Aston Martin DB12 Volante review

I’m not sure who had the idea to call an open Aston Martin a ‘Volante’ but I think it is one of the best car names there has been. In one word of just seven letters there is the sense of speed, flying, freedom, even fresh air. In the Merriam-Webster dictionary it is said to be a musical direction instructing its recipient to play as if ‘moving with light rapidity’.

It also happens to be the Spanish for steering wheel, so there’s a whiff of foreign exoticism in there too.

And of course it sits happily alongside Vantage, Victor, Valour, Valkyrie, Virage, Valhalla, Vanquish, Vulcan and all those other V-cars I’ve forgotten. The first, if you’re interested, wasn’t a car at all, nor even a version of a car, but a ‘Vantage’ engine specification offered from January 1951 which combined a high compression head and larger SU carbs to bequeath a very useful additional 20bhp upon the DB2.