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Aston Martin Vanquish S (2004 - 2007)

At the Paris Salon, September 2004, the long awaited 'super' Vanquish was first shown to an expectant public. Some may have said that the image of the Vanquish may have suffered slightly in the shadow of the universally acclaimed DB9. So the Vanquish S as AM would like it known, was intended to add distance between the two distinct models. The exterior changes were quite subtle; a splitter at the front to improve aerodynamic stability, a more rounded and open grille for better cooling and a redesigned boot lid to give better downforce. The quoted drag co-efficient was thus improved slightly from 0.33 to 0.32.

Not so subtle was the claim that AM made for the Vanquish S - a top speed in excess of 200mph, which would make this the fastest road going Aston Martin ever. To achieve the magical 200, the V12 engine, still displacing 5.9 litres (AM love to call it 6 litres) has been enhanced with new cylinder heads with fully machined inlet ports and combustion chambers to improve airflow, revised engine mapping and new fuel injectors. The result of the reworking has moved the output to 520 bhp (from 460) with a very useful 425 lb ft of torque (up from 400). AM are calling the Vanquish S, the ultimate Aston Martin. I myself have been hankering after a Vantage Le Mans and I can feel my eye starting to waver.

The suspension, brakes and steering were exactly the same as has already previewed on the Sport Dynamic Package announced a little under a year previously. You may think that the wheels are the same as the 2001MY Vanquish - not so - if you count the spokes, you will see that the S wheel has 11, one less than the standard car.

AM claimed the 0-60mph dash could be achieved in 4.8 seconds - which is 0.3 seconds slower than they initially claimed for the standard car. This is confirmed by the change in the final drive ratio, raised from 3.69:1 to 4.30:1, needed to achieve the headline 200mph top speed.

morning frost vanquish s

Above is perhaps the first Aston to receive the 'love it or loathe it'' Morning Frost paint finish, a car specified and driven by Dr Bez and photographed in 2006 at the Newport Pagnell factory parked beneath the three storey building.

	The Vanquish S interior has some differences from the original car. The central backlit etched glass starter button had already been taken from the DB9 but the big change came with the whole centre console covered in leather instead of being painted. As with the standard car, the S can be ordered as either a 2 seater (2+0) with luggage space or a 2+2. Delivery of the first Vanquish S appeared to have occurred very shortly after the Paris salon announcement. This customer car that I photographed at Donnington Park was spotted in very early October 2004. The price at launch for the S was only slightly more than the original car - up from Ł163,000 to Ł174,000.
	For the 2006 model year Vanquish S, the interior received a DB9 inspired make-over to the centre console. The a new 6.5 inch full colour satellite navigation system screen took prominence moving the starter button and gear selection switches down. I will point out that the sat-nav wasn't fitted for all world markets. The climate control knobs were similar to those in the DB9 and the in car entertainment system was now a 900W Alpine system (but Aston Martin branded) that has replaced the previous Linn system. Oddly the clock moved so far down the console this it must be hardly visible to the driver. The cupholder was revised and the car had a Bluetooth phone system. The 2006 Vanquish was I believe unchanged on the exterior except for the adoption of a bee-sting radio antenna at the back of the roof similar to that seen on the smaller V8 Vantage.
Although discontinued in 2007, the US got their last Vanquish S, chassis 502254 in June 2006. Federal law required automatic deactivation of the passenger airbag with a child in the seat and it just wasn't worth the effort for AM to re-engineer this feature with only a years production left in the model. By the end of production in July 2007, I believe the total production of the 'S' had reached in excess of 1000 examples (but less than 1100) including the Ultimate Edition.


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Page Updated Sunday February 17, 2008