  2014 Aston Martin Vanquish Volante & 2014 Aston Martin V12 Vantage S. Click image to enlarge |
Review and photos by Michael Bettencourt, additional photos courtesy Aston Martin
Palm Spring, CA – Most manufacturers won’t dare put its most powerful engine into its smallest and lightest chassis. Fewer still will allow any version of its least expensive vehicle to offer the same exact engine as its priciest range-topper. Any company except Aston Martin, that is.
For 2014, the big news with the exotic British carmaker is that it now offers its hotter top-of-the-line V12 engine in various models, plus it introduces the convertible version of its already gorgeous Vanquish. Called the Vanquish Volante, it now becomes the brand’s most exclusive (or at least most expensive) vehicle, arriving now in North America with a 565-hp brute of a powerplant underhood, an engine introduced with the achingly lovely Vanquish coupe that previously held Aston’s priciest title.
That same exact 565-hp V12 engine will arrive within the first quarter of 2014 under the hood of its seriously upgraded 2015 V12 Vantage S. This all comes on the heels of Aston Martin formally announcing in December that its next generation power plants will come from Mercedes-Benz’s AMG performance unit and will be V8s, calling into question how long this sonorous but aging V12 will remain in Aston Martin’s lineup.
So let’s start with the raciest of all current Aston V12 models – and all current Astons – the V12 Vantage S. A close look at this Aston’s spec sheet will tell you that the Vantage is the smallest of the common VH architecture used throughout Aston’s lineup, and lightest of the V12 models, at 1,665 kg. But with that big twelve-cylinder engine and the seven-speed sequential manual transmission, it’s also a few kilograms heavier than the lightest V8 Vantage SP10 model (1,610 kg) or the base V8 Vantage (1,630 kg).
That big V12 now outmuscles the base V8 by a substantial 145 hp margin, the V12’s 457 lb-ft of torque also dwarfing the base V8’s 357. Though it may be immaterial to many Aston buyers, the price bump is also considerable, with the ’14 V12 Vantage S starting at C$194,941, about 70 large more than a base Vantage. It also brings the V12 Vantage S right up to the starting price of the similarly gorgeous DB9, a car that seems woefully underpowered now, with a ‘mere’ 510 hp.
    2014 Aston Martin V12 Vantage S. Click image to enlarge |
But no Aston Martin is about mind-blowing numbers anymore, because the reality is that its buyers could afford vehicles with even more than the upgraded V12 Vantage’s 565 ponies. Astons are all about eliciting emotions, and that starts with its fetching shapes. Though the squatter shape of the Vantage may not be quite as flowing or enchanting as the longer 2+2 models, it is smoother and more sophisticated than the outsize wings and crazy aggression rampant on rivals like the Mercedes-Benz SLS Black Series or Jaguar XKR-S.
  2014 Aston Martin V12 Vantage S. Click image to enlarge |
Sure, Astons take family resemblance to a new high, and arguably too high, but criticizing the Vantage for looking too similar to other Astons is like dissing your hot girlfriend for looking too much like her gorgeous sister. If you’re lucky enough to frolic in that family, you don’t complain.
On the road, the V12 Vantage is a snarly, ready-to-run beast, its single-clutch transmission much happier when flooring it on an open road than trundling around town, where it seems to trip over itself occasionally. This is not a cruising car. This car is for those who can’t wait to put some revs on that counter-clockwise sweeping tach, and hearing the blat of an increasingly rare big-bore, naturally aspirated V12 as tuned through the lightweight bypass-valve-equipped exhaust derived from the one in Aston’s rare One-77 supercar. Which is the only production Aston Martin in the brand’s history that’s faster than this V12 Vantage S, with its top speed of 330 km/h.
Handling-wise, the V12 Vantage S offers a new three-level electronic damping system, allowing some measure of civility in Normal mode, while dialing up the stiffness in Sport and Track modes to colon-busting levels. Pitch it into a corner, and though it may not have the immediate razor-sharpness of some mid-engine rivals, there’s a rewardingly natural feel to the steering, braking and handling balance that somehow connects organically to the enthusiast lobe in your brain.
A Sport button up high on the centre console also allows you to dial in a more aggressive steering ratio, exhaust note and shift characteristics, but as it’s up high next to the glass-encased shift buttons, you want to be careful when you’re storming along some curvy back road not to hit the button next to it by mistake: that’s Reverse.
   2014 Aston Martin Vanquish Volante. Click image to enlarge |
Compared to the raucous V12 Vantage S, the Vanquish Volante was the impeccably sophisticated grand touring convertible that just happens to fly when pushed. Featuring the same 5.9L V12, even though its cam cover and virtually all Aston’s press material calls it a 6.0L, the 5,935cc engine can push the car to 295 km/h. We never quite made it near that speed over the wonderfully curvy mountain roads near Palm Springs, but tromping on the throttle with a couple of well-timed downshifts will give you the full hair-dryer treatment and an earful of soul-touching bellowing, right past the speed which would leave your car impounded for a week if nabbed by police in Ontario.
The Vanquish Volante also features three-level adjustable shocks, with an electronic brain smart enough to read throttle position, steering inputs and vehicle speed to automatically switch from Normal to Sport to Track settings, or allowing the driver to do it manually. Its Normal is much cushier than the default setting in the V12 Vantage S, the shifts in low-speed traffic much more refined with its six-speed automated manual, though it still can’t touch the comfort/shift quickness duality of more modern dual-clutch systems.
   2014 Aston Martin Vanquish Volante. Click image to enlarge |
The interior is also roomier and more opulent, which it should be for an extra 120 large than the top Vantage model, at C$315,200. That’s a huge chunk of extra cheddar for a car with the same engine. But then the Vanquish Volante’s body retains the exotic carbon-fibre body panels of the coupe, save for the fabric roof, which can motor up or down at up to 50 km/h.
Once down, this makes squeezing some unlucky passenger into the +2 rear seat much more realistic than in the low-roofed Vanquish coupe, unless the available wind-deflector is in place that squelches that sadomasochistic possibility.
Yet no matter the Vanquish’s foibles, its crushing beauty makes it all forgivable. Is there a prettier convertible available in the world today? Doubt it. Audi R8 V10? Lower and more aggressive, perhaps, but not nearly as sensuously curved. Lamborghini Aventador droptop? Likely its closest V12 market rival, and certainly more strikingly exotic, but somewhat brash next to the Aston’s feline seductiveness. Ferrari 458 Spider? Tough one, its smoothly integrated folding hardtop likely looks better top up, but once down, it demands attention just a little louder than the Aston lovingly invites it.
2014 Aston Martin V12 Vantage S
In the end, though both of these cars show signs of aging engineering, features and interiors, there remains an undeniable authentic appeal to one-percenters turned off by the increasing layers of electronic translators between themselves and the road. The V12 Vantage S is the gifted athlete of the lineup, uncompromisingly addicted to performance, but without punishing its owners to life without air conditioning or door handles. The Vanquish Volante is the blonde bombshell of the lineup, not nearly as athletic as the other V12 models, but good-looking enough that its owners really won’t care.
Pricing: 2014 Aston Martin Vanquish Volante
Base price: $315,200
Options: N/A
Freight: N/A
A/C tax: $100
Price as tested: (est.) $335,000
Competitors:
Bentley Continental GT Speed Cabriolet
BMW M6 Cabriolet
Ferrari 458 Spider
Lamborghini Aventador Roadster
McLaren MP4-12C Spider
Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster
Pricing: 2014 Aston Martin V12 Vantage S
Base price: $195,941
Options: N/A
Freight: N/A
A/C tax: $100
Price as tested: (est.) $215,000
Competitors:
Audi R8 V10 Plus
Bentley Continental GT Speed
BMW M6
Jaguar XKR-S
McLaren MP4-12C
Mercedes-Benz SLS Black Series
Porsche 911 Turbo S
Crash test results
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS)
