Magnificently engineered for more than just the cruisers
Aston Martin entered a new era with its DB11. It stayed true to some elements of its traditional design but broke away in others.
It also marked the start of the iconic British car maker’s partnership with Mercedes-AMG, which paid dividends with components that had historically not been great such as the infotainment system.
Not surprisingly, the company has followed up the coupe with the convertible version, or Volante in Aston speak.
It is possibly even better looking than the coupe, with beautiful design that blends the latest design with some classic elements. For the boulevard cruisers this will be enough, but it also needs to be a driver’s car and the company says it has put a great deal of effort into ensuring it will satisfy the enthusiast.
“The challenge of creating a convertible car is retaining structural and dynamic integrity,” says Max Szwai, Aston Martin chief technical officer.
“To protect the former you need strength and rigidity, but to preserve the latter you need to keep weight to a minimum. With the DB11 Volante we have maximised the advantages of the DB11’s all-new bonded structure to underpin our new Volante with a structure that’s 26kg lighter and 5% stiffer than its predecessor,” says Szwai.
The result is a car that combines greater performance and agility with increased comfort, refinement and interior space for occupants and luggage.
V8 ENGINE
It is powered by the same 4.0l twin-turbo 375kW V8 engine as the coupe, mated to an eightspeed paddle-shift automatic gearbox. It also features threestage powertrain and chassis modes which manage the electric power steering, limited-slip differential and dynamic torque vectoring, as well as engine mapping to change the nature of this magnificent car depending on the driving requirements.
No doubt that nature will best be enjoyed with the top down and traditionalists will be pleased to see Aston has stuck with the soft-top design.
The new eight-layer fabric roof features the latest acoustic and isolation materials to protect occupants no matter the weather and ensure a quiet cabin.
The roof takes just 14 seconds to lower and 16 to close and can be operated from the key or on the move up to 50km/h.
Pricing in SA has yet to be confirmed but deliveries are expected to begin around the world early in 2018.