2010 Aston Martin DBS Volante – Open Top Motoring At Its Best

2010 Aston Martin DBS Volante

We first got a look at the Aston Martin DBS Volante at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show back in March and were pretty wowed. This drop-top version of James Bond’s preferred mode of transportation is a fantastic addition to the DBS family. The name Volante means ‘moving with light rapidity’ according to Aston Martin and this is an appropriate moniker. The car mostly shares everything with the standard DBS except for the roof.

Both have a hand-built 510 hp, 6.0-liter V12 engine that cranks out 420 lb-ft of torque and is mated to either a six-speed manual or six-speed Touchtronic automatic gearbox with paddle shifters. The performance specs are identical with both variants able to reach 62 mph in 4.3 seconds and hit a max speed of 191 mph. Stopping power comes from carbon-ceramic brakes with 6 piston calipers up front and 4 piston calipers in back.

2010 Aston Martin DBS Volante

The biggest different between the standard DBS and the new Volante is the soft-top roof. We’ve recently seen a push towards retractable hard-tops for luxury cars, but like many high-performance manufacturers, Aston Martin decided that saving weight was of upmost importance. The Volante has a curb weight of just 3,990 lbs which is only 41 pounds more than the standard DBS. The challenge with convertible sports cars is the chassis rigidity, but Aston Martin was able to retain the majority of the original’s rigor through advanced engineering.

The DBS Volante is the company’s 16th drop-top in 95 years and they have learned a great deal during that time. Two biggest complaints with convertibles – noise and vibration – are expertly accounted for and diminished with the Volante. Thinsulate is used to reduce cabin noise and keep the inside completely sealed off from the elements.

The roof of the DBS Volante retracts in only 14 seconds with the help of hydraulic pumps and can be operated up to 30 mph. When it is fully down, the soft-cloth sits in a special tonneau cover to retain its sleek appearance. If you happen to put your DBS Volante into a multiple turn-over flip, an advanced rollover protection system kicks in which deploys two pop-up rollers to keep your dome from scraping and splitting open.

2010 Aston Martin DBS Volante

Here’s a personal favorite, one near and dear to my heart. The DBS Volante features a 13-speaker Bang & Olufsen ‘BeoSound DBS’ in-car entertainment setup that actually recalibrates the sound stage when the top goes down to compensate for wind noise and still provide a slamming system. (Most convertibles have speaker systems that sound like absolute crap when the top is down). Price should run somewhere around $286,500 for a base model if we benchmark the current DBS. Check out the photo gallery below of the 2010 Aston Martin DBS Volante.

Source: Aston Martin



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  1. Zack Chases Cars

    Let me start by saying I generally don’t like convertibles. A car that was born a coupe is designed with all the capabilities at the designer’s disposal. They can shape the entire car; the hood flow up to the roof, the shape of the roof influences how the eye travels to the trunk, the shape of the C pillar and the window are their own focal point, the proportions of the canopy to the doors and body set off the eye. Just think of the difference in the roof between the swept back Mustang Fastback and the rounded Z4M coupe. Both coupes, totally different shape.

    So usually when someone takes a gorgeous coupe and chops the roof off, it changes the entire look of the car. A lot of time the line from the front fender to the trunk is a straight line, completely decimating the rounded curves that made the coupe gorgeous.

    But this DBS looks great. No way around it. The doors are tall, which makes the open space above them seem smaller. The car looks like it has it’s own, distinct profile, instead of a coupe that had a roof cut off with a Sawzall. When I see an Audi convertible, to me it looks like 40% of the car is missing. With this DBS it’s more like 20%. It just feels like the overall car lost less metal than other convertibles before it. It looks great from almost every angle. I fell in love with the DBS when I saw it (it’s an Aston Martin, real stretch to like it right?). But I fell in love with it’s performance, driving capability, interior, exterior, and the sound. When I first saw the press release of a topless DBS I was worried. But these pictures let me rest easy, and my confidence in Aston Martin has only deepened. This company has always been known for gorgeous cars, and sometimes they were fairly fast. I feel like they are Lance Armstrong and just found another gear. Better and better, no matter what endeavor they take on. Bravo.


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