Why this gorgeous Aston Martin is a growling gamechanger

In an about face, the marque has put function (and rev) up there with form.

Stephen Corby

Aston Martin Vanquish.

4 min read

14 hours ago.

Updated 12 hours ago

Calling an Aston Martin beautiful is a bit like saying Usain Bolt is quite quick on his feet, or that Dame Judi Dench is a decent actor – painfully obvious. But here’s something you haven’t always been able to say about Aston Martins: they’re as spectacular to drive as they are to look at.

Indeed, for a very long time they couldn’t pull that off at all, and only partly because they always, always, look so damn impressive.

For decades, the legendary British marque has been building sensational-looking cars with huge, soul-stirring engines but rarely has it produced one capable of beating its rivals from Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche for sheer driving thrills. The brutal truth is most Astons are cars you choose to be seen in, rather than chosen for outright dynamic excellence.

Happily, that’s changing. Aston has new owners, led by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, and in a rare moment of self-awareness it has switched its focus.

“Design has always been our strength,” says Aston’s director of product and strategy Alex Long. “Now we’re placing more emphasis on performance and driving harder into luxury.”

It’s an approach already reaping rewards in cars such as the “entry level” Vantage, which has so much power and tautness that it has become a steely eyed Porsche 911 beater. Well, at least a proper challenger.

And now we have an all-new version of Aston’s flagship GT, the utterly gorgeous Vanquish. Gosh it’s a looker. Big and brooding, yet also delicate and sculpted; it’s a shape that’s instantly recognisable as an Aston yet one that’s less derivative than the brand’s previous efforts.

The Aston Martin Vanquish.

In bringing back the Vanquish name (this is only the third time it’s featured on the company’s top road car), Aston was determined for it to carve its own path. So the exterior, which is made almost entirely of carbon fibre, is all new. It rides on a new, stiffer bonded-aluminium architecture, too, and it scores a dedicated interior full of supple leather and tactile dials and knobs hewn from solid pieces of metal, which feel wonderful.

More significantly, it also meant developing an entirely new V12. With a colossal 614kW and 1000Nm on tap, the new 5.2-litre twin-turbo engine has so much power and torque that it makes the V12 in Ferrari’s equally new flagship, the 610kW/678Nm 12Cilindri, feel a touch underdone.

You’d think sending so much performance through the Vanquish’s rear wheels would make it intimidating to drive, but it actually feels incredibly docile, at least initially. OK, its sheer size does mean it feels W-I-D-E, especially on Sardinia’s narrow cobblestoned lanes at the international launch. But at low speed the engine is a soothing purr, the automatic gearbox is smooth and unobtrusive and even though the glasshouse looks swoopy and narrow, vision out is actually superb.

Flattening the throttle, however, is akin to detonating something unwise. Accelerate in any gear, at any speed, and the Vanquish leaps forward so alarmingly that it feels as though the rest of the car is barely hanging on to the big V12. And there’s no fun-sapping turbo lag, either, thanks to a new “boost reserve” system, which spins the turbos harder than they need to and holds on to the excess boost to ensure the engine always responds quickly.

WISH Magazine cover for March 2025 starring Max Verstappen. Picture: Pierre-Alban Hue De Fontenay

Then there’s the noise: deep, smooth and, crucially, utterly genuine (there’s no acoustic fakery here). The soundtrack is as addictive as the acceleration. And when the road gets twisty, Aston’s new-found dynamic focus comes to the fore. Throw its vast nose at a corner and the Vanquish grips with surprising tenacity. And when you get on the throttle, traction out of tight corners is seriously impressive. Chase the power too early and it’s easy to overwhelm the rear tyres, but Aston’s armada of high-tech chassis systems are expertly calibrated to make you feel like a hero without letting you get into trouble.

The steering is also beautifully weighted and special mention needs to go to the cymbal-sized standard carbon fibre brakes, which offer huge stopping power and are easy to modulate.

Is it as sharp as a Ferrari? Well, not quite. At 1774 kilograms, the Vanquish is a big, heavy car so it lacks the frenetic agility of a 12Cilindri or the incredible Ferrari 296. And Aston’s decision to stick with a conventional automatic means gear changes aren’t as fast or as crisp as a Ferrari or Porsche’s dual-clutch transmissions. But as a grand tourer, the Vanquish has a different appeal to those rivals. The cabin is hushed – it’s so quiet I could actually hear the tick-tick-tick of my passenger’s mechanical heart valve – and the ride is so comfortable it verges on limousine-like.

It truly does look spectacular in the metal, too, with a hulking, Batmobile-like presence. It’s the kind of car at which you turn back to look and, because Aston is committed to building no more than 1000 each year, exclusivity is a big part of the appeal.

At $737,000, the Vanquish isn’t only going toe-to-toe with Ferrari for performance but on price, too. The good news is that, for the first time in a long time, Aston’s flagship now has more than just beauty on its side.