Two hundred thousand pounds, less a fiver, is how much Aston Martin asks for its new range topper, the Vanquish Volante.
The open-top version of the Vanquish coupé, the car certainly has the looks to back up the price tag. And it’s a price tag that shows the confidence Aston has in its decade-old and still evolving vertical-horizontal (VH) architecture philosophy and 5.9-litre V12 engine.
The trouble is, in conversion from coupé to convertible, big sporting GTs like the Vanquish Volante typically suffer somewhere and typically lack the base coat, let alone the final level of polish, to really warrant such a price tag.
They lose stiffness to the detriment of ride and handling, gain weight to blunt the performance, and lose practicality, as that retractable roof has to be stored somewhere.
These were issues – particularly chassis flex – that plagued the Vanquish Volante’s immediate predecessor, the DBS Volante. With all these gremlins, it’s fair to say the DBS Volante was not our favourite Aston from recent history, despite its billing as the firm’s range topper before the Vanquish coupé arrived late last year at least.
Don’t expect such compromises with the Vanquish Volante, Aston claims. Its latest fourth-generation VH architecture makes it the stiffest open-top car Aston has ever produced, and with some fine-tuning to the suspension is said to offer the same handling characteristics as the Vanquish coupé. Indeed, Aston’s most recent convertible, DB9 Volante, was greatly improved in the stiffness stakes, boding well for the Vanquish.