ACTUALLY TOO FAST NEW VANQUISH MORE POWERFUL THAN FERRARI 12 CILINDRI

Listen to that! Goodness Christ! This is diaphragm bending performance. Welcome... ...flat! That should be illegal! To the all new Aston Martin turbocharged V12 835hp 1000Nm of torque Vanquish! Now, we've got the top line stats out of the way That's the stuff you can go and Google What can't you Google? What can the interwebs not tell you about how this thing rearranges your internal organs? This is effectively replacing the top tier super GT flagship proposition that used to be the DBS And while that thing was savagely fast it was effectively a very well augmented DB11 platform Now, you'd be forgiven for expecting the successor of that car to be a revised, facelifted DB12 Which, as a platform, the DB12 is unbelievable You would never get out of a DB12 Goodness Christ! You would never get out of a DB12 and go Do you know what that needs? 835hp And yet, here we are! So, why this car is different is that it's based around the fundamentally familiar bonded aluminium architecture that is prevalent in the platform of the DB12 However, this thing has changed pretty much every attribute after that It's 80mm longer between the wheels Now, that gives it, first of all incredible aesthetic presence I would say, to my eyes anyway it's closer in aesthetics to a new 177 than it is to the DB12 Which, from an aesthetic achievement Christ, this thing takes some focusing From an aesthetic achievement that is a remarkable thing because it is effectively a very heavily modified DB12 platform But you wouldn't think it It is glorious on the eyes But the defining feature, by far and away has got to be this entirely revised V12 twin turbocharged engine The way it spools up I mean, with this much power and this much torque you would expect a degree of lag It's not in this thing's vocabulary, lag Aston have developed something interesting which sort of keeps boost in reserve, almost So when you're driving it as the sort of gentleman's express that it's aimed at for the majority of its miles It's refined You've got to be kidding me It's refined and it is the cross-continental missile that you would expect it to be But then, it sort of bends physics as new Astons of this generation have done lately By unlocking the most incredible grip composure, front end double wishbone suspension combined with this extra long wheelbase I haven't managed to push this thing into unintended understeer yet which just gives you so much confidence If you look at this car as you walk over to it and then put it on this tarmac I mean, if I'm truthful this piece of tarmac I'm on right now is probably more conducive to a GT3 than it is a massive super GT such as this But as you can see the way it's picking it apart with such poise and such grace But the number one word here is confidence It's a big car, big power big responsibility And the way it's threading down this sub-optimal tarmac Look at that, I'm flat Absolutely flat Third gear, 1000Nm of torque And you can hear it when I brake You hear all that silt Damp, silty road with 1000Nm of torque in sports plus This isn't in GT mode where it all sort of settles off and it becomes a really leisurely driver This is in full send mode And the way that they've calibrated the traction control It sort of feeds it in, it bleeds it in It doesn't cut power which historically on the DBS that has recently been discontinued when that used to detect an ounce of slip it wouldn't bleed the power back it would just cut it You'd be living in Bosch's world just holding back the throttle and it would be quite frustrating because the V12 and all the power that you paid for was now in the hands of the electronic gods keeping the machinery out of the greenery But with this thing Yes, the traction control light's coming on but we're applying 1000Nm of torque to damp silt on a tight mountain pass But it feeds it in and it feeds it out depending on how much almost invisible assistance you need Look at that Riding a bed of torque And I would say as much as this thing sounds like it's revving quite hard up towards 7500rpm this thing is screaming for something that has Listen to that! Goodness Christ! For something that has been subject to new road rules and regulations which effectively bung the fuel particulate filter up the back end of the tailpipe subduing the V12 undertones that you paid for I think Aston have done a wonderful job of acoustically profiling the interior sound And this is something that I think often gets overlooked We are a victim of going That sounds great! Exhaust tone, sounds great from the outside But actually if you think about this cars that sound great from the outside are brilliant for people who haven't paid for it What you actually want is the sound on the inside for the person who has forked out over 300 grand for what this Super GT will end up being on the road at before options Now, as I'm sure you could tell that road surface back there was beyond suboptimal it was skipping along like jet ski on a wave and yet, even though you could hear it getting light over those crests whoever, I really hope whoever's been involved in the electronic calibration of this car is watching this because you are unsung heroes of bending power That should not have been as composed as it was over there A DBS of years gone by full throttle which I was just then over that surface would have put me into the olive groves Just composure sensational Now it's still running the new 6-axis of yaw detection Bilstein DTX suspension. Now this stuff's hyper trick even on really advanced road cars you often get 4-axis of detection which is feeding data points back to the car to keep a chassis in check This is running full race car tech 6-axis of pitch roll, yaw, feeding all of that data of momentum and slip back to the very clever electronics to then keep this chassis under composure and as such you're able to drive a big, very fast, angry long, not too heavy for it's size around about 1850kg Super GT down a road which historically I would have only felt comfortable doing that in something like a GT3 platform It is a remarkable achievement Well done Aston Martin I didn't think when I read this thing on paper that I'd be able to thread this down this road like I am doing right here Now for all of it's incredible power and ability to lean on that longer front nose under this new suspension composure double wishbone front end suspension applying all of that power down to the rear with very limited loss of power That's all very cool. Right now I'm in sports plus The magic is the Jekyll and Hyde nature of this car Where at the dial of this switch I can dial it into sports and then into GT And now, do you know what? I'm going to take it out of manual and put it into auto Now we have all 8 gears available and it is wafting along with effortless grace I mean this thing is defined by it's torque and the way that it pulls and it's easy to get caught up on horsepower but actually the acceleration that you feel is often led by torque That's the twisting effort that sort of propels you forward. RPM is more associated on the horsepower side, but momentum this thing it rides on a granite slab of torque and you feel like you're drawing on a magnetic force that is actually drawing you down the road. Now we are in a very interesting time in that this is now the generation of Aston Martin that let's face it is bringing it to the big boy manufacturers. The vantage that we recently drove this year widely acknowledged amongst the mainstream automotive media that that is now a genuine contender against a Porsche 911 Turbo S and today we sit here off the back of the recently launched Ferrari 12 Cilindri This is a direct competitor now to that car. It's more powerful than a 12 Cilindri, it's got more torque. It now has its own proprietary infotainment system and I know this shouldn't be a thing to celebrate because every other brand's had it for a very long time, but the previous generation it was Aston Martin coming to the end of its reliance on old Mercedes tech. Now they've invested heavily. We now have a touchscreen that is almost as reactive as an iPhone screen, but the subtle nuanced details that I think add up to a more holistic Aston experience subconsciously is that all of the fonts and the logos and the menus and the sub-menus and how you interact with it is now all on-brand Aston Martin experience. Now this particular spec for me personally is a little bit pipe and slippers. On the outside it's that wonderful flagship Super GT but on the inside this is specced for something that you're probably going to crush continents with and that's fine, but there is the optional extra of putting in the carbon buckets, the carbon sports seats that you can get now in both DB12 and Backbridge and that for me, I think if you were to make this a little bit more alcantara inside, the carbon sports seats which will also put your H-point, your derriere, would sit lower in the cockpit of the car that for me would really underpin what this thing is really all about. This is, outside of Valkyrie I think, this is the fastest Aston Martin that you can buy. In fact it's the fastest series production Aston Martin ever made at over 214 miles an hour. So for me, this thing with 835 horsepower, 1000 Nm of torque, this longer wheelbase more aggressive styling, I just think that you're able to configure this on the interior with an arrangement and layout that is perhaps doffing the cap to said attributes. Whereas this one, it's perhaps a little bit too relaxed until you do this. Woo-hoo-hoo! Flick of a switch, absolute animal. Now let's just talk about the transmission. So this is a more conventional automatic, sort of torque converter box. By the way, standard carbon ceramics, unbelievable, which you need because this size, this weight, this power, you need that confidence of shedding off speed. Transmission then, on the upshifts, listen to this. On the upshifts it's twin clutch fast. It really is. We are definitely on the edge of physics as to what is capable with the actuation of ratios on a torque converter automatic gearbox. Goodness Christ! However, on the downshifts, and you only find this on roads like this, from high speeds working your way down through the box, it's just a smidge lethargic. Just a smidge. And I have a funny feeling that's probably, for me, the only difference and the only benefit that you get out of the Aston fitting Aston fitting a twin clutch instead of this auto is that moments like this, when you're anchoring on scrubbing speed, working your way down through the ratios, it would gain just that synaptic connection that you sort of get out of a PDK or a twin clutch. I think what's important to remember, however, that this is a GT, this is a Grand Tourer and unless your commute to work was on an Alpine Pass, I don't think it's anything that's going to upset you, really. But if you were to drive down from the UK to the south of France, and you did it via the Route Napoleon, that's a complete offering. This is one of the strongest in the world right now. There's just one, just one letdown, and I'll show you on the side of the road. So obviously, by definition, this is a Grand Tourer and if you're going to tour grandly, you would want a suitable boot. For me, that just doesn't cut it. I don't know, I think, so there's our two bags, and these are backpacks, right, so they're not sort of carry-ons. There's the back of the boot, just for a spot of context, right? I mean, you're doing a weekend away, no problem, it's just not the size boot that I expected to see in what is quite a big car. Seamless transition, other than the boot, and I guess let's remember, there's only going to be two of you in this car at one time. They've done away with the back seats, that's no longer an option like it was in previous generations of DBS gone by. This is just space, so there is extra room in the back. Took a few bags, and I think you might find a degree of compromise in this car, but from a driving dynamics point of view, power, energy, confidence, drivability, you know, there's no point having 835 horsepower and 1000 Nm of torque if you can't use it, if you can't experience it. I'm mildly intimidated by it as well, which is really important. Are you ready? Goodness gracious me, you should have to take a different licence for this thing. Oh, I love it, I love it, I love it. So what you didn't see there was, just through that damp patch, it all of a sudden flashed up on the dash that it was keeping this thing in check, but you wouldn't have known, and that's the really important and impressive thing. It feeds the power in and out, it doesn't cut it, and as a result you're just being able to get so much more out of this car for it, and it's removing the frustrations of the old school calibration. This is now grade A, top tier, full fat, proper big boy stuff.