We?ve been expecting you?
Giles Brown dons his black tie and Walther PPK to view the Vanquish S -The Ultimate Aston Martin
The fastest road car in the history of Aston Martin. A car that fuses handcrafted tradition with the highest calibre of automotive technology. Appropriately it is our flagship car - the Vanquish S - the ultimate Aston Martin.
Dr Ulrich Bez, Chief Executive Officer, Aston Martin
No ifs, no buts ?Aston Martin is the classic British sports car. In the 50s Astons ran head to head with the Jaguar, Maserati and Ferrari at the legendary Le Mans 24 Hours and, as every film buff and overgrown schoolboy knows, the DB5 (DB standing for the company?s founder David Brown ? no relation alas) was the best Aston Martin, driven by the best Bond (Sean, of course)
But just as cinema critics have been working themselves into a lather about the fact that Daniel Craig is the best Bond since the untouchable Connery, so motoring correspondents are heaping plaudits on the new Aston Martin Vanquish S.?
The Vanquish is made in the same Newport Pagnell factory as 007?s first Aston was more than 40 years ago but the Vanquish S boasts one of the most advanced construction techniques of any road car, using composite materials and processes familiar to the aerospace business but rarely seen in the motor industry.
Staggeringly, its body panels are still shaped in part by men wielding hammers, one reason a Vanquish takes 800 hours to assemble, double the time needed to put an Aston Martin DB9 together. It is also built in tiny quantities: fewer than 300 will find their way onto the road in the next year, against 2,000 DB9s.
There is one factor that you should take in.? The new 520bhp Vanquish?s over 200 mph top speed makes it officially Aston Martin?s fastest ever road car. This eclipses by an unspecified amount the 600bhp version of the old V8 Vantage, which was apparently only good for 200mph and not one mph more. Cleverly leaving its near perfect appearance almost unchanged and blowing the entire budget on improving the driving experience has worked wonders. While the old Vanquish felt suitably brisk, this one is savage,
Aston Martin?s hand-built 6.0-litre V12 is the reason behind this.? Known as one of the finest engines in the world it?s enormously powerful and smooth. In the Vanquish S, it reaches its zenith. Maximum power is 520 bhp (388 kW) at 7000 rpm, with maximum torque of 425 lb ft (577 Nm) at 5800 rpm.
Such power delivers sterling performance. As I mentioned before, this is the fastest-ever road going Aston Martin. Top speed is more than 200 mph (321 km/h), the 0-62 mph (100 km/h) dash is accomplished in only 4.8 seconds while 0-100 mph (160 km/h) takes just 9.8 seconds. But it is the mid-range acceleration that is truly sensational; 50-70 mph (80-112 km/h) takes only 6.5 seconds in sixth gear.?
It can also lay claim to being the world?s best-sounding high performance car engine. The new engine, which has new heads, injectors and mapping, is a wonder. You no longer need to dream of the definitive V12 supercar snarl-howl-shriek when you drive a Vanquish S: it?s with you on every journey. F1-style paddles mounted on the steering wheel column operate the six-speed manual transmission and can change gear in approximately 250 milliseconds.
The driver has a number of gear change modes to choose from. In Select Shift Manual (SSM) mode, the driver shifts gears up and down using the steering column-mounted shift paddles (right to upshift, left to downshift). The only time the system intervenes for the driver is at the red line, when the computer automatically upshifts. Additionally, there is Auto Shift Manual (ASM) mode, in which the computer takes care of all gear selections according to engine and road speed without driver intervention. But even in ASM mode, subtle use of the throttle can induce gear changes to enhance the driving experience.
There is an optional ?Sport? mode in both settings. In SSM Sport, the system allows the driver to ?bounce? against the rev limiter without shifting automatically. ASM Sport allows the gearbox to rev higher to use more of the engine?s power, and shifts more quickly.
The Vanquish S is unmistakably an Aston Martin. It is elegant, powerful and dynamic. But there is also a hint of menace in this classic Aston Martin design, with a dynamic tension in its shape accentuated by the rear flanks and their almost animal-like ?muscularity?. Watch out that you don?t overdo it with the hairy-chested testosterone bit. Remember, you?re not Bond.
Grip levels are astonishingly high for a front-engined car and its braking ability is now fully commensurate with the level of available performance, something you?d have struggled to say about the previous Vanquish. All you have really to bear in mind on a fast cross country run is that the Vanquish S still weighs 1875kg and takes a lot of room to round up should it start sliding. Those who deactivate the traction control need to know their subject, their road and, most importantly, their limitations.
The Vanquish S effortlessly combines 21st century technology with understated elegance and craftsmanship, and it offers traditional Aston Martin style and a real depth of time-honoured British craftsmanship. But these skills are combined with modern ingenuity. The lightweight aluminium and carbon fibre structure of the Vanquish S is unique to Aston Martin. It is this special combination of materials that gives the Vanquish S enormous strength and torsional rigidity for superior handling, safety and durability.
The future of the Vanquish will be safe for a few years but its replacement will be built at Aston Martin?s new facility at Gaydon, and production at Newport Pagnell will then cease for good. This is your last chance to buy an old-school Aston with all the charm, craftsmanship and care that entails.
Where the old Vanquish felt a little too soft and compliant to convince as a 21st-century supercar, the new one feels taut and sharp. At last it possesses the composure to match the flashing performance of the mighty V12 and the result is a driving experience more complete than that of any Aston Martin in history. And one that will leave you stirred, not shaken, James?
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Watch out that you don?t overdo it with the hairy-chested testosterone bit. Remember, you?re not Bond.
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