- The Aston Martin DB12 Volante follows up on the earlier revealed coupe, if your tastes lean more toward top-down driving.
- Sure, the Volante focuses on being a stylish grand tourer, but it still puts out 671 horsepower.
- This twin-turbocharged V8 DB12 Volante will still charge to a 202-mph top speed, and hit 60 mph in 3.6 seconds.
- DB12 Volante buyers will get their cars by the end of this year.
- No official word on pricing yet, but it won’t be cheap: Expect it to land somewhere in the $250,000+ range.
This Monday kicks off the bulk of Monterey Car Week’s exciting activities, and Aston Martin seized the opportunity to debut the drop-top “Volante” version of its brand-new DB12 grand tourer. As you’d expect, it’s mind-bendingly beautiful.
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Ah, I see, you want to know more? I know saying a modern Aston is beautiful isn’t a contentious opinion, but fortunately there is plenty more to talk about with the DB12. There are also important points to cover with the convertible version, if the coupe just doesn’t make a bold enough statement for you.
Under the hood, the 2024 Aston Martin DB12 Volante is mechnically identical to the coupe.
You still get a twin-turbocharged, 4.0-liter, Mercedes-AMG V8 engine cranking out 671 horsepower and 590 lb-ft of torque. Definitely enough to blow your hair back as the car works its way up the 8-speed automatic transmission.
Top speed caps out at 202 mph, while the 0-60 time only falls by one-tenth of a second, to 3.6 seconds (per Aston Martin’s estimates).
Sticking with performance, the Volante is 240 pounds heavier than the coupe, again per manufacturer figures. You expect that thanks to all the engineering involved to raise and lower the fabric roof while maintaining a rigid chassis. Still, Aston Martin’s replacement for the now-defunct DB11 was no lightweight and this car is heavier still, at just under 4,400 pounds.
Sadly — and to many enthusiasts’ chagrin, including mine — there is no V12 option for this next-generation DB12. That’s not to say the automaker’s ditching twelve-cylinder models just yet, but there’s still plenty to love with a potent V8. I suspect the DB12 Volante will still feel wickedly fast, despite having only eight cylinders.
An electronically controlled locking rear differential comes standard, as does adaptive damping. With the adaptive suspension, Aston Martin says the DB12 Volante offers a 500% “increase in bandwidth of force distribution” compared to what you were able to get with the DB11 Volante. Coupled with retuned rear spring and damping rates, that effectively means the car should more finely and effectively iron out imperfections in the road surface. After all, the Volante’s just as much about being a comfortable GT as it is a sports car.
Opening the DB12 Volante’s roof reveals a sultry, sumptuous interior
Naturally, the 2024 Aston Martin DB12 Volante brings the roof as its unique selling point. The eight-layer fabric top, for its part, hides away underneath a tonneau on the rear deck once it’s lowered. Lowering the roof takes 14 seconds to open, the automaker says, and 16 seconds to close. Better yet, you can operate the roof at speed, at least up to 31 mph. Fun fact: Aston calls the mechanism “K-Fold” due to its two-stage folding procedure that the company claims combines quick operation and compact packaging that maximizes cargo volume when the roof’s down.
Once you step inside, the DB12 Volante brings the same gorgeous interior as its hard-roof counterpart. Aston Martin swapped the old and relatively clunky infotainment design for a 10.25-inch touchscreen positioned near the top of the center stack, below the HVAC vents. The driver gets their own display with a digital cluster that can incorporate the navigation screen, while the standard car also includes an 11-speaker, 390-watt Bowers & Wilkins sound system. Audiophiles can take things a step further, though, and upgrade that to a 15-speaker, double-amplified 1,170-watt setup with aluminum dome tweeters, Continuum mid-range speakers and a much more powerful subwoofer. So, you can choose whether you want some V8 growl or your excellent music choice to announce your arrival.
When will it arrive and how much will the DB12 Volante cost?
The 2024 Aston Martin DB12 will be one of the highlights from Monterey Car Week, without a doubt. Beyond that, though, the car should actually arrived for anxious, well heeled buyers by the end of this year. Official pricing isn’t out yet, but don’t expect the DB12 Volante to go for anything less than $250,000.
Like so many other models, the “Q by Aston Martin” service also lets people commission their own one-off extras or even the entire car, if their tastes and budget allow for it. To that end, the sky’s really the limit as far as price is concerned for the convertible DB12. Like always when you’re shopping at this end of the market, if you have to ask about price…
