Why I am not excited about the new Aston Martin Vanquish

Eleven years ago, Aston Martin launched the Vanquish. Back then, the legendary car maker was owned by Ford and was on a resurgence that started with the flawed but achingly beautiful DB7. 

The shape, penned by Ian Callum, was an evolution of the design language set by the DB7, but the Vanquish was more masculine, with a unique grille and pumped-up fenders giving it a wide, squat stance. It was unmistakably a different model that moved the game on from the DB7. Construction was also cutting edge, employing aluminum sections bonded and riveted around a central carbonfibre transmission tunnel. 

The new Aston Martin V12 Vanquish 2012

The Ferrari 550M/575M were the main rivals to the Vanquish and while these Ferraris were triumphant in handling, they lost out in terms of looks, engine and overall character. The arrival of the Vanquish was Aston Martin demonstrating to the world that they were a world class player when it came to making supercars.

Fast-forward five years after the last Vanquish rolled of the production line and Aston Martin has revealed a successor. But why am I not excited?

You see, in my opinion the new Vanquish is very much a face-lifted and re-engineered DBS, which in turn is a more hardcore DB9. That may not have been a bad thing if the new Vanquish could repeat the feat of its predecessors by challenging the modern day version of its ancestor’s rivals. Unfortunately it can’t.

Where the S version of the old Vanquish made 520hp from its 6.0-litre V12 and could hit a top speed of over 200mph, the new model has to ‘make do’ with 565hp and a top speed of, wait for it, 183mph from an upgraded version of the old cars V12 – 200mph is the entry requirements now to the supercar club, Aston Martin. That is 6mph higher than a Porsche 911 Carrera S – a car less than half its price - and approximately 20mph down on its predecessor.

The case is even worse when lined-up against the Ferrari F12. The F12 makes 730hp from a 6.3-litre V12 and tops out at 211mph. Even more embarrassing for the Vanquish is that the F12 has a full second advantage from 0-60mph (3.1 seconds versus 4.1) and you know that the difference will only get wider from there.

Even the recently unveiled Bentley Continental GT Speed is way more powerful at 625hp, manages a 0-60mph time a tenth quicker at 4.0 seconds and still tops 205mph while being £40,000 cheaper and able to carry four passengers in comfort. In fact, all of its front-engine GT rivals (including the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT) are all more powerful with much higher performance figures. It cannot even claim to be a bargain because with the exception of the far more powerful F12, all its rivals are cheaper.

Maybe an argument could be made in favour of the looks. Some will argue that Ian Callum has designed a winning shape and Aston Martin should not mess with it but if we all criticise Porsche for not shaking up the design of the 911, then why should we give Aston Martin a free pass? Is it because they are a British marque?

What do you think of the new Aston Martin Vanquish?

Eldred Green
Twitter: @sixtronicblog