New Aston Martin Vanquish Volante review: stunning GT just got even better
The drop-top Aston Martin Vanquish Volante is sensational to drive and gorgeous to look at
Verdict
The V12 engine may not be long for this world, meaning in open-top Volante form, the Aston Martin Vanquish should be celebrated. Dropping the multi-layer fabric roof brings you even closer to that theatrical twin-turbo engine, yet without any discernible trade-off to the driving experience, you can live with the cabrio as easily as you would the standard tin top. If there’s a better-looking new car currently on sale, we’ve yet to set eyes on it.
On looks alone, the Aston Martin Vanquish Volante could, quite rightly, sit at the top of any man, woman or child’s lottery-win wishlist. Building on the aggressive but elegant profile of the Vanquish coupe, the drop-top pushes the six-figure supercar into new, uncharted territory.
At the front, you get that recognisable, gaping grille and sharp LED lighting signature, plus the wide arches and 21-inch wheels hiding standard-fit carbon ceramic brakes – all lifted from the latest Vanquish coupe. But it’s from the A-pillar rearwards where things get interesting; the ‘K-Fold’ fabric roof lowers at speeds of up to 31mph, tucking away discreetly in just 16 seconds.
Aston says that roof requires just 260mm (a class-leading figure, we’re told) to stack behind the front seats, and adds only 90kg to the car’s weight. But by stiffening the front end and adding greater support at the rear courtesy of slightly higher spring rate, the company’s engineers claim the car offers “the same overall driving experience” as the coupe.
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Cash £10,699They also insist that the Volante is “the fastest, most powerful front-engine production car on sale today” and “the fastest, most powerful open-top series production Aston Martin to date”. The numbers largely speak for themselves: 824bhp and 1,000Nm sent only to the rear wheels, via an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission.
It’s just one-tenth of a second slower to 62mph than its fixed-roof sibling, completing the benchmark sprint in 3.4 seconds and not slowing until it hits a frankly absurd 214mph. WLTP fuel consumption figures are still being homologated, not that it’s likely to matter all that much to anyone shelling out around £360,000.
As with the coupe, the twin-turbo V12 is the so-called “jewel in the crown” and the centrepiece with which the Vanquish Volante justifies its estimated (but still not confirmed) starting price. In a world of downsized engines and electrification, Aston’s flagship sits within a rapidly diminishing class of cars still available with an atmospheric V12.
Of course, the ability to lower the roof – but still keep things calm, with the neatly-integrated wind deflector – only brings you closer to the theatre. That’s not something any 12-cylinder Aston lacks, but the Vanquish elevates this with a full, rich sound that, as with its smaller Vantage sibling, has an almost muscle car-like feel to it. The car we drove was fitted with the optional titanium exhaust, enhancing the experience even further.
Aston has worked hard to make the engine highly reactive, and there’s no denying that this is an incredibly quick car if you let the revs build past 2,500rpm. It’s not as linear as a naturally-aspirated Ferrari 12Cilindri Spider, but it’s no chore to work through the gears and pull the next cog home via the tactile column-mounted paddle.
The brakes are strong, and the steering quick, while the electronic differential integrated into the rear transaxle allows you to put the power down early and slingshot out of tight corners. Squeeze the throttle as much as you dare; licence-losing speeds are possible in the blink of an eye.
It may sound like a bit of a cop-out, but you’d need to drive the coupe and convertible back to back over familiar but challenging roads to notice any discernible difference in the way these cars handle. While that line about Aston aiming for the “same overall driving experience” might sound like marketing hyperbole, in our experience of the cars (and this backside), the engineers appear to have come incredibly close.
Scuttle shake is almost non-existent; our fast, flowing, north Yorkshire test route threw up some pretty rough surfaces and only the very deepest potholes made themselves known via reverberations through the chassis. Not only is the Vanquish Volante physically larger than its DBS predecessor, it’s noticeably stiffer, too.
Yet that doesn’t come at the expense of comfort or compliance. While we wanted to explore the extent of the car’s performance window during our time in the driver’s seat, we also drove the car at slower speeds around town – both with the roof up and down. Knock the Vanquish into its default GT mode – whereby the huge slug of torque is electronically managed in gears one to four – and it’ll cruise beautifully.
With the eight-layer “acoustically enhanced” fabric roof raised, the Vanquish Volante is impressively hushed. That’s thanks not only to the trick top, but also the bespoke Pirelli P-Zero tyres with active noise-cancelling tech that have been specifically tuned with a level of inherent damping; it’s not as quiet as the coupe, but it’s still a fantastic grand tourer.
Ergonomically, the Vanquish Volante is about as good as it gets. You sit nice and low, and there’s enough adjustment in the wheel to allow you to pull it really close to your chest for added engagement. It’s got a lower centre console than the old DBS, and while there are still plenty of buttons, it feels as if it’s skipped an entire generation when it comes to usability.
Not least because, like the recently-updated DBX SUV, all Vanquish Volantes will be delivered with Apple CarPlay Ultra, giving iPhone users even greater access and slicker integration with the services and apps on their mobile device. It means you can now make calls and send text messages, as well as adjust things like the climate control and other vehicle functions, without swiping back to the car’s main infotainment screen. This extends to the instrument cluster, and compliments the set-up so well that if you’d not been told, you’d never know it wasn’t Aston’s native layout.
But even if you don’t use CarPlay, or prefer to press buttons and flick switches, the Vanquish’s dashboard layout is among the best on offer – at any price. That low centre console grants you access to everything from the engine start-stop button to the gear shifter, temperature and fan controls, parking cameras and more – all without feeling overly cluttered. The screen itself is responsive, with a row of easy-access shortcut keys directly underneath.
It might seem trivial to talk about practicality on a £360,000-plus, two-seater convertible, but it’s only right that owners wishing to test the Volante’s GT credentials might want to use their car for a weekend away. If you’re prepared to travel with the roof up, you’ll have 219 litres to play with – a figure that shrinks only slightly (to 187 litres) with the top down. That’s quite a bit more than you’ll find in a Bentley Continental GTC, and should be enough for a couple of soft bags.
Quality is by and large, very good indeed. We’re not talking Rolls-Royce or even Bentley levels of craftsmanship, but Aston can closely match any modern-day McLaren, and come within spitting distance of Ferrari for overall fit and finish.
As standard, every Vanquish Volante gets high-end kit including matrix-LED lights, those aforementioned 21-inch forged alloy wheels and carbon-ceramic brakes, plus a stainless steel exhaust and a suite of driver-assistance systems. Inside, you’ll find Alcantara and Semi Aniline Leather seats that are heated and electrically-adjustable in 16 different directions. There’s twin 10.25-inch screens, a 1,170-watt Bowers & Wilkins stereo and wireless phone charging, too. Nothing you wouldn’t expect though, given the eye-watering cost of entry.
On top of this, our test car, which you can see in the pictures, added a number of options from the firm’s Q by Aston Martin bespoke car personalisation programme. These included Chimera Blue paint, satin-black wheels and Vivid Orange brake calipers, plus a gloss-black grille, carbon-fibre trim elements and even enamel badges. As you might expect, Aston Martin wouldn’t give us a price as tested; if you need to ask, you probably can’t afford it…
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| Model: | Aston Martin Vanquish Volante |
| Price: | £360,000 (est) |
| Powertrain: | 5.2-litre V12 twin-turbo petrol |
| Power/torque: | 824bhp/1,000Nm |
| Transmission: | Eight-speed automatic, rear-wheel drive |
| 0-62mph: | 3.4 seconds |
| Top speed: | 214mph |
| Economy/CO2: | TBC |
| Size (L/W/H): | 4,850/1,980/1,296mm |
| On sale: | Now |
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