The 2015 Aston Martin Vanquish's big V12 breaks up conversations. Pedestrians cock their heads, like dogs who sense an earthquake before seismograph needles begin to dance. At idle it's a steady drum beating in honor of its own greatness, a mellow baritone exactly one notch to the polite side of the loud-meter.
I'll admit a bias: despite the attention it draws, I think the Vanquish is a bit ungainly. Its smaller sibling, the V12 Vantage S, sears its handsome profile into your retina while maintaining an economy of design. It's pulled tightly over alloy bones. A firm, trim shape, when the Vanquish wears a bit of stage jewelry and frets about its waistline. Not that either has any trouble placing jaws on the floor. Take a Ferrari F12 Berlinetta down Main Street, and people actively ignore you; they don't want to feed your presumably bestial ego. The Astons, though—folks can't help it.
Loose in Northern Michigan to romp in the leaves, the big Aston Vanquish S conquers every small town drag from afar with its siren growl. Passing storefront facades, it charms like a well-read general, entertaining before a romantic war. Before onlookers can recover from its genial charisma, it warbles away over a crest, off to do battle with the insidious threat of an unlikely Michigan corner.
Is the Vanquish quick? Yes, but it doesn't boast too loudly. (60 mph takes 3.6 seconds, but it's gauche to discuss numbers.) Forces that act upon the Vanquish feel distant and trivial, but the forces which its 576-hp V12 unleashes are visceral. A 911 GT3 or a GT-R use computer alchemy to create a superhuman feeling in the driver—the Vanquish leads you through the dance without stepping on your toes. Midway through a (very) fast sweeper, my astonished passenger managed: "It's so … composed," less a compliment to my sawing at the oddly-shaped wheel than the Vanquish's grace in dealing with the deficiencies of its pilot.
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