Aston Martin Vanquish Volante joins the drop-top party

It must be lovely being Marek Reichman. His first full Aston Martin project as Gaydon’s head of design was the four-door Rapide. He therefore took a picture of a DB9 and used Photoshop’s ‘stretch’ function. For the DBS he slapped a DBS badge on the back. For the Vanquish he ordered even more new badges.

And now he’s discovered the ‘cut’ tool in Photoshop, because the latest Aston Martin is a Vanquish drop-top. They pay him a lot to do this sort of thing.

For its newest Volante, Aston Martin used a full-height windscreen, which means the glass seamlessly runs up to meet the fabric roof for a cleaner transition, and inside a smattering of carbon fibre meets plenty of full-grain Luxmil leather for a luxurious cabin.

Gaydon also claims a cargo compartment that’s 50 per cent bigger than in the previous DBS Volante, measuring 279 litres for a proper GT continent-crushing experience. Now you can bring more than just a change of socks with you when you travel.

Near perfect 51:49 front-to-rear weight distribution, a sporty tuned six-speed automatic transmission and a 14 per cent increase in torsional stiffness over its predecessor should ensure sprightly performance off the highway as well.

Add to that the new Dynamic Stability Control and Positive Torque Control systems, plus Aston Martin’s Adaptive Damping System, which lets you switch between three damping modes: Normal, Sport and Track, delivering instant adjustment of the car’s ride and handling characteristics.

As for the steering, it’s a quick-ish 15:1 ratio, or 2.6 turns lock-to-lock, while the brakes come from Brembo’s carbon ceramic catalogue measuring 398mm up front and 360mm at the back.