2026 Vanquish Volante Drive: The Aston Martin of Aston Martins
The aristocratic automaker’s grandest grand tourer, in open-top form.
Posh, high-performance coupes and convertibles have long been Aston Martin’s stock in trade. Modern Aston Martin’s pursuit of growth—part of its quest for profitability—has seen the brand expand into sports cars, supercars, SUVs, and ultra-low-production variants thereof. But ultrafast, ultraluxe, and ultralovely grand touring coupes and convertibles remain at the brand’s core. Cars like the new Vanquish, which arrived last fall as a stunning coupe, and now the Vanquish Volante, its open-top counterpart. Both stand as the ultimate expression of Aston Martin–ness.
That means the Vanquish occupies a loftier perch than the thematically similar DB12, which also is available in Volante form. Differences versus its penultimate sibling can be summarized as: size, style, and motivation. Befitting its status, the Vanquish is the most grandly proportioned of Aston Martin’s grand tourers. It is 6.5 inches longer overall, and its wheelbase extends 3.1 inches inches further than the DB12’s. All of that extra wheelbase is situated between the base of the windshield and the front axle, as the front of the car effectively stretches forward, a visual totem of the Vanquish’s other great differentiator: its V-12 engine, which nestles entirely behind the front axle.
The twin-turbocharged 5.2-liter V-12 is a fresh design, even as this engine configuration dwindles to a tiny dot in the firmament of modern powertrains. But it burns more brightly than ever, boasting 64 more horses than Aston’s last V-12, its 823 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque sent rearward to an eight-speed ZF transaxle, which incorporates an electronic differential. Unleashing that much thrust on public roads (particularly in the crowded environs of New York City) is a challenge, and for a while, we’re only able to delve partway into the accelerator’s long travel. After crossing the Hudson, we succumb to brief bursts on the Palisades Parkway. They reveal a ferociously reactive powertrain that lets loose a refined roar when provoked. We flap the paddles to extend the music, which is more vocal in Sport than in the standard GT mode, although you can also switch to the louder exhaust mode via a button on the center console.
Far outside the city at last, we’re able to give the Vanquish Volante more leash. The ZF gearbox—a torque-converter automatic rather than a dual-clutch—manages to be both ultraquick and supersmooth. Powering out of corners or pummeling empty straights, the V-12 just pulls and pulls, with tremendous torque across a wide band—max grunt is available from 2500 rpm. Even at go-directly-to-jail speeds, there’s still so much more. Aston claims a top speed of 214 mph.
Carbon-ceramic brakes, which were optional on the DBS, are standard on the Vanquish. With just one set of hardware to tune for, Aston’s engineers were able to dial in fantastic brake-pedal action that responds more to pressure than to travel and yet doesn’t feel overly touchy. It perfectly complements the accelerator-pedal effort and even the steering heft, creating harmony among the major controls.
There are four drive modes—GT, Sport, Sport+, and Wet—as well as an Individual setting to mix and match from among them. But the changes they effect are subtle. In any mode, the steering remains perfectly weighted and more relaxed than darty. The Aston Martin–blend Pirelli P Zero PZ4s (275/35ZR-21 front, 325/30ZR-21 rear) are certainly low-profile, and yet this Aston never feels harsh, even over broken pavement—of which we encountered plenty in our drive from midtown Manhattan out to the hinterlands and back. The Vanquish is utterly composed over lumpy, twisting two-lanes tackled at extralegal speeds, the chassis tuning allowing enough compliance to keep from upsetting the car. This is a grand tourer, not a racer.
Simon Newton, Aston’s director of vehicle performance, says that the convertible was developed alongside the coupe, and that they aimed to deliver the same driving performance between the two. They adjusted for the slight weight difference (Aston says the Volante is about 200 pounds heavier with a claimed 50/50 weight distribution) by increasing the rear spring rates and front anti-roll-bar stiffness each by 7 percent. On the subject of stiffness, the convertible adds a structural crossbrace behind the front seats, and there’s extra structure across the top of the rear suspension and in the sills.