2025 Aston Martin Vanquish First Drive: Finally, a Flawless Flagship?
Beauty is more than skin deep in the 824-hp, V-12-powered super coupe.
Some cars are just gorgeous. Aston Martin built a brand around elegance and kindled it with V-12 power. And while the world is fixated on electric vehicles, the British brand bucks the trend with the launch of the 2025 Aston Martin Vanquish, a two-seat grand tourer with a new twin-turbo V-12 under the long and lovely hood.
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And we could not wait to drive it. So off to the mountainous and coastal roads of Sardinia, Italy, we went for a day of driving like royalty in a vehicle with a sonorous soundtrack that is becoming increasing rare in the automotive world.
Some back story: This is the third generation of the Vanquish, the brand’s flagship that was first introduced in 2001 and was featured in the 2002 James Bond movie Die Another Day. The last of the second generation Vanquishes rolled off the line in 2018. In 2017, Aston showed a Vanquish concept as a mid-engine car but management at the time did not want, and could not afford, a mid-engine below the Valhalla so the idea got the kibash. Plans for an electric car were also changed.
The third-generation Vanquish is a front-engine, rear-wheel drive cruiser with an aluminum structure, low roofline, and signature side strake. Designers made this beauty longer, wider, and with a larger grille to give it more presence. It has a longer wheelbase and front overhang but shorter nose and chopped off rear with four exhausts. The carbon fiber shield on the back can be body color or contrast.
The automaker did not want to follow the past practice of working off the DB11/DB12, putting the two-seater on top of the 2+2 in the lineup. And it was never going to be a DBS. The new flagship was to soar on its own, riding on a dedicated platform.
Crazy Decision to Make a New V-12
The special sauce is the 5.2-liter twin-turbo V-12 that snorts out 824 horsepower with 738 lb-ft of torque, distributed via a ZF eight-speed automatic transmission, achieving a top speed of 214 mph. The team knew they needed a big leap in power to exceed today’s powerful V-8s, but it had to meet the latest emissions regulations globally.
Aston Martin made the bold investment decision to redo the V-12, convinced there is a resurgent demand for a V-12 that will continue through the end of the decade. Yes, it is the same 5.2-liter displacement, but it was completely redone to meet the power and emissions goals, says Simon Newton, director, vehicle performance. The air flow through the turbos spins 15 percent faster and when the spark comes in, the flame is cleaner for both power and emissions. There is more airflow through the front grille than the DBS.
Ian Whelan, head of Mechanical Development Testing, says the engine in the DBS was the starting point, but it took five years and a lot of effort to create a bespoke version with higher energy for the Vanquish. All the major components and most of the internal workings are new with significant design changes to the cylinder heads and new intake and exhaust ports. They looked at direct injection but decided they could meet their targets with port injection.
The power and torque curves have a greater sense of crescendo with a 10 percent higher torque peak than in the DBS. And while the DBS could be challenging in wet conditions, engineers wanted the Vanquish to provide a confident and comfortable ride for all drivers in all conditions. We experienced wet roads and while there was wheel hop on hard acceleration, after the initial response the torque is delivered carefully through the first six years in GT mode. Throw it into Sport or Sport+ and the car delivers full torque all the time.
Soundtrack of the Gods
Is there anything quite like the sound of a V-12? You cannot help but smile, especially hearing the delicious burps and burbles—no cackling—on the downshifts. The amazing soundtrack is loud enough to be enjoyed but not so loud that you would tire of it on a long drive. Optional titanium exhaust emits a shriller shriek at 6,000 rpm; the standard sound has more bass. We had the titanium exhaust and it made us reluctant to turn on the Bowers & Wilkins audio system, preferring the exhaust notes.
The Vanquish is a leashed beast dynamically. Aston wanted a direct connection to the front wheels to make the large car more agile through the chassis and an electronic rear limited slip differential engineered to manage wheel slip and provide greater agility in cornering. It is most evident in the stability and composure the car exhibited through fast sweeping curves.
Steering is excellent with great on-center feel. The slightest input is transferred immediately to the wheels, a welcome reprieve from so many cars today that feel numb. Perfect for a day of unlimited curves. Yes, it is a very large car, noticeable on some of the narrow roads through little villages on the island of Sardinia, but it felt quite nimble on the twisties. The chassis is a lot stiffer than the old DBS and most of the mass is between the axles to give it a shorter car feel.
The goal was a super GT with low-speed agility and high-speed stability. GT mode provides comfortable highway cruising. Sport and Sports Plus bring on full power faster and everything becomes more aggressive: acceleration, shifting, engine sounds. There is not a lot of downforce car because it was not meant to be a track car, but there is a Track mode, and you can turn ESP off completely.
The active exhaust only makes a difference in GT mode but that is where the Vanquish wants to live most of the time, with Sport and Sports Plus for when you really want to get on it.
Key to Comfortable Cruising
Gear shifts are smooth with a transmission perfectly calibrated. If you want manual shifting, the paddles are metal and heavy to engage, a light tap does not do it. But it reacts quickly to a deliberate push or pull.
The Vanquish has Bilstein shocks for damping, with less base damping for low-speed comfortable cruising. We can attest to the fact that it would be comfortable daily driver, with a suspension that glides over pavement imperfections. You hear the road beneath you, but barely feel it. The Pirelli P Zero bespoke tires, with additional damping and noise cancellation, proved fairly grippy with wet roads for much of the drive. Hard acceleration resulted in some wheel hop, but Wet mode helped settle the car on winding roads in misty and foggy conditions.
The carbon ceramic brakes take a few minutes to warm up and require a bit of effort to push the pedal deep, but the result is confident and satisfying stopping power with no harsh bite or grabbing. There is little nosedive in an emergency stop.
The preproduction cars we drove did not have cruise control or lane-keep assist enabled so we could not evaluate these features.
More Elegance Inside
Appreciation for a sill that does not impede the ability to get in and out easily. Inside the cabin was redesigned to be more open, with a lower center console and a modest and discrete 10.3-inch touchscreen, as well as hard buttons for many functions. There is also a 10.3-inch driver display.
Our evaluation vehicle had a dark gray and black interior with suede pillars and headliner, lots of carbon fiber on the door and dash, with black leather and metal trim, and a classy button with the brand logo for start/stop and to dial up the different drive modes. The gearshift is also in the center console and slides forward like an airplane throttle. There are toggle switches for climate control and more buttons for stability control, the exhaust boost, auto hold, parking assist, and the heated seats. One conspicuously missing button: volume control. You can use the steering wheel toggle or the touchscreen.
The quilted, perforated leather sport seats are comfortable and easy to adjust to a good seating position via the controls to the right of your knee on the side of the center console. Behind the seat is just enough room for a purse and briefcase.
The Vanquish is the fourth model to get the infotainment system that Aston Martin created inhouse, from scratch. It is compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. There ae USB ports and a phone charger in the covered center console, along with a slot for the key fob and a power outlet.
Limited Production and Sold Out
To make it more exclusive, Aston is capping production at 1,000 Vanquishes a year globally, of which about a third will go to North America and a third is earmarked for Europe including 15 percent for the United Kingdom. That is half the production of the DBS.
The Vanquish will have a lifecycle of at least five years. Post-2030, the company needs to see what the legislative climate is. “We will build the V-12 as long as we can,” says Aston Martin director of product and market strategy Alex Long.
Production has begun, with the first deliveries expected by the end of the year. Starting price is $434,000 and it comes pretty much loaded. There are no additional trim levels, and the few options include titanium exhaust, a carbon fiber Performance seat, and a carbon roof instead of glass.
The Vanquish is sold out deep into 2025 and about 65 percent of the preorders are using bespoke customization through Q by Aston Martin.
There are no plans for a Vanquish S as in past generations, Long says. Aston came out with segment-topping power and full-blooded specs from day one so there is no need for a variant with greater performance. There is no desire to make it any stiffer which would add a harshness that the company does not want for this cruiser.
But expect a convertible in a few years. The Vanquish was designed with capability and a stiff chassis to serve as a solid base for a Volante. With the DB12, there was a 40 percent take rate for the convertible in North America, Long says.
The Aston Martin Vanquish does what it was designed to do: look beautiful and attract attention. People gawked and admired. We got cat calls, and one man almost fell out of his van craning to get a better look as we drove by. The goal was a comfortable and agile cruiser with the power to pin your ears to the back of your seat if you gun it, all enjoyed from inside a sumptuous and relaxed interior. Check. Check. Check.
Alisa Priddle joined MotorTrend in 2016 as the Detroit Editor. A Canadian, she received her Bachelor of Journalism degree from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, and has been a reporter for 40 years, most of it covering the auto industry because there is no more fascinating arena to cover. It has it all: the vehicles, the people, the plants, the competition, the drama. Alisa has had a wonderfully varied work history as a reporter for four daily newspapers including the Detroit Free Press where she was auto editor, and the Detroit News where she covered the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies, as well as auto trade publication Wards, and two enthusiast magazines: Car & Driver and now MotorTrend. At MotorTrend Alisa is a judge for the MotorTrend Car, Truck, SUV and Person of the Year. She loves seeing a new model for the first time, driving it for the first time, and grilling executives for the stories behind them. In her spare time, she loves to swim, boat, sauna, and then jump into a cold lake or pile of snow.
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