First Drive: Aston Martin Virage Volante
Sorry Mr. Bond, this drop-top we are not returning anytime soon
By Dan Trent - Teamspeed Contributing Editor

What is it?
Droptop version of Aston’s latest DB9 derivative
Why should I care?
More butch than a DB9, more classy than a DBS – is this the perfect blend?
How fast and how much?
5,935cc V12, 497ps (490bhp) @6,500rpm, 0-62mph 4.6sec, vmax 183mph, MSRP $224,995

The Aston Martin Virage Volante is an out and out feelgood car. It’s not the quickest soft top in the world. The DB9 it’s based on isn’t the newest or freshest either. Neither matters. This is a car you’ll pause and look over your shoulder at as you walk away, the reassuring weight of that glass ‘key’ in your pocket. Aston Martin rather pretentiously insists on calling it an ‘emotional control unit’ but, you know, they might have a point after all.

You might have thought there wasn’t much potential left to wring out of the DB9 platform but the Virage is a response to customer demand for something a bit more potent than the regular car but perhaps a little more restrained in looks than the Bond-spec DBS. One-77 inspired styling smoothes out the lines a little while injecting just a tad more attitude thanks to more aggressive side skirts and new side strakes with six LEDs each – one for each cylinder – on the fenders.

In pretty much every respect then the $209,995 Virage, tested here in $224,995 Volante form, is pitched exactly halfway between DB9 and DBS. Price, power, performance – yup, pick a point halfway along the graph and there you have it.

To put some numbers to that claim the familiar 6.0-litre V12 has been tickled to 497ps (490hp) from 477ps (470bhp) in the DB9 but short of the DBS’s 517ps (510bhp). Interestingly the DB9 has more torque – 443lb ft – than the 420lb ft in both the Virage and DBS but the performance reinforces the hierarchy and the DBS remains the quickest of the three, if only by tenth here or there.

Unlike the other two there’s no manual option for the Virage but few buyers are likely to complain about that, the transaxle-mounted six-speed ZF ‘Touchtronic II’ auto typically slick and with a decent paddle-operated manual override. Interestingly, like the automated manual in the Vantage, the transmission defaults to the manual mode, subtly hinting that this is a car to be driven.

Standard CCM ceramic brake discs are another Virage standard feature, the interior gaining a few small but welcome upgrades including classy glass buttons for the gearbox controls and a new – and much improved – Garmin nav system in place of the Volvo-donated system of old. Piece by piece the Ford parts-bin switchgear is being replaced, making the Virage interior perhaps the classiest and most up to date of the three DB9 derivatives.

It’s a truly wonderful place to be too, opulent and stylish while indisputably sporty and characterful. Indeed, it’s hard to think of any rival that can touch Aston for its interiors and this is the kind of car you’d feel bad about dressing down to drive. Style oozes from every inch, inside and out, and you feel honor and duty bound not to let the side down. Especially in this Volante version – roof down there’s no hiding!

Adaptive Damping System (ADS) suspension with a Sport mode is also on the standard equipment list, each mode offering five different damping ‘maps’ from which the ECU picks and chooses according to feedback from the sensors. In all honesty you’ll rarely find need for the stiffer setting, the standard one seemingly a perfectly pitched combination of poise and comfort. Though better than most there is still a small amount of body shake in the Volante too, the stiffer suspension setting simply highlighting the fact.

This isn’t a car for squeezing tenths off your laptime though. It’s a car for looking good and telling the world you’re a driver of style and substance. The Volante perhaps sacrifices a little of the coupe’s smooth lines and structural integrity for open air thrills but the choice is yours and, either way, you’ll be perhaps enjoying the most rounded and balanced DB9-based Aston yet. Halfway house or not, Aston Martin would appear to have hit the sweet spot.

 

Great write up!

 

stunning

 

She so purrdy!

 

amazing write up, love the pics as well..

 

Gorgeous car!!! WANT!

Great writeup

 

Quick pricing correction added to the OP, sorry for any confusion!

 

Thank you old friend!!!

 

Clean...so freakin CLEAN this car is...looks are just so much above those of a DB9...still doesnt touch a DBS however...

 

Haha, I guess the Virage falls under the "it grew on me" category, because I remember many of u saying this was a pointless 911-ish move by Aston to make it.

Don't get me wrong, I thought that this was a rather pointless car also, but honestly, watching James May hate it, made me love it, oddly enough.