Aston Martin Vanquish

Vanquish gets manual box

This is the first picture of the supercar maker's stunning Vanquish S fitted with a manual gearbox

Auto Express Car Reviews

02nd March 2007

The do-it-yourself gearchange was a particular wish of Aston Martin chief Dr Ulrich Bez and he - along with several potential customers - persuaded Aston's Works Division to look into fitting one to the V12 giant.

The company set to work on what has become a £15,568 optional extra, and this is the first car to take it. The six-speed unit is being offered as a retro fit option on all Vanquish cars. And it's not just new ones that will benefit - customers with examples going back to 2001 can also take up the offer.

Models will be built on the firm's production line as usual, before being modified by the Works service. Capable of 200mph, the manual gear-box car loses none of the performance offered by the semi-automatic variant.

Last week we showed Aston's Ultimate Edition version, of which only 40 will be made. It can also be fitted with manual transmission.