Man Maths: Aston Martin V12 Vanquish

It was launched in 2001, meaning those early cars are now a quarter of a century old. I stand by the exterior styling, which is no less gorgeous today than back then, but I can’t defend the interior with anything like the same resolve. It feels old, the dials look like they belong in a Rover 75 (compare those to the very modern clocks in the DB9 that followed…) and the seating position is awkward with a chair mounted too high and a steering wheel that barely adjusts for reach.

And then there’s the gearbox, a robotised manual with paddles. These transmissions offer neither the speed of a dual-clutch gearbox or even a modern automatic, nor the interaction of a true manual, but at their best they can be perfectly adequate, particularly in a grand tourer like the Vanquish, as long as you’re prepared to put the work in by lifting off the throttle just as you pull for an upshift. Sadly, this is not a good example of the breed. It is slow, slurry and it makes manoeuvring a pain.

But with that engine howling away, you won’t be thinking too hard about the transmission. Maybe you’ll want a more vocal soundtrack, particularly from inside, and perhaps you’ll be expecting more forceful acceleration, but the way it delivers its power and the quality of the 12-cylinder soundtrack – deeper, less savage than a Ferrari V12 – that chases you along the road soon makes you forget those limitations as well.

This may have been Aston’s flagship, its most powerful model, but it was still very much a GT. You feel that in the way it tends to float along a road, and in the looseness in its steering. It has been configured for long distances, not short blasts.

But here’s the problem – that was a very late Vanquish S (the S being the updated and improved variant), listed at the time for a shade under £80,000, and a low-mileage example to boot. There probably isn’t a better example of the model out there, which rather begs the question: if the fittest Vanquish on the road is really rather flawed, what’s an older, leggier, non-S model costing less than half the money going to be like?

You have to approach the Vanquish the right way. You are not buying it because it is the most exciting Aston Martin, or the fastest, or most sophisticated. You’re buying it because it’s beautiful, is powered by a very special engine, and because it’s an important chapter in the story of Aston Martin. The Vanquish is the bridge between old and new, hand-built as it was by men wearing leather aprons at Aston’s traditional home, Newport Pagnell, but using the same bonded aluminium construction method as the new-era Astons that followed. Andrew explains all of that in much more detail in his two-part story on the car we drove last year alongside the current Vanquish.

Even after being left slightly underwhelmed by that Vanquish S, I still adore these cars. I would feel warmer and happier just knowing one was parked in the garage. I would admire its design, which so perfectly blends the beauty of earlier DB models and the brawn of the V-cars of the 1970s through to the 1990s, such as the Virage, and not worry one bit about its woolly handling, ancient interior or dimwitted transmission. I would own a Vanquish, and nothing else would matter.