The Vanquish | The ultimate Aston Martin

There’s a particularly electrifying moment in Skyfall. James Bond has whisked M to Scotland for her own safety, a journey requiring the original 1965 silver Aston Martin DB5 to come roaring back from the lockup where it’s been sitting all these years quietly humming the John Barry soundtrack. There’s a pitstop in the brooding, bloody majesty of Glencoe: Daniel Craig in a sharp suit, Judi Dench being a very superior “M”, and that car. It’s a single shot that can reduce overgrown adolescents to pathetic fanboys, pressing all the nostalgia buttons at once. It’s the DNA of 007.

We all know what DNA is, right? It’s the molecule that maps out our genetic coding, deoxyribonucleic acid, which, through its use in forensic crime detection, has entered the English language as a fully formed, overblown cliché with its own piss-taking column in Private Eye. It’s the wire that binds disparate elements, the undilutable essence of a brand, its history in shorthand: for Ian Fleming’s most famous creation, that’s the curiously named Bond girls, the drinks that are shaken but never stirred, and that Corgi toy from childhood.

Which should explain why I’m behind the wheel of a brand new Aston Martin Vanquish, streaking through the Scottish Highlands towards Torridon, trying to remain within the speed limit on these long, straight, empty roads, fully expecting a villainous helicopter at any moment to strafe me from the sky (or, more likely, the Top Gear chopper to appear and Clarkson’s voice boom, “Oi! That’s my job!”) at which point I’ll undo my black bow tie and give my pursuers the finger.

But that’s not the explanation. I’m here because Aston Martin is involved in the global launch of two updated models: the aforementioned 2013 Vanquish, and a new four-seater Rapide S. Both now come with new dynamic enhancements, and Aston Martin has chosen the Scottish Highlands as the backdrop and high-speed playground – far removed from minor distractions like traffic jams, pedestrians, and speed bumps – to put these engineering miracles through their paces.

The name Aston Martin comes from amateur engineer Lionel Martin and the hill he and his partner used to race up at Aston, Bucks. Who knew? The brand has now been a classic car marque for a century, but at the outset they hardly built any cars. Those they did were built by hand, in little sheds. And while the majority were created for racing in mud, body shells were put on for road use. After the war a tractor manufacturer, David Brown, bought the company to add glamour to his portfolio and named the resulting models after himself (DB).

OK, so the DNA for the real Aston Martin has nothing at all to do with ejector seats, or machine guns appearing from bumpers. It’s all about torque and handling, brake horsepower and 0–60 in under five seconds. (In fact it can do 0-100kph in 3.8 seconds: beat that, Blofeld.)

The driving experience is exactly what you’d expect. I pootled along, chatting to my passenger at fairly innocuous speeds, until the opportunity came to overtake another vehicle. I floored it, and the beast of a thing didn’t hesitate for a nanosecond – shooting forward, past any vehicle in the way. I understand it can go from 70 to 100 almost instantly, but that’s just what I hear, officer. I didn’t actually do that. Honest. Had we been on a German Autobahn, I could have reached 200mph. In theory, of course.

Gone are the days when the Aston Martin was only ever going to be considered by a handful of wealthy British enthusiasts mulling over a replacement for the Bristol. But now its stock is higher and production is up. Competition is stiff, but there’s global demand for world-class engineering in a burgeoning new marketplace of high net worth individuals who want Aston Martins. Because, damn it, James Bond drives ‘em! (In the case of the Rapide S, they can even squeeze their little premium Bond Jrs in the back) It’s a luxury brand. In fact it’s one of the luxury brands, which is why when you drive it people stop and stare, from West Hollywood to the West Highlands. It’s a stunning car, even before you get under the bonnet. The seats are finest quality Scottish leather, coloured and stretched and hand stitched (in the Vanquish, a million stitches hold it all together), and paintwork which gleams and shines in the sun because it’s been blasted and sanded and repainted for over 50 hours to give it the most sparklingly lustrous sheen possible.

it’s been blasted and sanded and repainted for over 50 hours to give it the most sparklingly lustrous sheen possible

When that engorged bonnet is raised, make sure you’re not standing beside a petrolhead: what lies beneath may arouse more than his enthusiasm. I was lucky to have Aston’s enthusiastic young Brand Communications Executive David Adams talk me through the complexities of an AM29 V12 engine that has attached, for the first time, a Touchtronic 111 eight-speed automatic gearbox, allowing ratio changes at lightning speed (130 milliseconds), just one of the many new features making it the fastest accelerating Aston Martin in history.

I peered into the compartment, checking to see if there were any gun barrels poised behind bumpers. In fact there aren’t even any bumpers. That would spoil the curvaceous but masculine embonpoint out front. David moved swiftly through some basic essentials that any ten year-old would understand, including the optimal multi-ratio downshifts which allow the car to select the lowest available gear when braking, while, mind wandering, I wondered if that pen sticking from his top pocket might be, just maybe, a double click away from…

But no. And soon David was talking uprated dampers – 15% stiffer at the front, a full 35% stiffer at the rear. The assembled petrolheads were agog.

In Die Another Day they made the Vanquish vanish, jumping right over that shark in one giant leap. Invisibility is not one of the latest Aston Martin innovations. Instead, David patiently explained, performance has been improved by perfectly aligning the chassis with improvements in powertrain performance and accessibility, through things like a revised torque tube reducing transmission noise transfer into the passenger compartment, which explains, if nothing else, where those gun barrels have gone.

“So, any questions?” David asked before sending me off for the test drive.

“Does the number plate revolve?”

He ignored me. “Off you go, then.”

As I trundled along the gravel driveway of the secret lochside castle MI5 had requisitioned as temporary northern base, I’m sure he waved me off with the words, “And do try to bring this one back in one piece.”

I saluted, then floored the throttle, setting the satnav for SMERSH HQ. C

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