The latest episode of The Driver’s Seat finds Henry Catchpole behind the wheel of the new Aston Martin Vanquish on the island of Sardinia. Although he tries admirably to steer clear of any references to James Bond, if there’s a famous hotel, a fast boat, and an Aston Martin, what’s a chap to do?
Don’t worry, though, it’s not all Roger Moore and Martinis; there is plenty to talk about with this final piece of Aston’s three-car puzzle. The DB12, the Vantage, and now the Vanquish are all front-engined and rear-wheel drive, but each has a distinct character. The 2+2 DB12 was described as a Super GT, while the Vantage is clearly the more sporty offering. But what room does that leave for the Vanquish?
Well, as it turns out, the Vanquish is capable of being the best GT of the trio. However, it is also possessed of a rather brutish side, with a penchant for graffiti. Without even trying, the pale roads of Sardinia were left tattooed with tyre marks in every area of hard acceleration. If you turn the traction control off, the marks get darker still, but the Aston reveals a highly refined form of unruliness with its E-diff doing an ace job of making things controllable.
The new Vanquish starts at £333,000, which puts it in direct competition with the Ferrari 12Cilindri. Both cars produce over 800bhp from their V12 engines (with no hybrid assistance, thank you very much) and transmit all of it to the road via the rear wheels alone. The Italian is a little lighter and quicker, but the Brit is faster, and while the naturally aspirated Ferrari makes do with 500lbft of torque at 7250rpm, the twin-turbo Aston makes 738lbft from 2500rpm to 5000rpm. Mmm, low grunt.
We’d be intrigued to know which one you’d have, given the choice. Or maybe you’d rather have the new hybrid V8 Bentley Continental GT? Tell us in the comments.
