Aston Martin Virage

You might think we are joking, but this really is a brand new model from Aston Martin. It is called the Virage, which is derived from the French word ‘viragem’, meaning bend or curve.

It resurrects the famous name that last adorned an Aston Martin in the 1990s, and is available in both coupé and cabriolet Volante form.

Although looking almost exactly like the Vantage, the Virage is a new model that slots in between the DB9 and the range topping DBS in Aston Martin’s product portfolio.

Built on the company’s bonded aluminium VH platform, the car is powered by the same hand-built 6.0-litre V12 found in the DB9 and DBS, although tuned to produce 366kW of power and 570Nm of torque. This is less than the output of the DBS but up against the DB9. A new 6-speed ZF automatic transmission, Touchtronic in Aston speak, drives the rear wheel. Weight balance is a perfect 50:50.

The Virage isn’t as hardcore as the DBS as it has been tuned to deliver an engaging yet more refined driving experience, with max performance easily accessible by the driver. The new Adaptive Damping System (ADS) intelligently ‘reads’ the road and has five different settings. Carbon Ceramic Matrix brakes are also standard, as you would expect from a car of this calibre.

Inside, one will find typical Aston Martin attention to detail. There are no less than seven hides of the finest Bridge of Weir leather to greet driver and passenger. The inspiration for the finely crafted interior comes from luxury leather goods to produce a pinstripe welt which flows down either side of the fascia and along the seat and door. Aston claims that each Virage has 70 man hours of expert craftsmanship lavished on the interior alone!

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