Aston Martin DB12 Volante: the wow factor

Aston Martin DB12 Volante: the powertrain

The recipe for the Aston Martin DB12 Volante is broadly similar to the regular DB12 Coupe. That means that under the skin lies a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 engine with an output of 680 hp and a whopping 800 Nm of torque. The sprint from 0 to 100 km/h takes just 3.7 seconds and the top speed comes out to 202 mph, which is 323 km/h converted. Shifting, by the way, is done with an eight-speed automatic from ZF.

Stiffer than Coupe

The new DB12 Volante was developed in parallel with the Coupe. So also the open version uses a very rigid aluminum structure. Key structural elements, such as upper rear suspension mounting points and lateral joints, as well as performance additions, including the engine crossmember, increase the DB12 Volante’s torsional stiffness by nearly 5%. You read it right: so the DB12’s rigidity is better for it in the Volante.

The Aston Martin DB12 Volante also uses the electronic rear differential (E-Diff). The rider has a choice of five driving modes and an ESC with four modes. Like the Coupe, the focus is on dynamics.

No longer the ‘milder’ choice

Aston Martin Chief Technical Officer, Roberto Fedeli, said, “Volante possesses all the Super Tourer features successfully introduced in the DB12 Coupe. That we have retained this class-leading performance and handling is testament to the underlying genius of the DB12 platform and the work we have done to retain the benefit of its outstanding powertrain and chassis in an open-top version. The DB12 Volante is no longer the ‘milder’ option.”

K-fold soft top

This roadster uses a power-operated “K-fold” roof. This design is named after the two-stage folding procedure that allows the roof to fold very compactly, with a stack height of only 260 mm. The fabric hood consists of eight insulation layers. Operating the roof takes 14 seconds to open and 16 seconds to close. This can be done at speeds up to 50 mph. The roof mechanism can also be opened with the push of a key, as long as the key holder is within a two-meter radius of the car. There is a choice of four different soft-top colors: black (standard), red, blue “Black and Silver.