronic
automatic gearbox. The shifts generate definite pauses in progress, slurring
rather than snapping, and as Nick says, ‘It just feels a bit old’. The rate at
which you can rifle back down through the ratios partly dictates your progress
through corners, too. You have to plan further ahead, braking a fraction
earlier and giving the ‘box a bit of time rather than popping in rapid twitches
of the left-hand paddle at the last moment.
The
Aston’s V12 doesn’t quite offer the awe-inspiring acceleration of the other two
Admittedly, this enforces slower rate of
progress can feel like a blessed relief at times. Unlike the other two, the
Aston doesn’t upbraid you if you want to enjoy a glance at the softening
renaissance light falling across the Tuscan hills. It won’t goad you
relentlessly if you get stuck behind some ancient Panda 4x4 with chickens on
the parcel shelf either. It gives out exactly the more restrained vibe you’d
expect from a consummate classy GT.
As is the way on group tests, everything
seems under control until the light starts disappearing. At this point all hell
seems to break loose as Sam and Dean try to get the last bits of video and
photography done before the moon appears. Tripods are frantically erected,
shutters are released and then an hour later, with xenons flickering on, we pack
up the mighty Peugeot 5008 hire car (single-clutch paddle-shift. Dean stalled
it. Twice) and start the journey back towards Maranello via Sant’Agata.
I take the F12 just to check it can do
smooth like the Aston. It sort of can, but somehow it never seems long before
you’ve crept back up to a pace where a Vanquish would be (or in this case, is)
receding in the mirrors. Suddenly keeping that barking 730bhp in check has
become a real challenge once more and your work rate inside the car has
increased as you try to develop the hands of a surgeon and the feet of a ballet
dancer. It’s so fast and brutal in response to the smallest input that you are
constantly busy.
The
Ferrari has an appealing layer of everyday usability
There’s no pause when you change gear because
the paddle reacts on the ‘f’ of the flick, the next ratio all the travel. The
brakes slam you forward so hard that a four-point harness seems like a good
idea. The acceleration is so fierce and unrelenting that you struggle to
process the rate at which the corners are approaching. And the torsional
stiffness of the chassis means the whole car moves as one over cambers and
bumps. If driving the Aston is like watching normal television, then driving
the Ferrari is like switching on HD, turning up the surround sound, holding
down the fast-forward button and trying to keep up with the plot. It’s a wild
ride, but if your synapses will fire fast enough then the car gives you all the
tools to control it.
Through supper that night, on the flight home early the next morning and in the office during the
following days, we chat about the test over and over again. There had been a
worry that the Aston would be overwhelmed, but it wasn’t. carving its GT niche,
it stood tall, but as Jethro says: ‘if they ever do an S version to compete on
a supercar level then they can definitely afford to be quite bold with it,
going much firmer on the dampers and letting the chassis’s depth of talent
shine’. Nick agrees, adding: ‘It can easily handle another 100bhp.’
But
then the Lamborghini wins on sheer visual drama
Perhaps understandably, though, most of the
discussion is about the Prancing Horse and the Raging Bull. The F12 is
definitely more supercar than GT and so it’s natural that after two days the
Aventador feels like the closer rival. And they’re incredibly hard to split.
Yes, the Ferrari has an appealing layer of everyday usability, but then the
Lamborghini wins on sheer visual drama. ‘Driving it, listening to it, just
being near it reintroduces me to the feelings of awe and wonder I had for
exotic cars as a kid’, says Nick of the Aventador.
He’s not so keen on the Ferrari’s looks,
but nevertheless suggests the genius notion of a one-make tarmac rally
championship for the F12, summing up in a nutshell how much fun it is to drive.
There’s no doubt that the Ferrari is also on another level technologically and
the whole industry is playing catch-up in that regard. But then there was the
priceless smile on everyone’s face after driving the Lambo and feeling in
control of the monstrous V12 moving around behind them…
That both cars are as utterly intoxicating
as their looks and spec sheets promise is an astounding achievement. But, with
the argument going round in circles, it ultimately comes down to a simple
choice of what you’d pick if you could only have one. When our votes are
counted, it’s two-one to the Aventador and its blue flames.
