AutoAston Martin DB12 Volante first drive: topless tourer goes like a supercarCoupe or convertible? Aston’s muscular DB12 gets the Volante treatment in time for summerWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
AutoAston Martin DB12 Volante first drive: topless tourer goes like a supercarCoupe or convertible? Aston’s muscular DB12 gets the Volante treatment in time for summerWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Coupe or convertible? Aston’s muscular DB12 gets the Volante treatment in time for summer
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Aston Martin)
(Image credit: Aston Martin)
Some cars need explaining – their means of propulsion, where they sit in the market, their price, their very reason for being – while others, well, don’t. Today I’m driving the latter, because when you see ‘Aston Martin DB12 Volante’ you know exactly what you’re in for.
This is of course the convertible version of Aston’s latest DB. It goes just like theDB12 coupe(that is to say, it is significantly more potent than its DB11 successor), and looks very similar too, albeit with some canvas where the roof used to be.
Taking a can opener to the DB12 has resulted in some weight gain, to the tune of about 110 kg. That’s quite a lot, and means the Volante with a driver and passenger tips the scales at near-as-dammit two tonnes. The heavy batteries and bulky bodywork of EVs is getting us all used to two-tonners, but it’s still a surprise to see such a figure next to a two-door convertible Aston with rear seats only suitable for small children, and mediocre boot space.
Goes like a supercar
(Image credit: Aston Martin)
(Image credit: Aston Martin)
That last bit is crucial for the DB12 Volante, since it has the same Mercedes-sourced twin-turbocharged, 4.0-litre V8 engine as the coupe, producing the same 680 PS (671 horsepower) and 800 Nm (590 ft-lbs) of torque. These are massive figures. The DB12 produces 143 hp more than the DB11 and Aston is keen to stress how dynamic the ‘12 can be. No longer is it a grand tourer built only for trips to the golf club. Instead it’s the most powerful convertible V8 GT on sale, and could even sit between Ferrari’s Roma and 812.
Instead of the folding metal hard top of the convertible 812, the DB12 Volante has a Roma-like fabric roof that uses what Aston calls a ‘K-fold’ mechanism, owing to its shape. The roof opens in 14 seconds and closes in 16, both with the press of a button in the centre console, and it’ll do so while driving at up to 31 mph.
The roof tucks away into a compartment in the boot robbing the Aston of some storage space, but leaving enough for a couple of small, soft bags. Your remaining luggage can always travel on the back seats, unless you’ve already got two kids installed there.
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(Image credit: Aston Martin)
(Image credit: Aston Martin)
You won’t be surprised to learn it’s perhaps not the right car for a family weekend away. But it’ll see you to the golf club just fine, or to the South of France if there’s only the two of you, and the occasional school run would be a breeze.
A wind deflector is available, mounted in the usual fashion at shoulder height across the rear seats thus making them redundant. The car I drove had this fitted and aside from the od squeak and rattle from its mounting points it seemed to work very well, with buffeting and wind noise kept to a minimum.
An improved soundtrack
(Image credit: Aston Martin)
(Image credit: Aston Martin)
Sport Plus also speeds up the gear shifts and is really only suitable when you’re driving, erm, appropriately. This mode also makes the suspension too firm for British roads, so you’re best going for Sport, then prodding a pair of buttons to turn the exhaust up to Sport Plus and dialling the suspension back to Comfort.
Interior tech
(Image credit: Aston Martin)
(Image credit: Aston Martin)
It all works very well indeed and serves as a stark reminder that physical switchgear is safer and more convenient to use – especially in a new and unfamiliar car – than touchscreens and voice assistants. Long may Aston’s approach continue.
What else? It’s worth saying again how bombastically quick the DB12 really is. The Volante reaches 62 mph in 3.7 seconds, just a tenth behind the heavier coupe, and the top speed is the same, at 202 mph. The thrust from walking pace to the speed limit really is extraordinary, but it’s delivered with utmost composure.
(Image credit: Aston Martin)
(Image credit: Aston Martin)
Put the roof up, as the early arrival of some April showers forced me to, and the cabin is perfectly refined for a soft top. You still know you’re not in a coupe, but only just, and the 15-speaker Bowers & Wilkins sound system is as impressive as ever.
So too is the DB12’s design. It’s a truly beautiful thing, made even more so with the lack of a roof. The pale metallic blue car I drove made a fine argument of bucking against the green or silver trend, although I’d worry about specifying the white interior on a car intended to be used daily. Regardless, it still garnered a near-constant supply of smiles, pointed fingers and admiring glances during my two-hour drive through the Cotswolds – something Astons manage with more dignity than many other two hundred grand supercars.
Coupe or convertible?
(Image credit: Aston Martin)
(Image credit: Aston Martin)
The ultimate question is, should you go for the coupe or the convertible? Either DB12 is unlikely to be the buyer’s only car, which makes me side with the convertible, since it might well be your only soft-top. We’re an optimistic bunch in the UK and buy far more convertibles than our weather suggests we might, so it has that going for it too.
If you truly want to daily-drive your DB12, the coupe’s refinement and extra boot space make it the winner. But for all other circumstances you’re going to want the Volante.
Priced from £203,000, the Aston Martin DB12 Volante is available now.
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