New Aston Martin Vanquish Volante is the world’s most powerful front-engined convertible

Aston Martin has revealed its brand new open-top Vanquish Volante, creating the world’s most powerful front-engined cabriolet car in the process. This exclusively two-seater convertible is decidedly old school, with a V12 engine and rear-drive layout, and will rival super-high-end models such as the Ferrari 12Cillidri Spider and Bentley Continental GT C Speed, with an expected price tag of around £350,000. 

The fundamentals of the Aston Martin Vanquish Volante remain from the coupé version, which means the V12 engine is a 5.2-litre unit with two turbochargers that produces a wild 823bhp and 1,000Nm of torque. This is channelled through to an eight-speed ZF transmission that’s mounted on the rear axle alongside a complex electronically controlled limited-slip differential. 

With the Volante developed alongside the coupé from the Vanquish’s inception, the brand says there are only very subtle compromises in terms of structural rigidity, with a 75 per cent improvement in the body’s stiffness compared with the previous-generation DBS Superleggera Volante. In order to achieve this there have been some upgrades to the structure over the Coupé, but the bonded-aluminium chassis is fundamentally unchanged.

This, combined with the folding soft-top roof mechanism, has increased weight by 95kg to 1,880kg dry, but the Aston will still hit 0-62mph in 3.4 seconds and top out at 214mph, thanks to an impressive 416bhp per tonne power-to-weight ratio. 

In order to keep the Volante’s handling in check, Aston Martin’s engineers have given the suspension a completely unique set-up. Using the same high-end Bilstein DTX dampers, the softest ‘GT’ mode has been designed to be more fluid than the hardcore coupé, notching up the firmness in the ‘Sport’ and ‘Sport+’ settings respectively.

All Volante models have a set of carbon-ceramic brakes as standard, as well as 21-inch forged-alloy wheels on Pirelli P Zero tyres that are designed specifically for Aston Martin.

Yet an open-top Aston is just as much about design as it is performance, and in this case the longer body of the new Vanquish Volante looks just as elegant, and substantial, as the coupé’s. Changes are limited to just the fabric roof and the new rear deck, which accentuates the car’s wide hips and Kamm-style rear end. 

The cabin is just as opulent as the Coupé’s, and features a similar rear storage area behind the front seats, plus a strengthening beam that sits in front of the rear bulkhead. Boot space is not too bad for the class, with 219 litres when the roof is up, dropping to 187 litres with the hood down. This is considerably bigger than the new Continental GTC Speed, which has a compromised space of just 134 litres, making this arguably more suitable for weekends away despite only being a two-seater. 

As with all modern Aston Martins, the sheer variety of personalisation options are nearly endless, with the brand’s Q department more than happy to take on any, even more eccentric requests. 

Deliveries will commence in the third quarter of this year, with the open-top model contributing to the capped 1,000 annual production of the Vanquish model as a whole, regardless of body style. 

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