If you have to ask whether the new Aston Martin Virage is really worth roughly 30 grand more than the near identical-looking DB9, here's a tip: Don't ask Ulrich Bez. The mercurial German, who's headed Aston since 2000, has little time for those who don't appreciate the subtle nuances that define the individual models in the company's 14-car lineup, all of which, apart from the stubby Toyota iQ-based Cygnet, look remarkably similar. "Our cars look like Aston Martins," he says defiantly. "If you don't like the look, buy another car." Read and more pics here: http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/convertibles/1103_2012_aston_martin_virage_drive/index.html#ixzz1GpI25NyX
I think this is the first Aston on the platform I don't really like the look of. The front bumper is just throwing the whole car off for me.
Nothing not to like about it .. just not as exciting as it could be , need more Vanquish styling q's across the whole line want to see this one in black and anthracite
such a disappointment, aston seriously need a new design direction and need to develop their engines better, and they are too expensive
Why would they want to go in a new design direction when all their cars are #$%#ing hot? jesus christ
its boring, its like when you go to LA and the place is full of blonde, tanned fake-arse clones, they start to look boring in a way and you crave a pale-skinned brunettes
cos he is not taking the company anywhere new or exciting, meanwhile the competition is coming up with lots of new designs and powerplants meaning that soon they will be lightyears ahead of aston. the company is stagnating
Raises a good point. If they don't spice it up quickly I can see Aston being dead again in 8-12 years
they've got 14 models now? oh well at least they might not go bankrupt quite as fast seeing at they've been saving money not having to hire a designer for years now
"Soon"? I thought they have been lightyears ahead of Aston since, well, forever. They've never had class-leading powerplants. What new thing did you have in mind? An SUV? I don't know too much about the guy personally, but he seems one of the most hardcore car guys out there among CEO's. If I'm not mistaken, he's also taken Aston to its first profits since the 1960's. The company's previous sales leader, the DB7 (which I've heard sold more than the total number of cars in the company's history up to that point) has been eclipsed by the V8 Vantage by over 2:1 already.
yes that's all very well and good, but he needs to continue pushing the company further, which he isnt doing at the moment. they are just making a few subtle changes to an already existing platform and calling it a new model name, hell they could get away with calling this some sort of DB9 variant if they wanted to
It's obvious they didn't want to. The name 'Virage' is more evocative than, say, DB9v1.2. Even DBS sounds rather stale. I'm wondering if there was such a concern when Porsche decided to call its hardtop version of the Boxster by another name. There are other Aston projects in the works (One-77, Lagonda revival). You don't find the One-77 to be exciting? I'm not certain what limitations he must work with when it comes to Aston's owners, and the expectations they have from shareholders. What I can only guess is that they are milking the VH platform for all its worth, with a design that is a proven winner, and maybe after establishing a solid base in terms of capital, they will have a foundation for different projects. It's not like they've had stable, long-term backing for a long time. How much risk can you take when your first profit in 40 years just happened a few years ago?
Steven Sutcliffe reviews, by way of Pistonheads: "Not that there was a great deal of H2O around at the launch site in southern Spain. What there were plenty of, however, were fantastic driving roads, which was handy because that's where Virage really shines. You can tell this is a more polished car dynamically (than the DB9 *and* the DBS) pretty much from the moment you start driving. It doesn't weigh as little as the DBS because it's not made from such exotic materials (ie there's no carbon fibre in the car), but on the road the Virage feels almost as sharp and very nearly a rapid as the DBS. Yet it also feels much more refined, with none of the sharp edges in its ride, handling or steering responses from which the DBS, in particular, occasionally suffers. The engine, although slightly less monstrous to listen to and a few bhp down on that of the DBS, is still a thumping good power plant, with a lovely sense of effortlessness to its delivery and a whole heap of torque to call upon at low revs. But it's at high revs, right up above 6000rpm and beyond, that it truly makes your hair stand to attention. Not only does it sound pupil-wideningly loud over the last 1000rpm, with a delicious crackle on the overrun if you back off, but it also reserves its biggest hit of acceleration as it homes in on the rev cut-out. And that makes the Virage an impossibly addictive car to drive as fast as you can, as often as you can - so long as you're in the middle of southern Spain and no one else can hear what you're up to... The traditionalists will, of course, go into apoplexy about the fact that there is no option to change gear other than via a pair of paddles. But it's worth noting that, for a manually operated auto (ie not a full nuts dual-clutch manual), the Virage's system is admirably slick. You can even dial out the auto upshift by selecting sport, which also makes the shifts themselves happen faster. If anything, the Virage's chassis - and its steering - are even better than its engine and gearbox. Which is saying something. It's only once you've aimed it at a few corners and realized how beautifully well balanced it feels mid-corner, and how smoothly it rides if that corner happens to be less than perfectly surfaced, that you appreciate how good a job Aston's engineers have done with this car. Its steering, in particular, is quite gorgeous in the amount of feel and detail it provides about what's going on at the front tyres. You get far more information via the rim than you do in the DBS. Yet at the same time there's a sense of calm, fluid composure to the way the Virage goes down the road that makes it feel more mature than the DBS on the move. Aston describes the Virage as a GT car first, a sporting one second - and, for once, there's not an ounce of hyperbole in its claims." http://www.pistonheads.com/roadtests/doc.asp?c=113&i=23350