The micro-evolution of Gaydon’s beautiful GT continues apace
New would not be the right way to describe the Aston Martin
Vanquish Volante. ‘New’ is not a woody, Aston Martin type of word. It’s tinny
and would imply that something completely different has been added to the
range, not evolved out of an existing car.
The Vanquish
Volante feels familiar, comfortable and relaxing to drive at any speed
Since, in the profoundly old-school, post-Cygnet, pre-AMG
British world Aston springs from right now, you only add new things when the
old one is completely broken and beyond repair, it would be better to describe
it as an evolutionary alternative to the DBs Volante. That wouldn’t cause any
offence at all. Because that’s what it is.
Just in case you are behind on your Aston Martin history
homework, the current Vanquish range (2012–) replaces the previous DBS range
(2007–2012), which in turn replaced the original, Ian Callum-designed Vanquish
range (2001–2007). All of them have been powered by the company’s 5.9-liter
V12. And all of them are shudderingly gorgeous.
Interior is
available in five different
types of leather in over 30 colours and 40 thread types
The Volante name has been used for the convertible models in
the range since 1965 and has a number of meanings. The direct Italian
translation is ‘flying’, which is exactly what you look like you’ve been doing
in earlier models after even a short but quick trip with the roof and windows
down. But I think the alternative musical term fits this car better: moving
with a light rapidity.
That’s because, for all its 565bhp, this car never feels
aggressively fast in a modern, blurred-edged kind of way. It can hit a maximum
speed of 183mph and whistle its way to 62mph fast enough (4.1secs) not to be
embarrassed. But it doesn’t ever make you think you are in the presence of
pole-position-style performance. And it’s all the better for it.
Without sacrificing all its everyday comfort and manners in
a quest to hit a number that only the test drivers will ever attain, the
Vanquish Volante feels familiar, comfortable and relaxing to drive at any
speed. Which is just what you want from a GT car, particularly one with no
roof.
Three-ply fabric
roof can be raised in just 14 seconds at speeds up to 30mph
That’s not to say the company hasn’t tried to keep up with
its mechanically superior but stylistically disadvantaged rivals. There is news
both inside and out. The VH4 architecture, for the first time, wears a fully
carbon-fibre skin and is 14 per cent stiffer than the DBS Volante. The
drivetrain is a smidge lower than in the open-topped DBS, and weight
distribution is now 51/48 front/rear.
The windscreen glass now runs all the way to the lip of the
roof, the triple-skinned fabric top rising to meet it, without a latch in
sight, in around 14 seconds at up to 30mph. The 279-liter boot is now 50 per
cent bigger, with the roof up or down, too. And you are shrouded from the worst
of the wind with the roof down and completely cocooned with it up, thanks to an
added layer of Thinsulate in the middle of the fabric sandwich.
