Review of Aston Martin Vanquish

It’s been twenty years since Aston Martin, deeply in debt and little more than an automotive anachronism, was swallowed up by Ford empire. Say what you will about Ford’s other British luxury marques, the past two decades have been good ones for Aston. When Ford acquired the brand, in 1987, Aston sales plunged to as little as 42 cars a year and at one point, keeping the assembly line rolling depended on the sale of a single car to a wealthy — and quite drunk — British aristocrat. These days, Aston’s aspirations are positively mass-market, with an array of new products promising to push volume up near 10,000 cars a year, and the company well in the black for the first time in its 93-year history. That’ll be good news for the new owners, David Richards, CEO of racing’s Prodrive […]

Niche sportscar manufacturer Lotus has scooped a ‘best driver’s car’ accolade for its Evora model. The award, from Autocar magazine, followed assessment on road and track around the South Downs and the Goodwood race circuit. Lotus beat off competition from Aston Martin, Nissan, Porsche, Audi, Lamborghini and Jaguar. The mid-engined 2+2 Lotus Evora combines a super stiff extruded and bonded aluminium chassis with vehicle dynamics knowledge employed to tune its race-car derived double wishbone suspension. Roger Becker, vehicle engineering director for Lotus, said: “The dynamic ability and driving experience of the Evora were the foundation of the engineering process and we are delighted that Autocar has recognised this by giving the Evora this accolade. The Evora offers the great Lotus driving experience in a very comfortable, practical, refined and efficient package, and with only 205 g/km of CO2 it shows […]

The new Aston Martin Rapide is a lovely car, to be sure, and driving one around town creates precisely the same effect on the populace as would a young Paul McCartney striding through Waterloo Station in 1964. Never mind the panties. Investment bankers throw their tighty-whiteys at this car. But what does it prove? It proves that if you care absolutely nothing about outward visibility—the Rapide has the sightlines of a Normandy pillbox—and that you don’t care that the front roof pillars (the A pillars) are thicker than a Clydesdale’s fetlock; and that in order to get in the car rear passengers will be obliged to remove their heads and feet; and that once there they will have their noses grinding against the entertainment system’s headrest-mounted screens; and that the car’s sun visors are three fingers wide and virtually useless; […]