2025 Aston Martin Vanquish First Drive Review

Marek Reichman understands it will probably take more than one generation of its all-new car for Aston Martin to beat Ferrari, the Italian juggernaut. The Englishman from Sheffield says as much as he drives me back from lunch to a hotel on the northeast tip of Sardinia in the 2025 Aston Martin Vanquish. He’s doing me a favour; I’ve got a flight to catch, so it’s a good thing we’re in the brand’s new 824-horsepower flagship, a twin-turbo V12 super-tourer to rival Ferrari’s equally new and expensive 12Cilindri. 

Reichman is responsible for the design of the Vanquish and every other Aston in recent memory. He joined the company in 2005 and has outlasted an unusual number of CEOs and ownership changes, not to mention Daniel Craig’s entire run as 007. 

Reichman cruises along the Sardinian coast with one hand on the wheel, occasionally dipping into the car’s vast ocean of torque when a stretch of clear road opens up. When he does, the V12 emits a rich, buttery burble, and 738 lb-ft of torque presses us back into the leather seats. I can’t think of any other car I’d rather be in for a drive like this. Well, except maybe Ferrari’s 12Cilindri.

Everyone at Aston Martin, including Reichman, seems bullish about the company’s future under the ownership of Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, but the firm’s employees aren’t foolish either. They know they’re the underdog in this story. According to its stock valuation, Ferrari is worth roughly 70 times more than Aston.

Nevertheless, Stroll hasn’t been shy about calling out Ferrari. While unveiling the new Vanquish in Venice in front of an audience that included George Clooney, Daniel Craig, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Kevin Costner, Stroll said, “Why are we here in Venice? We want to beat the locals. There is this red team, I forgot their name.”

At least on paper, the 2025 Vanquish is Aston’s best shot yet at beating that red team. The Vanquish offers a 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12 pushing 824 horsepower, while the Ferrari’s 6.5-litre naturally-aspirated V12 makes 819 hp. The Ferrari’s price tag is approximately $40,000 more than the $514,800 Aston, a difference that is chump change in this rarified price bracket. Both cars have two seats, and both will be so rare that you may never see one unless you’re cruising around Pebble Beach during car week or hanging around Monaco during Grand Prix weekend.

Behind the wheel of the Vanquish, the differences between it and the Ferrari become obvious. The Aston is all brute-torque and leather-lined luxury, while the Ferrari is a more frenetic, high-revving adrenaline junkie.

Reichman’s initial brief to his team of designers was to make an “unstoppable rogue.” Visually, he said, from certain angles, the car looks like a predatory shark. “It's looking for its prey. This is actually looking for one of those red cars,” he said, taking a shot at Ferrari. 

Make up your own mind, but after seeing it in the metal, I’d argue the Vanquish is Reichman’s best work since the avant-garde 2016 DB11 or perhaps the oddball Lagonda Taraf.

Unlike the DBS, which the Vanquish replaces, the new car distinguishes itself from lesser Astons by having an elongated, purpose-built platform. It’s also the only front-engine model in the brand’s core lineup that offers a V12. Compared to the V8-engined DB12, the Vanquish looks lower, longer, and, therefore, more exotic. It is 80 millimetres longer than the DBS between the A-pillar and the front wheel. Here, finally, is a flagship from Aston Martin that really looks like a flagship.

It feels more spacious inside than the DBS, with an airy cabin and optional glass roof. The example I drove had leather and carbon fibre covering almost every surface. Much of the switchgear is Mercedes-Benz stuff, but it does the job. I’ll reserve judgment on the infotainment system since we used Apple CarPlay for navigation during the drive; at least that worked seamlessly, which is what most owners will care about.

As with the Ferrari, the Aston’s chassis and electronic differential do a remarkable job of putting an absurd amount of power to the road without drama. Both cars feel strangely usable. All 824 hp and 738 lb-ft of the Aston’s torque (available from just 2,500 rpm) goes through the two bespoke rear Pirelli P Zeros. Their gigantic 325/30/ZR21 size certainly helps.

“In this day and age, delivering and developing a brand new V12 engine is slightly against the grain and quite challenging,” said James Owen, Aston’s senior manager of vehicle engineering operations. He explained that there’s only one very minor carryover part from the previous V12.

The weightiness and response of the brake pedal, throttle, and steering all work together harmoniously to deliver a refined driving experience befitting this car’s eye-watering price. Only the slightly imprecise paddle shifters are a letdown; more crispness would improve the feel of the ZF eight-speed automatic transmission. The ride can be a touch stiff at lower speeds, but that’s excusable given the performance on offer. Still, the Vanquish would probably be more relaxing than the 12Cilindri on a road trip due the fact its steering isn’t as frenetic.

For Aston to invest untold millions to develop a new longer chassis and a thoroughly revised engine for this car is a major sign of Stroll’s commitment to the brand. It’s the most ambitious car we’ve yet seen from Aston under his leadership, and, for all his talk, also the only one that actually comes close to being a true Ferrari rival. From a technical standpoint, the Italian car is probably the more impressive product, but then that’s no surprise given Ferrari has so much more money and manpower at its disposal. The Vanquish — of which annual production will be about 1,000 units — proves Stroll’s talk of gunning for Ferrari isn’t just talk, but there’s still a long way to go, maybe one or two more model generations of this V12 marvel.

For now though, Reichman has done his job in making yet another painfully desirable Aston Martin — and in getting us back to the hotel with time to spare.