Youth, they say, is wasted on the young.
And there comes a point in life for many where desire for comfort equals or exceeds that for edginess and speed.
Perhaps you’ve made your pile, achieved your life and career goals, and are now looking to cash in a few of your gambling chips.
Not giving up – just pacing yourself a little more than was previously the case. Efficiency of effort. The gain without the pain.
It’s all very well getting a thrill – and a numb nether region – from uncompromisingly hard-riding, no-frills super car performance. But the pure joy of those early thrills fade with time and experience.
You still want the fun – but also the comforting, cossetting, and satisfying sense of rewarding yourself with a car that symbolises a job well done.
That’s pretty much how I felt driving the powerful new – but distinctly old-school – muscular but elegantly refined Aston Martin DB12 Volante.
Last summer I drove the Aston Martin DB12 hard-topped coupe in the South of France, setting off from a hotel overlooking Monte Carlo and its famed Casino in the royal principality of Monaco and catching the cocktail-enticing sun of the Côte d’Azur.
But for my spin in the open-topped Volante, my drive was on home turf catching the early rays of Spring sunshine – and a touch of light refreshing rain – in the English Cotswolds.
Aston’s new £200,000 open-top super tourer raises booth the roof and the fun – though the price is a £15,000 mark-up on the recently launched companion coupe.
It really is a delight to drive with the added bonus of wind in the hair motoring.
Powered by a feisty 680 horsepower 4.0-litre V8 twin turbo petrol engine linked to an eight-speed ZF automatic gearbox, the DB12 Volante accelerates with gusto from 0 to 60mph in 3.6 seconds (0-62mph in 3.7 seconds), which is especially handy for swiftly executed and effortless overtaking on available straight stretches of road.
The hand-built engine has an increase in output of 34 per cent compared with the previous DB11. More is more, right?
But what I really enjoyed was the chance to chill: just because the power may be there in spades, it doesn’t mean you to use it all the time.
This is a super-hot, super cruiser in which to be super cool.
It rumbles and roars smoothly on like the last of a proud and historic bloodline, which it is.
It combines elegant looks, engaging driving, controlled power, luxurious interior, and sporting performance and has the aromatic charm and ease of a hand-rolled Cuban cigar smoked alongside a vintage Armagnac brandy. And I don’t smoke.
Is it really the ‘ultimate open-top super tourer’?
Aston Martin bills the new car as ‘the ultimate open-top super tourer’ with production starting this summer and first deliveries expected from the autumn. And it lives up to the billing.
The Volante was developed in parallel with its stablemate coupe and includes the same design, engineering and technology advances creating the next step in the firm’s new generation of sports cars.
Mine was in a fetching shade of Caribbean Pearl with an Atlantic Blue hood and headliner.
The roof operation takes 14 seconds to open and 16 seconds to close and can be used at speeds of up to 31mph and into a 31mph headwind. Though mine was mainly down.
The roof mechanism can also be operated via the remote keys, as long as you are within a two-metre radius of the car.
The electrically-operated ‘K-fold’ roof system is named after the two-stage folding procedure engineered to achieve a 260mm stack height to maximise luggage capacity below.
You are pretty snug with the roof in place. The fabric roof canopy features eight layers of insulation and is acoustically enhanced for improved interior cabin comfort.
The design also creates a sculpted roof line to maintain the DB12’s streamlined profile. When the roof is lowered, the mechanism sits low and unseen beneath a hard tonneau cover.
What else you need to know about the DB12 Volante
Customers have a choice of four different exterior hood colours, starting with black as standard, plus red, blue and ‘black and silver’ as options, allowing for a wide variety of customisation.
The DB12 Volante rides on standard 21-inch forged alloy wheels fitted with ‘AML’ coded Michelin Pilot S 5 tyres made to Aston Martin’s precise requirements.
On my test car, braking felt firm, solid and precise, thanks greatly to the optional carbon ceramic brake system which offers increased performance.
Cast-iron 400mm front discs and 360mm rear discs come as standard, though.
The new DB12 range is the first to receive Aston Martin’s next-generation infotainment system which includes a fully integrated multi-screen system with full online connectivity and a 10.25-inch display.
There’s little or no wind noise and the surround sound audio system means you can listen with ease to music while you motor. Bespoke infotainment is provided by a Bowers & Wilkins 1,170 surround sound hi-fi.
You can choose wood veneer or carbon fibre panels on the seatbacks matched to the door trim inlay to create an extra layer of visual interest and luxury when the roof is lowered. My car’s interior featured a sport duotone in Centenary saddle tan leather.
Single and multi-finger gesture control is balanced by buttons retained for the key mechanical operations of gear selection, drive selection, heating and ventilation.
There are also override switches for the most-used controls, including chassis, ESP, exhaust, lane assist and park distance control.
Customers who want to personalise their new car can opt for the bespoke ‘Q by Aston Martin’ service.
There’s plenty of scope to ‘tune’ your drive too.
Four-stage electronic stability control and a choice of five pre-defined dynamic modes allows the driver to precisely tailor its behaviour.
Electronic rear differential (E-Diff) designed to give the driver maximum response for more precise and consistent handling, especially when cornering.
The Cars and Motoring Verdict
The first Volante was introduced back in 1965, since when huge strides have been made in engineering, technology and performance.
This latest and probably last incarnation of it in V12 petrol form is a last defiant ‘hurrah’ for the vast, old school, politically-incorrect, gas-guzzling power-house.
Like the legendary British actor Oliver Reed, whose last scene-stealing performance was in the epic movie Gladiator, it’s an exciting, fun-filled experience, with just that little hint of danger: think of the DB12 Volante as Oliver Reed on wheels.
You may, however, have noticed we are living now through an era of sober, hair-shirted puritanism – where to take delight in the fun aspects of life is to be frowned upon as a ‘threat to the planet’.
But then, the flamboyant Cavaliers were always fun than the dour puritan, fun-extinguishing Roundheads.
This new Aston Martin DB12 Volante is clearly in the Cavalier camp. Which will make it ‘problematic’ for the preachy eco-warriors.
I was recently in the very bar – called ‘The Bar’ on the island of Malta – where Oliver Reed died during filming of Gladiator, and raised a glass to the late star.
And honestly, at the end of the day, who would you rather be sitting with in a bar for an evening of relaxation and jolity: the late actor, hell-raiser and raconteur Oliver Reed? Or a po-faced delegation of puritanical, entitled, well-heeled trust-fund-financed Jeremy and Jemimas from Extinction Rebellion?
Quite.
