2025 Aston Martin Vanquish Volante: A-M’s ultimate GT goes topless

We live in the era of the electric car—lightning that can't be put back in its bottle. This is important to keep in mind when we talk about new cars like the Aston Martin Vanquish Volante, because on paper, it seems hard to justify its half-million-dollar price tag and 800-plus horsepower twin-turbo V12 when things like Rivian's Quad-motor R1 vehicles and Lucid's Air can top its numbers for half the price. I say this not to suck the air out of the room but to put things in perspective, as this was on my mind when I slid into the driver's seat of Aston's latest ultra-luxury option.

What I was quickly reminded of, however, is that this is decadence, which, by its nature, does not need to be justified. Nobody needs an Aston Martin; you want one. You don't simply drive it, either ...