Goosebumps. You’ll get them when you fire up the engine and that throaty V12 barks into life. You’ll get them again the first time you punch it past 5,000rpm, and it begins to howl like it’s been possessed. And again when you throw it around a corner it has no right to stick. The new Aston Martin Vanquish Volante is a visceral masterpiece, twin-turbo charging every synaptic connection in your body each time your foot descends to the floor. Which will happen – a lot. Anything to feed that voracious V12 soundtrack.
I remember when Jeremy Clarkson signed off Season 13 of Top Gear in the summer of 2009. His final review was reserved for the Aston Martin Vantage V12. “Well, it’s an Aston Martin Vantage with a V12 engine,” he said. “So, what do you think it’s going to be like? It is fantastic. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.”
But his conclusion was rather less palatable: “What it makes me feel, though, is sad. I just can’t help thinking that thanks to all sorts of things – the environment, the economy, problems in the Middle East, the relentless war on speed – cars like this will soon be consigned to the history books. I just have this horrible, dreadful feeling that what I’m driving here is an ending.”
Well, 16 years on, and his world-weary concerns are as prescient as ever. But thank goodness he was wrong in one respect. The Aston Martin V12 is still with us and, though it may no longer be naturally aspirated, it is still, well, wonderful.
It’s also a lot more powerful. That 2009 engine had 510bhp and 569Nm of torque. Compare it to this 2025 version: 835hp and 1,000Nm of torque. The top speed? That would be a mind-warping 214mph. In fact, this is the fastest and most powerful front-engine car in the world. I think it’s fair to say, the V12 era is not over yet.
Among the slew of four-wheeled domestic appliances congesting the roads these days, the Vanquish Volante represents a very British two fingers to ubiquity.
There’s something genuinely special about driving it around the roads of Great Britain. It has incredible road presence – wide, low-slung, brooding – and elicited everything from nods of respect up to whoops of childhood delight.
Every time I think Aston can’t make a model better looking than the last, the designers manage it. The latest Vanquish is a beauty from the front, and a beast from the back – and the side profile ties it together with pleasing proportionality. Whichever way you spin it, it’s a looker
This continues on the inside. Over the past few decades, Aston Martin interiors have tended to be a little wanting – retrofitting Mercedes parts and the like. This is no longer the case. The interior feels just as precision-crafted as the exterior. As my wife, usually the first to find fault with a car, attests: “There’s nothing in this car that doesn’t look right.”
First there’s the carbon fibre, woven with copper thread: it is stunning. The switchgear is almost horological in its knurled finishing. The stainless steel grilles for the 1,170-watt Bowers & Wilkins speakers are constructed using an advanced etching technology that produces lines so sharp you could grate cheese with them. And the hand-stitched leather ensures the car feels as good as it looks. Bentley doesn’t need to worry quite yet, but it’ll happily go toe to toe with the interior quality of, say, a Ferrari.
As the driver, you have the privilege of matte carbon-fibre paddle shifters, and an illuminated start button. It’s not only satisfying to press, but sounds it, too. The resulting blast and subsequent blips encourage one thing: speed.
The Volante benefits from the same powerplant from the coupé, but with the top down, you can luxuriate in every gargle and growl. The titanium exhaust may be optional, but that’s a bit like when the waiter says, ‘Do you want fries with your steak?’ I mean, do you really have to ask?
As with any droptop, there are a few engineering challenges. The kerb weight has bumped up by 90kg, and sure, the already modest boot shifts towards measly territory to accommodate the roof. But all is forgiven when you hit the open road.
The ‘K-Fold’ fabric roof lowers at speeds of up to 31mph, stowing away in just 16 seconds. Once you have the green light, the throttle response is immediate, like an excitable puppy desperately pulling against its lead. The electronic differential integrated into the rear transaxle allows you to put the power down earlier than you’d expect, ensuring it doesn’t break free and fully chase the squirrel up the tree. But even a hint of drizzle, and you have to treat it with the respect 835hp demands. This one’s bite can be as bad as its bark.
Fortunately a set of prodigious carbon-ceramic brakes are also ready to step in and muzzle the beast should you get a little too giddy. Which you will. You’re only human.
So, is there anything that can compete? The Ferrari 12 Cilindri Spider is its closest rival in form and function. The Ferrari accelerates a mite quicker – 0-60mph in 3.0 seconds to the Aston’s 3.3 seconds – but only a die-hard tifosi could try to make a case for the Fezza looking better.
And, dare I say it, there’s something a little embarrassing about the Italian brand among civilised circles. A friend owns one and refers to his as ‘the red car’ as he feels like a plonker saying he drives a Ferrari. (It’s fine in Puglia. But in Plymouth?)
No such problem with the Aston Martin – understandably, it feels right at home here in Blighty. Whether you’re cruising along the motorway or thrashing it around a B road, the Vanquish Volante adapts to the brief. Whatever your destination, it will turn heads when you get there.
And one thing’s for sure, you’ll arrive with plenty of goosebumps.
Prices from £360,000. For more information, go to astonmartin.com
