Gran Turismo 5: The Aston Martin Vanquish

It maybe a grand tourer but is it raw?

I still remember the Aston Martin V12 Vanquish because ever since I first played GT3 A-Spec on the PS2, this was a prize car that you have to obtain it after meeting certain criterias. Well, long story short about this, here I was, driving one of Aston's ultimate grand tourers. Also, when this car was appointed as the Bond Car for Pierce Brosnan's final Bond film, Die Another Day, in 2002, I was so glad that this former Bond actor really put the V12 Vanquish into good use during a duel against a heavily armed Jaguar XKR driven by a villain named Zao. It was the best scene I've ever saw and I think this is much better than the remote controlled BMW 750Li from Tomorrow Never Dies.

Let the good times roll, eh?

This is somewhat how James Bond feels like when
he drove this

But this Vanquish is more than just being a Bond car, and despite the fact that Pierce Brosnan has one in real life. What I really don't understand is that it was desingned by the same man who was currently the head designer of Jaguar, Ian Callum, and this was essentially a beefed up version of the Aston Martin DB7. Look closely and you'll noticed that the Vanquish was just a DB7 on steroids but this car is also just more than that because this is essentially a production version of the 1998 Project Vantage Concept as seen from the 1998 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan.

Despite being a bigger brother of the DB7, the Vanquish is still an elegant looking grand tourer. It's still the perfect car you would like the bring it out at the South of France and still gather much crowd as possible because even by modern standards, it's still a head turner.

It's all about elegance in every direction

The typical six-litre V12 engine that you can normally see in most Astons is fitted on the Vanquish. With this, it develops about 460HP of power, 0-60mph in five seconds, and an alleged top speed of over 315kph. It maybe the kind of car that welcomed through the 300kph elite club but the Vanquish is just too darn perfect. The interior, the badge, the fact James Bond drove one, the Britishness, everything that what makes the Vanquish one of the best grand tourers from the last decade.

Oh, this is more fun!

Mind you, the Vanquish may have been a perfect GT car from the last decades but sadly, it was the last car to be ever built from Aston Martin's Newport Pagnell factory in 2007. Even though the Newport Pagnell factory was shut down, this site was still used as Aston's Works Service department, providing maintenance, tuning and restoration facilities for Astons of all ages. About that old Newport Pagnell plant, the first car produced in 1958 at this factory was the DB4 and during its 5-decade tenure, about 12,000 cars were built.

An instant classic

For decades, the Aston Martin Vanquish V12 is definitely a future classic and a collector's item not only because it was the kind of car for those who are a big fan of the James Bond movies but it's because it was made from Newport Pagnell with pride. It was the last car to be built on this place and it has been an honor to drive one of those masterpiece classics from Britain.