Aston Martin DB11 Volante review

There’s a rule of thumb that says, dynamically, convertibles sit in the shadow of the coupés on which they’re based. The reason? Simple: chopping off the roof weakens the chassis, so bracing is required to stiffen it again, thus adding weight. And weight is bad; it blunts the performance, ride and handling. Sure enough, the Volante is 110kg heavier than the DB11 coupé and still not as rigid. Yet it hides these flaws well.

For a start, performance remains stupendous. That wonderful Mercedes-AMG-sourced, twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 (unlike the DB11 coupé, you can’t buy a V12 Volante) responds with barely any lag and pulls like whipped Shire horse from low revs. Yet it still gallops enthusiastically round to its redline when asked and sounds simply amazing as it does so. Think Rod Stewart with laryngitis – deep and gravely, but still properly tuneful.

Where do its faults lie? Well, the eight-speed automatic gearbox is pretty smooth when left to its own devices, but can be slow-witted when the steering wheel-mounted paddles are used to change gear manually; this is a foible rather than an annoyance, though. The grabby brakes are more irksome – they make it hard to slow smoothly in traffic, but they do offer better progression when stopping from higher speeds.

An S-Class convertible is quieter on the motorway, because with the roof up you hear plenty of rumble from the DB11 Volante’s big 20in alloy wheels, plus some wind noise around the side windows. Drop the roof, though – an operation that’s carried out in near-silence in just 14 seconds, at speeds of up to 31mph – and it’s pleasantly bluster-free with the windows up and the wind deflector in place.