2015 Aston Martin Vanquish front 3/4 view

2015 Aston Martin Vanquish and Rapide S Gain Gears, Grunt and Refinement [w/ Videos]

2015 Aston Martin Vanquish front 3/4 view

While two stalwarts of the current Aston Martin lineup – the delicious Vanquish(and its convertible counterpart, the Vanquish Volante) and the practical-ish Rapide S – are spectacular cars, their chief competitors aren’t standing still. In fact, in many respects, they’ve surpassed the Vanquish and Rapide S, even though both of those Astons are fairly recent introductions. But the guys and gals in Gaydon aren’t taking these affronts lying down.

2015 Aston Martin Rapide S rear 3/4 view

Indeed, Aston Martin has treated both models to a bevy of upgrades for the 2015 model year. The most noteworthy of those upgrades is a switch to ZF’s wildly popular 8-speed automatic transmission. Not only does the new gearbox provide a significant fuel economy boost over the dated 6-speed auto, it also improves both models’ 0-60 mph acceleration times by half a second (4.2 seconds for the Rapide S, 3.6 seconds for the Vanquish), allows both models to top 200 mph flat-out, and it fits inside the same case as the 6-speed while weighing a few pounds less.

2015 Aston Martin Vanquish rolling chassis

But wait, as they say on the boob tube at 3 a.m., there’s more! Both cars also get new engine management systems from Bosch, which (slightly) raises the 5.9L V12’s total output to 552 horsepower in the Rapide S and 568 horsepower in the Vanquish (Torque is now 465 lb.-ft for both.). On the chassis side, the steering and suspension sytems have been re-tuned to provide sharper responses and more noticeable differences between the different driving modes, and both have new paint color, wheel style and interior trim options to help distinguish them from their 2014 counterparts. Look for shipments of both these British beauties to begin sometime this fall.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnWMPiaD-Ug&list=UUYi_2iWdjuktf9GzwCMIjtw[/youtube] [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKoWRbA9Fcg&index=1&list=UUYi_2iWdjuktf9GzwCMIjtw[/youtube]

Source: Aston Martin