Yes it's unfortunate that we're in the South of France with the convertible and
it's freaking cold but I don't think we can drive a convertible without putting
the top down there we go
Ah the South of France summer homes are the heirs and heiresses of cosmetics
fortunes and vast industrial empires built on champagne, fancy luggage and the
global distribution of runny cheeses but now it's winter and the party's over
and that means the great roads above the French Riviera are practically empty and
perfect for a drive in a remastered GT car
yes nothing can unhitch your twisted-up mine from the grinding stresses of the
modern world like a drive on a great road in a really good GT making it
convertible and the open air might have you forgetting that divisive politics or
vegetable lasagna or "Keep it 100 Fam" tote bags even exist. This is the new
Aston Martin DB11 Volante like the DB11 on which it's based it's a true
GT made for long-distance high-speed luxury cruising and just like the DB11
coupe we drove last year the Volante excels at being a GT it's combination of
power chassis compliance and body control is still among the best of any
sport luxury car you can buy ok it's cold we'll crank the heat and get this
thing going oh the first thing you notice when the
top is down is the sound of that AMG V8 Aston Martin obviously did the intake
and exhaust so it sounds distinctive yet it still has that four litre AMG twin
turbo that muscular sound that doesn't make us miss the V12 at all now they're
offering the Volante right now with only the v8 kind of a bold move for them
since some purists may miss the V12 but I gotta say while I love a good V12 this
is a really great sounding engine
for now let's put aside how designers kept the Volante's proportions so damn
perfect while still jamming an entire convertible top assembly back there and
still leaving room for a decent sized trunk okay let's not put it aside let's
take a look at it the roof piles into an extra short stack so there's no need for
a high bustle in the rear I think it's one of those cases of the convertible
looking better than the hardtop designers also really smooth out the
transitions between the top and the body pieces every part of it is pretty much
perfect but the most surprising thing about the new Volante is in its looks
it's how nimble it is after all it's a convertible and aren't convertibles
supposed to ball themselves up like tin foil at every corner? Well maybe in the
past but today you can thank modern crash-test standards for a huge increase
in overall structural rigidity--that's every car made--so taking the Volante's
roof off doesn't screw up engineers fancy wheel location geometry nearly as
much as convertibles in the past in fact in addition to being significantly
stiffer than the previous db9 Volante it's bonded aluminum structure makes it
about the same overall rigidity as an E46 BMW from 15 years ago with a roof on
it of course cutting the top off doesn't do it's a torsional strength any favors
so engineers did add some spot bracing at the front and rear check out this
shock tower structure this alone boosted rigidity right at the front pivot points
on these serpentine B roads you'll notice the change in sharpened up front
end responses it'll almost make you forget that the Volante is just over
4100 pounds and as wide as the defensive line at Texas A&M. It is a couple hundred
pounds more than the coupe but that weight did move to the rear because
of the mechanism on the roof so the car actually does have a little bit more
rearward bias the extra mass of the rear changes the Volante is weight ratio to
47% front 53% rear compared to the coupes 49 51 and the v12 coupe slightly
nose-heavy 5149 who knew that convertible was going to be the drift
missile of DB 11s like the DB 11 coupe the Volante has three modes of
suspension damping from GT which tunes out the most high frequency disturbances
leaving a firm but comfortable ride Sport and Sport Plus modes and
increasingly more stiffness and body control Sport mode dampers provided the
ideal combination for these roads separately three drive modes applied to
the fantastic ZF 8-speed transmission and throttle sharpness from easy going
in GT mode to alert an aggressive in sport plus a 0-60 figure of 4.1 seconds
doesn't quite tell the whole story of how quick the Volante feels with loads
of torque piled into the 2000 of 5,000 RPM range what it lacks in fine tuned
throttle response who makes up for in a tidal wave of power listening through
the hole in the roof the v8 lacks a bit of upper end drama that the v12 offers
but I'll take the v8 and the better weight distribution that comes along
with it inside materials are typical Aston Martin quality although a few
plastic bits and Stuttgart's own command touchpad and rotary controls are the
trade-off for having proven German electronics behind the dash but whatever
you think of Aston Martin's new friends there's no doubting that the DB 11 line
just keeps improving the more models they introduce the chassis dynamics just
keep getting sharper and better and it's becoming clear that they picked the
right engine to match with their middle GT car
it certainly works in the DB11 coupe but I think this car benefits greatly from
having the top come off