Vanquishing the road

British sports car manufacturer Aston Martin has finally appointed an official importer for the Thai market. The official launch of Heritage Motor Sales and Services (Thailand), which is a subsidiary of Master Group Corporation that is also the official Rolls-Royce importer, will be held next week. 

Aston Martin’s latest offering is the Vanquish Volante – a convertible version which I, as the only journalist from Thailand, got to test drive in Palm Springs recently. 

The official pricing of the Volante in Thailand has not been revealed, but considering its £199,995 (Bt9.94 million) retail price, you can expect it to cost well over Bt20 million when it is imported and sold here. 

The car is classified in the Super GT category, and is an interesting choice for those who are looking for something different to the growing number of Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Porsches we now often see on Thai roads. 

Well, I must say this is the first time I’ve gotten behind the wheel of an Aston Martin, and despite all the James Bond movies I’ve revelled in, there are a few surprises. While an Aston Martin is a car that becomes an instant classic when you buy it, there is not much difference in terms of design among the carmaker’s various models. They all bear the same basic shape except for the 4-door Rapide S, and although they’re all unmistakeably Aston Martin, only brand enthusiasts will be able to tell the difference. 

As for the Vanquish Volante, the main difference is the folding fabric roof (which opens fully in 14 seconds) and LED rear-light blades derived from the One-77 supercar. Designers have also incorporated a large number of youthful details in the elegant convertible, resulting in a luxury grand tourer that also displays a good level of motor racing design cues. A large amount of carbon fibre is also used, giving the car high strength-to-weight ratio along with good flexibility. 

The interior features a 2+2 seating arrangement and a large number of luxury items such as the full-grain Luxmil leather with optional quilting, metal controls and satin chrome trim. The centre console features touch-control panels with illuminated glass buttons and haptic feedback – that smooth vibrating function we’re all familiar with in smartphones. There are also some unique features, such as the rev counter than spins counter-clockwise, and a 1,000-watt Bang & Olufsen audio system with 15 speakers. Plus there are all sorts of infotainment and connectivity, including wi-fi. 

Yes, the interior is luxurious and has tremendous detailing, but just when you think there is nothing more you can ask for, then comes surprise number one: the buttons for the electric power windows are one-touch only on the driver’s side. Aston Martin may put forth many arguments for this, but if a BMW 3 Series offers one-touch buttons for all windows, why would a car costing almost £200,000 come with anything less? The climate-control system doesn’t work too well either – something that customers in Bangkok or Dubai may not appreciate. But it’s a hand-built British sportscar, and I should be concentrating on the driving, not the bloody air-con, as Aston Martin CEO Ulrich Bez would definitely say. 

Bez was very much present throughout the test-drive event, and he also took the wheel of one of the test cars, timing his lap in the mountains with a GoPro Hero3 camera fitted on the front bumper. Well, I thought he was an enthusiastic guy, although quite exhausting to argue with at the dinner table on various subjects such as autonomous driving cars or manual versus automatic transmission. 

Okay, so now it was time for me to get down to some exciting driving. To start the engine, you insert the remote unit into its slot and press it once. No, I didn’t get it right the first time, but once you get the V12 fired up, surprise number two hits you. This one is a plus though. The rousing snarl from the engine is bound to attract attention, and you will definitely see people turning around to find where that sound is coming from. It’s like you have Chewbacca moaning on board all the time. Believe me, it’s a note that will make a Lamborghini owner turn around as well, that’s how wonderful it is. You can also raise the sound level by engaging the sport mode, only now the whole city is looking at you! And they were. Wherever I drove the Volante, I got the thumbs up from townsfolk young and old, while passengers in other vehicles turned around to have a look at my mighty machine. Heck, I felt like a celebrity. 

“Do you think they know we’re not the real owners of this car?” I asked my Japanese co-driver. After all, two Asians in an open-top Aston Martin in downtown Palm Springs isn’t a common sight for the American public. “Maybe they don’t,” replied Watanabe-san, who is a well-known Japanese freelance sportscar writer, with a polite grin on his face. 

The naturally aspirated V12 power plant delivers 565 brake horsepower and 620Nm of torque, which gets the 1.8-tonne Volante sprinting from 0-100km/h in 4.3 seconds. Aston Martin claims the top speed is 295km/h, which I never got close to achieving, especially on American roads. 

The steering is crisp and the double wishbone suspension well-tuned, offering some comfort when driven in the city using the “Normal” mode. For stiffer settings, you can select “Sport” or “Track”, which hardens up the ride and gives it a sportier character. The steering is incredible, offering quick response and high precision, while stopping power comes from Brembo carbon ceramic brakes. The front brakes use 398mm discs and 6-piston calipers from the One-77 while the rear discs are 360mm with 4-piston calipers. 

You guessed it: I wanted to get this car on the track, or at least on a German autobahn where I could cruise at crazy speeds. Well, that’s what this monster was designed for, wasn’t it? But nothing in life is perfect, and I had to be content with driving the Volante around in a “socially responsible” manner. Well, at least for a while. 

The test route included some beautiful, scenic mountain roads that allowed drivers to give the car some physical exercise. And it performed brilliantly. But still I never got close to accelerating the supercar to its limit – it hugged the road like it was charging on rails. Through the mountain drive amid the crisp air and the wind whipping my hair, I once against felt like a celeb, only this time I felt I was Bond being chased around by the villains and getting to eliminate them one by one. And that engine sound – I promise you it’s like music to your ears and something that you would want to push every time you got the chance. It’s enough reason for you to get one of these cars. 

 

Aston Martin Vanquish Volante specs 

 

Engine: V12 48-valve 

Displacement: 5,935cc 

Bore and stroke: 79.5x89.0mm 

Compression ratio: 11:1 

Max power: 565bhp/6,750rpm 

Max torque: 620Nm/5,500rpm 

Transmission: 6-speed automatic 

Ratios: 4.17/2.34/1.52/1.14/0.87/0.69 

0-100km/h: 4.3 secs 

Top speed: 295km/h 

Suspension (f/r): double wishbone, anti-roll bar/double wishbone, anti-roll bar 

Steering: power-assisted rack-and-pinion 

Turning circle: n/a 

Brakes (f/r): vented discs/vented discs 

Dimensions (mm): 

Length: 4,728 

Width: 1,910 

Height: 1,294 

Wheelbase: 2,740 

Track (f/r): 1,590/1,590 

Weight: 1,844kg 

Wheels: 20-in alloys Tyres, (f/r): 255/35 ZR20/295/30 ZR20 

Fuel tank capacity: 78 litres 

Price: £199,995 

Official importer: Heritage Motor Sales & Services (Thailand)