Aston Martin Virage revealed

The Aston Martin Virage, the latest addition to the Aston Martin family, set to take its place between the DB9 and DBS.

The Virage comes with a naturally aspirated 6.0 litre V12 engine producing 490 hp and 420 lb ft of torque.  That power is sent through a carbon fibre propshaft to a rear-mounted transaxle transmission, a six speed automatic named Touchtronic II.  This sort of configuration helps the Virage get a 50:50 weight distribution front to rear.

Accelaration from a stand still to 62 mph takes 4.6 sec while top speed is a claimed 186 mph (299 km/h).  The Virage comes with 20 inch wheels as standard wrapped around in Pirelli P Zero tyres.

The Virage gets a newly developed Adaptive Damping System (ADS) with comfort and sports settings to help strike that balance between comfort and handling.  It will also be equipped with Carbon Ceramic brake discs as standard.  Pressing the “Sport” button on the console will also sharpen throttle response, hold on to revs longer when accelerating - not changing gears automatically when you hit the limiter (while in manual mode), and also gives quicker gear changes.

---

New exterior features include new headlamps which look very similar to those found on the four-door Rapide, a new aluminium metal front grille that has five horizontal vanes, a new front bumper, and side strakes with six LED lights.

The driver and passenger can expect a well made interior, thanks to the high quality leather being used and the 70 man hours gone into making it.  You will also find a fully integrated satellite navigation system displayed on a high resolution 6.5 inch screen.  There is also a 700 watt audio system, and full iPod integration.

The Aston Martin Virage and Virage Volante are now ready for purchase, however Aston Martin intends to announce the prices at the Geneva Motor Show next week.

Alex Kisiri