Aston Ups Power, Driving Dynamics and Styling of Current Top Model

The new Vanquish S, which made its world debut at the Paris Motorshow a few days ago, ".... is the ultimate high-performance Aston

The ultimate high-performance Aston Martin? The new Vanquish S sure seems to live up to that title. (Photo: Aston Martin)

Martin," according to its CEO, Dr. Ulrich Bez. Britain's premiere grand touring and supercar maker has certainly raised the bar for front-engine exotics around the globe, and in the process has set a few records for the Newport Pagnell firm.

The S model is essentially a reworking of the company's flagship Vanquish, in an effort to increase power and improve the suspension setup. What's the result? It's merely the fastest and best handling production Aston to date.

The Ford-owned, Premier Auto Group (PAG) controlled top-tier manufacturer has massaged the powerplant to improve performance, despite the monstrous 6.0-liter Cosworth-tuned V12's 460 horsepower and 400 lb-ft of torque being more than what the majority of rich enthusiasts will ever make proper use of. Critical components have been reworked, including the cylinder head which now features machined inlet ports and combustion chambers for optimized airflow. The engineers have also introduced new fuel injectors, spark plugs and engine management components to improve horsepower and torque figures. Stronger,

The Vanquich S is powered by a monstrous 6.0-liter Cosworth-tuned V12 that produces 520 horsepower and 425 lb-ft of torque. (Photo: Aston Martin)

hot-forged connecting rods have been implemented to deal with the additional power.

As a result the Vanquish S produces a peak output of 520 horsepower at 7,000 rpm, a 60 horsepower increase over the base model, while torque has been boosted by 25 lb-ft to 425 lb-ft at 5,800 rpm. Helping to make the most of the engine improvements, the six-speed paddle-shift actuated sequential gearbox has been revised with a shorter final drive ratio of 3.69:1, down from 4.3:1. The additional muscle shows in straight-line performance, with the Vanquish S needing only a conservative 4.8 seconds to reach 100 km/h, down 0.2 seconds from the regular Vanquish. The most dramatic improvement of all is the car's 80 to 112.7 km/h (50-70 mph) dash in top gear, which has dropped by two full seconds to 6.5.

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