Aston Martin Vanquish review

The Vanquish is not cheap. At roughly £330,000 from the base, and a lot of possible - expensive - optioning, you can have a £400k car without too much trouble. But there’s only slated to be 1,000 Vanquishes produced per year, so it will remain an exclusive proposition.

Having had a look, it suits bold colours as much as the more conservative silvers and greys, and the carbon ‘shield’ on the rear looks best. You can have it body colour, but it loses the impact.

To keep the GT element as front and centre as possible, we’d also go for the sports seats rather than the carbon performance shells; TG managed many miles in the Vanquish over three days, and they performed admirably.

One thing to note though: the 824bhp Aston Martin Vanquish, with its 5.2-litre V12 and two turbos, is not the most economical car in the world. When pushing around a particularly sweet mountain road, the fuel economy dropped well into single figures. Admittedly a snapshot of an intensely… athletic driving session, but worth noting.

Other than that, it’s probably also worth noting the existence of the Ferrari 12Cilindri - another hyper GT that’s surfaced at exactly the same time. It’s a similar price, similar performance, similar mission statement. Except it’s powered by a 6.5-litre naturally-aspirated V12. Less torque, more revs, slightly more spaceshippy vibe.

So the choice is between a more out-there Ferrari or a slightly more traditional Aston. We never had it so good. The supercar has some competition; long live the hyper GT.