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Aston Martin Virage Volante (1992-1996) |
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By the
time that the Volante was available for sale in January 1992 at a not
insignificant price of £145,500, I strongly suspect that all examples were built
in 2+2 form. The finely fitted convertible roof with a glass rear window was
fully electrically operated, but was unable to fold fully into the body.
Obviously, the Volante version of the Virage is easy to identify from the coupe with the lack of solid roof. But there are also some detail differences that must be pointed out - such as the chrome brightwork along the top of the front bumper, along the top edge of the doors and along the boot edge. The Volante also features chrome door handles and a chrome grille. |
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Initially, the Virage Volante was fitted with the standard Virage V8 engine producing power of 330bhp and 350lb/ft of torque. Production of the Volante overlapped the introduction of the V8 coupe - so the last 11 examples received the more powerful, 95/ spec V8 coupe engine - with maximum power upto 349bhp @ 6000rpm and torque of 369lb/ft @ 4300rpm. Later examples got the 4 speed autobox as used on the V8 coupe |
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| These shot were taken taken during the 1999 AMOC Le Mans Tour. This late model Virage Volante was photographed at one of the AMOC official hotels for Le Mans - Chateau Courtalin. |
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Comparison of this later Volante dash shows many
detail differences from that of the coupe. The walnut veneer extends to the redesigned
centre console and the instrument surrounds. The computerised fault finder is
replaced by three conventional instrument dials. The steering wheel now
houses an air bag; this was a standard feature on all US cars and eventually
became standard on all cars. This car also features cruse control. Initially, the Volante was fitted with the 16 inch wheels of the Virage, although later in production life, the 17 inch wheels were also fitted, together with the stylish side air vents. |
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During 1992 and 1993, demand for the Virage Coupe had dropped off considerably and the Vantage had not yet entered production. Without the Virage Volante, the Newport Pagnell factory would have been almost silent - during those two years, 125 examples were produced from a total production of 134 cars. Total production of the Virage Volante ended in 1996 with just 235 examples completed and a mere 20 imported into the US. As the time, the motoring press gave the Volante a bit of a pasting. It was a very heavy car (1960kg), and even with in excess of 300bhp, performance in the hands of the testers (148.5mph, 0-60mph in 7.6 seconds - Fast Lane) seldom achieved the figures claimed by AML (155mph, 0-60mph in 6.5 seconds - but as little as 6.0 with the 349bhp engine and 5 speed manual gearbox). Testers sadly were not impressed with the ride quality, handling or road holding. But like every Volante ever built, long term ownership can be highly recommended as residual values will always be much then the closed cars. |
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| Page Updated Mittwoch Juli 09, 2008 |
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