2025 Aston Martin Vanquish Volante First Drive Review: Not For the Faint of Heart

2025 Aston Martin Vanquish Volante First Drive Review: Not For the Faint of Heart originally appeared on Autoblog.

A double-edged experience

Driving the 2025 Aston Martin Vanquish Volante can be a religious experience. Not because it helps you find a god, but because it makes you hope there is one, with an awaiting cozy afterlife, because 823 horsepower will quickly make you realize how fragile life is. But then, you dial back the performance settings, ease up on your right foot, and the drop-top Vanquish becomes one of the most docile, relaxing cruisers there is. I’ve never experienced such duality. I’ve also never experienced a convertible so delightfully terrifying.

The Vanquish Volante is Aston’s newest flagship, as part of new CEO Adrian Hallmark’s plan to turn the legendary British brand into a “high-performance business.” The recipe is pretty typical Aston, though: cut the roof off of its big V12 GT car. The Brits have been doing it for decades. However, the engineers in Gaydon didn’t just take a sawzall to the roof and head off for a cuppa. The Vanquish Volante has been thoroughly thought out, with attention given to every last detail, to make sure it’s the most capable, comfortable, and shockingly fast convertible GT the brand has ever built.

The V12 dominates the experience

With 823 horsepower and earth-twisting 738 lb-ft of torque, the Vanquish Volante’s 5.2-liter twin-turbo V12 isn’t any less powerful than the coupe’s. Aston also claims that the Coupe’s 214 mph top speed is representative of the Volante. And, yes, it will do 214 mph even with the roof down. I asked. But specs on a piece of paper are just the beginning. That V12 dominates the entire driving experience. Not that the rest of the car isn’t good—it’s fantastic, but I’ll get to that in a minute—but the Aston Martin V12 is one of the most vocal, thrilling engines I’ve ever used.

It barks to life, after that long whirring starter motor noise so many V12s have, and immediately makes its presence known to everyone in a two-block radius. It’s loud. But not harsh. Even during a cold start, it sounds powerful and exotic, but sophisticated, and it’s never brash. It might wake your neighbors in the morning, but they’ll be happy about it.

Stomp the gas pedal and… I actually don’t know because I never had the courage to do so. Aston Martin had us drive the drop-top monster from Manhattan to Lake Tiorati in Sloatsburg, New York, and back. While much of the route was filled with twisty backroads for testing the Vanquish’s handling, there were a few straights that tempted me to prod the engine a bit. But it’s so violently, explosively powerful that only a few seconds of half-throttle acceleration put me into license-losing territory. Once the V12 revs past 3,000 rpm, the scenery blurs and your chest caves in, as the Vanquish devours pavement at an almost terrifying pace.

The Vanquish isn’t just a bomb with a canvas roof, though. Point its seemingly endless nose towards a corner, and it responds so much sharper than its looks suggest. From the outside, it looks like it’ll be front-heavy, understeer-prone, and a bit clumsy through corners. It’s just so long. However, it really does shrink once you start slicing through S-bends.

Massive Pirelli P Zero PZ4 tires provide immense grip, and Aston’s chassis, suspension, and steering tuning are near perfect. It darts sharply on turn-in, with well-weighted but slower than expected steering (a welcome change from the hyper-fast steering of its Italian competitors), and its chassis responds beautifully. Aston Martin Vehicle Attribute & Performance Director Simon Newton told us that the brand’s cars are supposed to breathe with the road, and the Vanquish Volante does just that. It always stays planted, never gets too upset by mid-corner bumps, but always feels supple and comfortable.  It might look like a big cruiser, but it moves like a supercar when you ask it to.

This monster knows how to chill

It’s baffling that the Vanquish can relax as well as it can, after storming through twisty back roads like a supercar. When you’re on it, in either Sport or Sport+ modes, the Vanquish feels like it wants to attack the road as quickly as it possibly can. But once you dial it back to GT mode, with the beautifully weighted, expensive-feeling drive select knob, the car completely calms down. It soaks up bumps beautifully and can even make Manhattan potholes almost disappear.

The Vanquish eschews any sort of adjustable air suspension for fixed-height electronically controlled Bilstein DTX semi-active adaptive dampers, and they feel like the sort of dampers you’d find on a $600,000 car. Even at… let’s say highway speeds, the Vanquish feels like it’s suction-cupped to the pavement while always maintaining its comfort. Outside of something like a McLaren, and its very clever cross-linked hydraulic dampers, I don’t think I’ve ever driven something with such a perfect blend of comfort and capability.

Even the psychopathic engine knows how to chill out. In GT mode, it’s remarkably tractable, with a throttle pedal that's easy to modulate without teleporting the big Aston forward. And when cruising in eighth gear, at under 2,000 rpm, it’s whisper quiet. There are two exhaust systems available to customers: a stainless steel setup or a titanium one. According to Newton, the titanium exhaust not only shaves about 15 pounds off the curb weight, but it also creates a higher-pitched, more aggressive sound. My test car had the titanium system and, even with its sharper pitch, it keeps quiet when you want it to.

It’s a looker, but get the right color

Breaking news: an Aston Martin is good-looking. While it should come as no surprise that Aston’s flagship convertible is a looker, it’s still eye-opening in person. The Vanquish Volante is pretty in photos, but it’s a stunning machine when you actually get up close and can admire its details. Its long, lean body is full of curves, muscular haunches, and perfectly executed body lines. I didn’t think I was going to like the “shield” on its rear end, but it made a believer out of me up close, especially the way it works with the three-dimensional taillights. The Vanquish’s best angles are all from behind, where it looks both elegant and aggressive.

However, I strongly recommend spec’ing a lighter color. My test car’s very dark Chimera Blue paint completely hid all of the car’s gorgeous body lines, making it look like a shadowy surfboard from a distance. However, Aston also had a Satin Aluminite Silver car on hand, and it was breathtaking. Apparently, silver has long been the most popular Aston Martin color, but it’s now becoming green, due to the F1 team’s growing popularity. Branding works, people.

It feels as expensive as it is

When you sit in a half-million-dollar GT car, you expect a damn nice interior. The Vanquish doesn’t disappoint. Its seats are beautifully sculpted and hug tightly while always feeling comfy. Almost every material you can touch is either leather, metal, wood, or carbon fiber, depending on your spec. There are a few pieces of piano black plastic, which is disappointing in such an expensive car, but everything else is so beautifully well-made that it’s forgiven. Every switch, knob, and roller feels heavy and expensive, especially the lovely fan and temperature rollers.

My only nitpicky complaint is that the roofline is so low that even my extremely average 5’9” frame felt a little too tall inside. It doesn’t matter with the roof down, obviously, but with the roof up, it felt a little bit claustrophobic. However, that’s the price to pay for a gorgeous-looking roofline.

With the top up, sound insulation is good but not great, as the engine can drone a little at speed. It’s like the roof catches the perfect resonance to just bother the ears at speed. But with the top down, wind noise is kept in check surprisingly well, and I was able to have a conversation at highway speeds, even with the windows down.

The cost

Sticker shock isn’t real for people who buy Aston Martins. If you can afford to even walk into one of the brand’s Q customization stations, you aren’t worried about what the final cost will be once you’re done. However, I’m not such a person, so my test car’s $604,400 price tag made me audibly gasp. That officially makes it the most expensive car I’ve ever tested. Not by much, but still.

Do customers at this price point care much about value? Not really. They buy cars like the Vanquish Volante not because they’re good value but because they simply want them. Still, when you’re snug in one of the Vanquish’s wonderful thrones, you can see and feel where the money went. It isn’t only a gorgeously made vehicle, but it’s one of the most dynamically impressive cars I’ve ever driven.

The competition

The Vanquish Volante's most natural competitors are the Ferrari 12Cilindri Spyder and the Bentley Continental GT, as both are extremely expensive, V12-powered grand tourers. However, the Ferrari is a bit more manic, so the Bentley is its closest competitor. I’ve never driven a Continental GT, so I can’t comment on how the two compare, but the Aston has a bit more wow-factor, in terms of looks and noise.

There are a couple of other fringe competitors, too, like the Maserati GranCabrio and Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet. However, while both are excellent in their own ways, neither has the levels of luxury that the Aston has.

At this price point, customers likely don’t do a lot of cross-shopping. They buy an Aston Martin Vanquish Volante because its looks, alluring V12, and stellar interior convince them to, not because they think it’s the best value among its other half-million-dollar competition.

Final thoughts

I always laugh when people ask how an Aston Martin is. What am I supposed to say, “It’s good?” It’s a $604,400 grand touring car built by one of the most legendary automakers in history. Of course, it’s good. But the Vanquish Volante exceeded even those lofty expectations. Its duality is astonishing, and I’m not sure I’ve ever driven a GT car that was so good at both sporty driving and comfortably cruising. Usually, they’re better at one than the other, but the Vanquish is equally astonishing at both.

With alarming speed that’s accompanied by a thrilling noise and supercar-like dance moves combined with continent-crossing cruising ability, the Vanquish Volante is the ultimate grand tourer. But if you want to use most of that power, be prepared: it isn’t for the faint of heart.

2025 Aston Martin Vanquish Volante First Drive Review: Not For the Faint of Heart first appeared on Autoblog on Jul 29, 2025

This story was originally reported by Autoblog on Jul 29, 2025, where it first appeared.