The carniverous singing pot plant in the cult movie Little Shop of Horrors quipped that it was “green and mean”, and if this horticultural monstrosity learned to drive I reckon it would find a perfect car in the Aston Martin Vanquish Volante I piloted in California recently.
With its top speed of 295km/h and ability to blast from rest to 100km/h in just 4.3 seconds, along with a roar that could shake the thorns off a cactus, the V12-engined British brute has a fittingly mean disposition.
EXOTIC STYLE
The one I drove happened to be green and, though it’s a fairly untypical hue for a modern sports car, it still looked devastating (but I think the Vanquish is a car that would probably look good painted brown with pink spots). With its grand ostentation it’s a car that fits perfectly into millionaire’s playgrounds like Palm Springs, a posh town that’s no stranger to exotic cars cruising its streets.
The Vanquish, as Aston Martin cognoscenti will know, is the flagship model range from this century-old British stable (except for the very limited-edition One-77 of which all have already been sold), and the Volante is the open-topped version, lining up alongside the coupé launched a year ago.
The design is the latest take on Aston Martin’s iconic visual language. Styling cues such as the elegant waist, elongated side strakes and LED rear light blades are derived from the One-77 supercar while the folding fabric roof sits beneath an aerodynamic tonneau and decklid. Pressing a button initiates a 14-second striptease act in which the electrically-operated fabric top folds open, and it works at low driving speeds so you don’t have to come to a complete stop.
FIRE-BREATHING V12
Like the coupé, the business end of the Volante is a front-mounted normally-aspirated 5.9-litre packing steroid-boosted outputs of 421kW and 620Nm, which is fired to super-wide back tyres via a rear-mounted six-speed ‘auto.
The star of the show is that fire-breathing V12. Throttle inputs result in great thrusts of lag-free power. Aston’s grand tourer rushes at the horizon with foam-at-the-mouth intensity and a hell-raising war cry, which sounds all the more belligerent with the roof down. If you’re in a tunnel the right thing to do is rev it for all it’s worth just to hear that 12 cylinder scream echoing off the walls – and to hell with decorum.
If you’re not in the mood for a heavy-metal concert, however, you can raise the thick-padded fabric top which is very effective at muting sound.
The Vanquish is more of a grand tourer than a nip-and-squirt sports car, but that’s not to say it’s proficient only in a straight line. The Volante revealed itself to be a very enthusiastic corner-carver in the twisty mountain passes I drove near Palm Springs. An adaptive damping system allows you to choose between normal, sport and track modes, while Dynamic Stability Control and Positive Torque Control are there to save over-enthusiastic drivers from themselves.
LIGHTWEIGHT, AGILE
A body made entirely of carbon-fibre reduces weight in the fairly large car, resulting in a quick-turning nature that helps it zip through corners in a dextrous fashion. There’s plenty of the lightweight material on display. The front splitter is unpainted carbonfibre, as are the side sills and wing mirrors.
The Vanquish Volante is the stiffest Volante body structure in the firm’s 100-year history, and I could feel it in the way this topless car impressively covered coarse roads with a minimum of scuttle shake. For a sports car the ride’s very well sorted, not spine-crushing.
The car’s cabin presents classic elegance with a modern twist. Occupants are pampered in full grain Luxmil leather seats while the climate and audio settings are controlled on a touch panel with haptic-feedback, much like on a smartphone. Interesting, although sometimes a little finickier to use than regular buttons.
Officially there are rear seats but these are barely big enough for a pair of Jack Russels. The 279-litre boot is better-than-average sized for a sports car, however. Maybe even roomy enough for a giant singing pot plant.
The first Vanquish Volante units are landing in SA imminently at a price of around R4-million, and like all Aston Martins they come with a three-year/unlimited mileage warranty and a service plan. -Star Motoring