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The original Vanquish was launched in 2001 to critical acclaim. It was the car to trumpet a new era at Aston Martin and has since been followed by the DB9 and, this summer, will be joined by the Porsche 911-rivalling V8 Vantage. It represents a long line of big hairy Astons that started with the original V8 Vantage of the late ?70s and continued with the Virage Vantage of 1993. This is the first time the original Vanquish formula has been toyed with, though there was a Sports Dynamics suspension package offered from mid-2004 similar to the one that appears here.
 

  The Vanquish S proves how serious a player Aston Martin is in 2005. It looks the same as the car that was launched to critical acclaim in 2001, and remains the definitive big Aston: as beautiful as it is brutal and quintessentially British. But in reality this is a very different machine. It has 60bhp more, a much-improved chassis, bigger brakes and a tastefully redesigned interior.
And that?s why the Vanquish S proves what it does about AM?s present state of mind. Aston could easily have left the Vanquish alone and spent the money somewhere else. Sales were still strong and no one could deny that the Vanquish continues to do the business in terms of appearance. But instead Aston chose to throw time and money at the car?s engineering yet had the temerity to leave the visuals well alone. That takes confidence, not to mention determination and a certain clarity of thought.
The big news concerns the engine. New cylinder heads, a revised ECU, more highly polished inlet ports, better fuel injectors and forged conrods allows the 5935cc V12 to produce an extra 60bhp and 25lb ft (making 520bhp and 425lb ft in total) though these peaks are attained slightly higher in the rev range.
At the same time, the gearing has been lowered. Together with the increases in power and torque this, says Aston, shaves nearly two seconds from the 50-70mph time in top.
The chassis is the other area in which Aston has focused its efforts. There are stiffer springs and dampers, a 20 per cent faster steering rack and bigger front brake discs with six-pot calipers. The ride height has been lowered by 5mm.
You?d need to be something of a Vanquish aficionado to spot the tiny new front splitter and the slightly higher lip on the boot lid, but together these reduce the Cd from 0.33 to 0.32. What you won?t fail to spot, however, is the new interior. The S has had a full makeover and is now far more in keeping with the DB9, right down to the new, more supportive seats.
 
 
Cabin is much improved; steering now quicker

Our normal test track was not available, so we used another that does not have as much grip. You therefore need to ignore the 0-60mph time of 4.8sec, because by then the S had barely found any purchase.
A far better clue as to how much quicker the S is than its lesser sibling is the 0-100mph time; even on a poor surface it managed 10.0sec compared with 10.4sec for the regular model. Slice half a second from that (which would come with a grippier surface) and you?re looking at 9.5sec to 100mph, or a second quicker than the standard car and well into Ferrari F430/ Porsche 911 Turbo territory. Pretty impressive for a car that weighs 1878kg.
The Vanquish has never been about raw numbers, however. What?s more important is the character it exudes and the noise it makes. For the eruption of sound that occurs as the crank spins past 3000rpm alone, the Vanquish is more endearing than any current Ferrari save, perhaps, the F430. But when mixed with this level of throttle response, this much acceleration and this much torque across the rev range, the S makes a compelling case for itself beside any rival, at any price.
Despite stiffer springs and dampers and faster steering, the first time you drive the S over a good road you think it?s not sharp enough. Not enough body control, too much effort required to keep it on the straight and narrow. You may even begin to wonder whether there might be something amiss; it?s that softly suspended.
And yet the more time you spend with the Vanquish S, the more you begin to appreciate the suspension set-up. After 500 miles we almost completely revised our opinion on it, and the reason we did so was the ride, which is sensationally good.
What Aston has created is not a cutting-edge sports car but a comfortable GT that will, if pushed, corner hard enough for 99 per cent of drivers. True, it does begin to move around somewhat if you venture beyond the limits but even in extremis it?s a delightfully benign handler.
 
  Accept the fact that it is very much a two-plus-one-and-a-half in terms of rear seat space and there?s not a lot else you can fault this car on in this section. The new cabin is a massive step up from the original; from the new be-winged sports seats to the gorgeous new door inserts to the smell of the Bridge of Weir leather that greets you the moment you climb aboard, the S exudes that rare atmosphere only a genuine exotic can give off. It feels impossibly expensive and is now exceptionally well made.
It?s also stacked with every conceivable goodie that a wealthy owner would expect (including a bespoke Linn hi-fi), except for a sat-nav system or TV. The latter is not available; the former will unfortunately cost you a little extra, sir.
Active safety is strong, with traction control and anti-lock brakes as standard but, interestingly, there are no stability control or brake-assist systems. Neither were greatly missed during our 500 miles with the car.
You don?t buy a £174,000 Aston Martin and worry greatly about its running costs, but for what it?s worth they?re pretty horrendous. Depreciation is the biggest worry ? and it starts the moment you take delivery. A four-year-old S might well be worth less than six figures.
Relative to this, an overall test figure of 13.4mpg hardly seems worth worrying about, nor the group 20 insurance and 35 per cent company car tax rates.
 

Since its launch in 2001 the Vanquish has always been an impossibly endearing machine, the perfect example of the modern-day big, hairy Aston. But this new S version goes one better than that. Not only is it faster and therefore hairier than ever on paper, in reality it?s also more refined, far better to sit in, more comfortable and just plain better to drive, period. Vitally, it also distances itself sufficiently from the DB9 to make sense as a stand-alone model at the top of Aston Martin?s increasingly impressive range of cars. Warts and all, we think it?s fabulous.

(http://www.autocarmagazine.com//Car/AstonMartin/Vanquish/SV122drCoupe/18555337420.jpg)

(http://www.autocarmagazine.com//Car/AstonMartin/Vanquish/SV122drCoupe/18555339200.jpg)