Should the ultimate grand tourer be a drop top? I debated this with my dad on a drive back from Leeds in the Aston Martin DB12 coupe. The football match we’d just witnessed provided zero talking points, so wistful conversation turned to long journeys. For my part, I think such super GTs, or super tourers as Aston Martin refers to its DB12s as, are the pinnacle of motoring. Hard top, soft top; I’m not fussed. But it’s an interesting question to ponder and one I was reminded of when sailing around in the Aston Martin DB12 Volante. A bit of warm August weather no doubt helped, but was the experience that much more special for having the roof down?
The Aston Martin DB12 Volante certainly ticks the box as a special car. It’s a stunning bit of design backed up by a magnificent engine and a fabulous interior. It does look that bit more enticing than its coupe sibling with the roof down, too. In a car this good looking, you want to be seen. Caribbean Pearl paint and the white interior lend a nautical feel and it attracts attention in the right way. People admire it rather than try to race you.
Convertibles are more about the vibes than coupes. Unquestionably, they’re more aimed at the show pony than the racehorse end of the market. It’s 2024, though, surely you can have the best of both? The Aston Martin DB12 Volante is a smidge heavier than the coupe but, really, that’s not something you’re going to notice 99.9% of the time. It’s still blisteringly fast, so if anyone does try to race it rather than admire it, unless they’re driving a supercar you’ll show them a clean pair of heels.
I couldn’t help but feel more laid back than I did in the coupe. Maybe it’s the colour scheme, blue and white feeling far more relaxed than grey and black. Removing the roof on sunny days also seems to encourage me to slow the pace down a tad.
We also bought a new family pet in the Aston Martin DB12 Volante. A tortoise. Nothing screams slow lane quite like a tortoise. For his part, Rocky seemed perfectly content on the M25 with the roof down. It’s really not that noisy at motorway speeds and you can hold down a conversation with a six-year-old and a tortoise quite easily.
One thing Aston Martin did cleverly with their press fleet was to equip the coupe with the standard stereo and the Volante with the Bowers & Wilkins surround sound audio. Even at 70mph with the wind in your hair you can listen to your music in remarkable clarity. It’s a box worth ticking for the drop top.
The roof comes up and down at speeds of up to 31mph and, with the roof up, the cabin is very refined. It’s not quite as whisper quiet as the coupe, but it’s not a bad impression. The penalty for the eight-layer fabric roof is boot space. I got a cricket bag in there, but had to put the bat in first, then the bag, then slam the lid shut before the helmet rolled out. If you need to lug stuff about, the coupe is your best bet.
The rear seats, of course, can be utilised for this. You wouldn’t want to actually sit in them, so my teammate’s bag went there, acting as a makeshift wind deflector. I’d had to leave the proper one at home to get my bag in the boot.
It’s the same engine as the coupe, the Aston Martin DB12 Volante packing a 4-litre twin-turbo V8 which produces 671bhp and 800Nm of torque. 0-62mph takes a tenth longer, labouring to the mark in 3.6secs. Yeah, it’s not slow.
It’s not until you cycle through the drive modes that you experience any great sense of this power. Obviously, it’s not slow in any mode, but downshifts take longer and are less purposeful in GT than they are in Sport and Sport+. There was more than enough to make Rocky, albeit briefly, the fastest accelerating tortoise in the world.
You get so drawn into the laid-back ambience that there’s almost something slightly uncouth about the Aston Martin DB12 Volante packing such a punch. You get shoved firmly back in your seat, but it goes about its business remarkably calmly. There’s no great pomp and ceremony, it’s all very civilised and all very effortless. Unless you’re in Sport+. Then the exhaust makes its presence really felt. There’s enough there to let everyone know you’ve got a V8, though.
The steering is accurate and is more towards the oily GT end of the spectrum than McLaren-esque feedback. When you’re pushing on you can trust it though and rely on the gargantuan reserves of muscle to power you out of corners and along any road. Although it acquits itself remarkably well along a decent B-road, the Aston Martin DB12 Volante is probably at its best once settled into a cruise. It will simply devour the miles. It was only when following a 911 that I realised its weight and purpose. Get your mind back on those vibes. It’s a gentleman cruiser designed to make you look great and pack a punch when you need it to.
It’s fair to say that Aston Martin are on a roll at the moment. Gone are the days of admiring the beauty of their cars before immediately reaching for the caveats. The infotainment, the layout, the build quality, the reliability; take your pick. Now they’re just, well, excellent. And that’s great to see, because anything looking this good deserves to be.
There are of course some minor quibbles. The text on the infotainment screen is a bit small and it can be even harder to see with sun shining on it. Has anyone nailed this, though? The previous occupant had left the dashboard at maximum illumination, which rendered it difficult to drive on unlit roads at night because it was just way too bright. It was easily rectified after a dive into the manual, but most cars link this to the dimmer scroll found by the light switches. Like all modern cars, you need to remember to switch the warning bongs and vibrations off before you depart. It’s a touch fiddly to perform on the move, especially if you can’t see the screen very well. And storage space is scant.
Overall, however, the Aston Martin DB12 Volante is an exceptional car. It looks the part, performs the part and is backed up by great build quality. The caveats are mere footnotes, not reasons to stay away.
If you want to feel good about yourself, it emphatically delivers. And that’s the whole point of this genre, isn’t it? To make long distances a cruise, offer unparalleled opulence and just make you enjoy every aspect of the experience. Drop top or coupe? If that’s a decision facing you, then congratulations. Aesthetics meet performance and lofty expectations in both.
