Tag: vanquish

Official: Aston Martin Vanquish Volante to bow at Pebble Beach

Filed under: Convertible, Performance, Aston Martin, Misc. Auto Shows, Luxury

2014 Aston Martin Vanquish Volante Front Three-Quarter

Aston Martin is one of the featured marques at the 2013 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. With events set for August 14 through 17 and the show itself on August 18, the British brand is going all out in showing its sleek, powerful GT cars to the throngs of well-heeled attendees.

The star of the show will be the Vanquish Volante, which will be receiving its global debut. It will be joined by the CC100 Speedster Concept, Aston Martin’s centenary birthday present to itself, and the new V12 Vantage S, which is also getting its first live showing here.

All three cars feature the brand’s excellent 6.0-liter V12. With that under hood, the Vanquish Volante and V12 Vantage S deliver 565 horsepower and top speeds of 183 and 205 miles per hour, respectively.

The Autoblog team will be on hand at this year’s show, so be sure to check back to see all the high-dollar metal on the California coast.

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Aston Martin Vanquish Volante to bow at Pebble Beach originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 17 Jul 2013 18:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Official: 2014 Aston Martin Vanquish Volante drops its mind-blowingly beautiful top

Filed under: Convertible, Performance, Aston Martin, UK, Luxury

2014 Aston Martin Vanquish Volante - front three-quarter view, blue

Behold the 2014 Aston Martin Vanquish Volante in all its convertible glory. Like its hard top twin, the convertible Vanquish boasts a 5.9-liter V12 engine with 565 horsepower and 457 pound-feet of torque. That thrust is good enough to push the car to a top speed of 183 miles per hour, and Aston Martin says the 2014 Vanquish Volante is the first of the company’s convertibles to bow with body panels comprised entirely of carbon fiber. It also offers the stiffest body structure in the history of the automaker’s droptop efforts.

The machine’s power three-layer top can be put up or down at speeds of up to 30 mph and can do its dance in around 14 seconds. Interestingly, designers went with a full-length windshield, which runs directly up to the cloth top. there is no sheetmetal (or in this case, carbon fiber) header between the glass and the roof. Very cool.

A six-speed automatic transmission handles shifting duties and a new set of springs and dampers help cope with altered dynamics of the convertible. Aston Martin claims the 2014 Vanquish Volante offers up a weight distribution of 51:49, and a set of carbon-ceramic brakes help bring the whole party down from speed. If you want one, get ready to shell out at least $297,995 for the pleasure. Deliveries are set to begin early next year. Check out the full press release below once you stop gawking at the gallery above.

Continue reading 2014 Aston Martin Vanquish Volante drops its mind-blowingly beautiful top

2014 Aston Martin Vanquish Volante drops its mind-blowingly beautiful top originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Review: 2014 Aston Martin Vanquish

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Aston Martin, New Car Reviews, Luxury

Squirrelling Away In Motown With British Royalty

2014 Aston Martin Vanquish - front three-quarter view

As far as unexpected encounters with wild animals go, squirrels don’t normally rate. The furry little nut-smugglers are omnipresent fixtures in my neck of the woods – literally – so a chance meeting doesn’t warrant caution the way a bear or even an ornery raccoon might. But one’s list of priorities can’t help but change a bit at 175 miles per hour. That was exactly the case when I drove this Aston Martin’s predecessor, the DBS, a few years ago.

I was hammering around a closed course – Ford’s Romeo proving grounds – on the company’s high-banked 5-mile long track, 25 mph shy of the double ton, when a little red dot appeared on the surface of the track, far up the straight. It was a squirrel, which, lacking the good sense not to be on the track at that particular moment, was at least smart enough to flatten itself into a pancake (perhaps it heard the Aston’s mighty V12 closing in). I prayed it wouldn’t dart from its adjacent lane into mine, because at my closing speed, I figured I wouldn’t have time to retaliate. Naturally, the kamikaze rodent skittered on its stomach directly into my trajectory at the last minute, leaving me no choice but to issue a critical hair’s breadth correction at the wheel. Roadkill manufacturing is normally a momentary wince-inducing affair – a grimace, a quick appeal for the universe’s forgiveness – and then on with one’s day. Yet in a car as low as an Aston Martin, at the velocity I was traveling, a bit of fur flying and battered karma would’ve been the least of my concerns.

The squirrel, the DBS and I all survived to fight another day, and that 175-mph run still stands as my own personal v-max. The Aston’s high-speed stability and steering saved my bacon that morning, but in truth, I wasn’t that impressed with the car overall. So it was with some consternation that I took possession of this 2014 Aston Martin Vanquish, its replacement killer.

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2014 Aston Martin Vanquish originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 17 Jun 2013 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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