Simply Abu Dhabi XIII

of the car and you’ll see that the heritage continues but in a dramatic, powerful and contemporary fashion. The body’s sides are defined by three bold character lines, the muscular wheel arches provide a clear signal towards the power beneath the bulging bonnet while an organically shaped spoiler traces the rear edge of the boot lid and adds a satisfying ‘kick’ to the car’s rear view. To my eyes there’s a definite nod to the kamm tail of the classic DB6 here, but that could just be my own nostalgic view. In profile, the Vanquish Volante breaks slightly with tradition though. Where most convertibles opt for the customary long bonnet, short rear deck approach, this car is much more balanced in length both in front of and behind the driving seat. It’s not the usual look of course but somehow it really works for this Aston. It all adds up to a purposeful, powerful look that fits in perfectly with everything AstonMartin means to all the many people who hold the marque in such high regard. Further breaking with tradition, a huge amount of carbon fibre goes into the car’s construction. This of course includes the entirety of the bodywork which adds real brains to the car’s beauty by substantially lowering the car’s weight while raising both strength and design flexibility. Under that glamorous skin sits a bonded- aluminum structure buttressed by additional carbon-fibre pieces for greater rigidity. Aston claims this gives a 14-percent improvement in this torsional rigidity for this Volante’s fourth-generation Vertical Horizontal architecture over its predecessor, the DBS Volante. All of this goes some way to quelling the classic open-car body squeaks and allows the suspension do its primary work, handling the car’s power, highly efficiently. To ensure that’s the case and the Vanquish Volante provides the very best experience whatever your driving style the car rides on multilink setups both front and rear and features Normal, Sport, and Track settings for the dampers. Making sure that the car stops as well as it goes, the mighty brake calipers squeeze a set of standard carbon-ceramic discs when you press on the stop pedal. The roof on the Vanquish Volante bucks the trend too. While a great many convertible designers have opted for a folding metal hardtop, such as that in the Mercedes-Benz SL, Aston have gone for a softer approach with a traditional fabric soft top. Where the metal roof may create a dual-nature coupe/convertible, the soft top saves on cost, weight, and complexity and takes much less of a bite out of the cargo space. This means you could take enough luggage for something of a holiday, rather than the change of socks that a folding metal roof might allow. Stowing or opening the Aston’s three-layer cloth top takes a mere 14 seconds and you even do it while travelling at up to 30 mph. Top up or down, the Vanquish Volante offers the same 9.8 cubic feet in the boot. Leaving such matters behind and moving to the front of the car, you’ll find something very, very special under that majestic bonnet. It’s Aston Martin’s own 5.9-litre AM11 V-12 and it’s a thing of beauty. While some cynical types may say that this naturally aspirated 5935-cc veteran is nothing more than a leftover from Ford ownership, Aston counters that it has upgraded almost everything but the rods and pistons, and I for one believe them. At 565 horsepower and 457 lb-ft of torque, it certainly doesn’t feel like re- heated leftovers, the unit more than capable of rushing the two-ton Volante to 60 in an estimated 4.2 seconds and up to frankly terrifying speeds in just a few seconds more. So, to summarise, here we have an Aston Martin that carries on all the great traditions of that legendary manufacturer, throws in some distinctly modern touches yet retains an engine that relies on sheer power and good old-fashioned engineering to make it all happen. I love this car. It’s as mean as they come and, once that soft top is tucked safely away, it’s beautifully roofless. 3 4 7 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I