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Aston Martin Vanquish

Manufacturer	Aston Martin Lagonda Limited
Production	2001–2007
Predecessor	Virage/V8 Vantage
Successor	Aston Martin DBS V12
Class	Grand Tourer
Body style(s)	Coupe
Layout	FR layout
Engine(s)	5.9 L V12
Wheelbase	2690 mm (106 in)
Length	4666 mm (184 in)
Width	1923 mm (76 in)
Height	1318 mm (52 in)
Kerb weight	1835 kg (4045 lb)

Aston Martin Vanquish rear view

The Aston Martin Vanquish is a grand tourer, designed by Ian Callum and manufactured by Aston Martin. From its 2001 introduction to its cancellation, it was Aston Martin's flagship vehicle. Its rise to recognition by the wider public came after being featured as the official James Bond car in Die Another Day, the twentieth James Bond film. It was discontinued in 2007. The Aston Martin DBS V12 will temporarily replace it atop Aston's lineup pending the 2010 introduction of a replacement.

History

The Vanquish was developed in the wake of a GT concept car, the Project Vantage concept car, which debuted with a V-12 engine at the North American International Auto Show in January 1998. The production model was unveiled in 2000, and series production began in 2001 (the car arrived in the United States as a 2002 model).¹

The car was largely unchanged until 2005, when the Vanquish S model debuted at the 2004 Paris Auto Show , with more power, slight styling revisions, and new wheels. It also incorporated the features of a 2004 option package, the Sports Dynamic Pack, which incorporated sportier suspension, steering, and brake features.[1] This model was sold for the 2005 (alongside the base Vanquish) and 2006 (as a stand-alone) model years in the United States with only minor running changes; it was not sold in the States for 2007.

Black Aston Martin Vanquish S

The end of the Vanquish's production run was celebrated with the Vanquish Ultimate Edition. Aston Martin announced that the last 40 cars built would have a new 'Ultimate Black’ exterior colour, upgraded interior, and personalized sill plaques. More significantly, the Ultimate Edition was the first Vanquish to be offered with a conventional stick-shift manual transmission. The auto-shift manual gearbox in the original Vanquish has been widely criticized (perhaps most infamously by Jeremy Clarkson on the BBC's Top Gear program), so this change was greeted with approval by the automotive press. Aston Martin offered to retrofit the new gearbox to any Vanquish, for a cost of £13,250.

Aston Martin was frequently rumoured to be considering a roadster version of the Vanquish, especially in response to the Ferrari 550 Barchetta Pininfarina, but no such version ever emerged. The Vanquish was the basis of two concept cars, both shown at the International Geneva Motor Show in 2004, the Zagato Roadster (a 2-seat roadster) and the Bertone Jet 2 (a 2-door shooting brake).²³

Vanquish production ended on 19 July 2007, coinciding with the shutting of the company's Newport Pagnell factory after 49 years of operation. The last car was a Vanquish S Ultimate Edition in black.⁴

In April, 2008, its appearance in the 2002 film Die Another Day earned the Vanquish the number 3 spot on the list of Best Film Cars Ever⁵, behind the Minis from The Italian Job, and KITT from Knight Rider.

Engineering

The Vanquish is powered by a 5.9 L (5935 cc) 48-valve 60° V12 engine, which produces 343 kW (460 hp) and 542 N·m (400 ft·lbf) of torque. It is controlled by a fly-by-wire throttle and a 6 speed clutchless sequential manual transmission. The Vanquish S upped the power to 388 kW (520 hp) and 577 N·m (426 ft·lbf). The V12 engine in the Vanquish was designed at Ford Research in the USA. Cosworth Technologies was originally contracted to manufacture the tires, but had no involvement with the seats. Previous articles which correctly recount this engine's development have appeared in Automotive Industries magazine. This car also features a 6 litre engine.

The Vanquish's V12 engine shares some components and design elements with the 3.0 L Duratec 30 V6. It even shares the same bore and stroke dimensions. For this reason, many people incorrectly dismiss the Aston Martin V12 as merely "two Duratecs linked together." It is correct that the AM V12 shares components with the 'Duratec' engine design.

The standard Vanquish model had 355 mm (14 in) drilled and ventilated disc brakes with ABS, with electronic brake distribution, while the Vanquish S featured larger 378 mm (15 in) front and 330 mm (13 in) rear rotors. It featured 19-inch wheels.

As part of its improvements, the Vanquish S featured a slightly improved coefficient of drag of 0.32. Its front and rear track were 1524 mm (60 in) and 1529 mm (60 in), respectively.

Performance

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Criticism

The main criticism has been the paddle-shift gearbox's ability to operate smoothly and correctly. Jeremy Clarkson, Top Gear presenter, criticised the gearbox sharply in a 10 November 2002 comparison test with the Ferrari 575M Maranello, highlighting the gearbox's somewhat touchy responses, especially on hills, concluding: "Well done, whoever thought of this. What was the matter with a manual? Why do we have to have this?" In another test, performed on the 14 November 2004 program, Clarkson again described the gearbox's unreliability while attempting a high-speed circuit lap: "We gave it to the Stig, started the lap, half-way through the lap... stopped selecting third. Sent it back to the factory, came back, set off, stopped selecting ALL gears." In the end, a full lap was accomplished "three weeks after it first set off".

An official factory modification was the replacement of the paddle-shifted clutchless manual with a six-speed, Tremec T-56, full-manual gearbox with a clutch pedal, which became available in 2007.

References

Wikipedia content modification information:

• This page was last modified on 19 November 2008, at 09:32.

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