Aston Martin DBS Superleggera Volante is a 715-hp summertime stunner
The beastly Aston Martin DBS Superleggera now offers topless thrills.
The new Aston Martin DBS Superleggera is a "frightful, purposeful and beautiful beast," according to Roadshow Editor-in-Chief Tim Stevens, anyway. So how do you make an already masterful super-grand tourer even better? Make it a convertible.
That's exactly what we have with the new DBS Superleggera Volante that Aston Martin released Tuesday. It packs all the impeccable style and immense power of the standard DBS Superleggera, but offers open-top, wind-in-your-hair thrills.
The DBS Superleggera is already a beautiful car, and none of that gorgeous curb appeal is lost in the transition to Volante. The fabric top creates a wonderful silhouette whether it's up or down, and Aston Martin says the roof is available in eight colors, including Bordeaux Red or Atlantic Blue. What's more, the British automaker says the top can be outfitted in Rokona headliner fabric, and you can get a carbon-fiber surround on the rear window screen. The top can be opened in 14 seconds and closed in 16, and can be done remotely from the key fob, as long as you're within six feet of the car.
Even with the top up, the DBS Superleggera Volante is a gorgeous thing.
The Volante offers the same 715 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque as the hardtop DBS Superleggera, that power coming from a twin-turbocharged, 5.2-liter V12. Aston Martin says the Volante can sprint to 60 miles per hour in 3.6 seconds -- two-tenths of a second slower than the coupe. Still, that's damn impressive, as is its 0-to-100-mph time of 6.7 seconds, not to mention its claimed top speed of 211 mph.
Power runs through a ZF-sourced, eight-speed automatic transmission, and the DBS Superleggera Volante employs torque vectoring for better handling characteristics. The Volante does not appear to have any model-specific structural changes to cope with the removal of the roof.
As you can imagine, the DBS Superleggera Volante is an expensive proposition: $329,100 in the US, including the federal gas-guzzler tax. That's some $24,000 more than the Superleggera coupe. But hey, if you have the means, then by all means.
