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2018 Aston Martin DB11 Volante First Drive Review | The speed of style

If you're not a car designer, chances are you've tried to draw a sportscar, and realized just how hard it is to get those proportions just right. One false line, and the sleek coupe of your imagination looks like a kumquat. So you can imagine that transforming the striking V8-powered Aston Martin DB11 coupe into an equally stunning Volante ragtop was harder than it looked, a task which required Aston designers and engineers to nip and tuck everything past the windshield. "There were lots of healthy, heated debates," lead designer Julian Nunn says of how the DB11 Volante – fancy speak for convertible – was packaged. As it sits before us on a brisk winter morning in Southern France, the British drop-top has a sleek, fleet look thanks to the elegant rake of its nose, the sharp arc of its roofline, and the taut contours of its derriere. Aston's designers nailed the proportions – it's a stunner. How they got there was a game of millimeters, starting with a minuscule lift of the haunches to accommodate the eight-layer folding soft top. To soften the look of those lifted surfaces, the wheel arches are faceted slightly inboard, lending them more depth and dimension. The convertible loses the air vent at the rear, since there's no roof to create lift; as such, the so-called AeroBlade feature which ducts air through the C-pillar is also gone. But the rear spoiler remains, automatically deploying for downforce with a speed-dependent algorithm based on driving mode. The stack height (that is, the vertical space occupied by the folding roof) measures 10 inches, the lowest in its class, which helps the DB11 achieve its graceful looks with the added benefit of keeping the center of gravity low. The top takes 14 seconds to lower, and will drop at speeds up to 31 mph. A Volante with its top down puts Aston's typically gorgeous cabin on full display: the door's brogued leather details surrounded by an improbably shaped veneer surround; the complex curvature of the veneer around the capacitive touch-sensitive infotainment interface; the improbably generous swaths of leather and Alcantara upholstering the dashboard and A-pillar surfaces. There's even, for the first time, veneer on the backs of the front seats. The tiny rear seats come with ISOFIX car seat attachments, a first in a Volante. I could go on about the DB11's unusual and intriguing aesthetic choices, but I've also got a persistent gripe with the electronic instrument cluster.

Aston teases a topless DB11 before official Spring launch

Aston Martin has a lot riding on the new DB11. Aston Martin's CEO Andy Palmer called the vehicle the most important car the automaker launched in recent history, and on our first drive we said the new coupe is a great first step into the automaker's second century. So it shouldn't come as a surprise to hear that the automaker is working on a Volante variant of the DB11. The automaker teased the upcoming 2018 Aston Martin DB11 Volante with three images on its Facebook page. The lightly-disguised DB11 Volante reveals the upcoming roadster will feature a folding soft-top roof, with the writing on the door indicating that the vehicle will come out in the Spring of 2018. The three images only show the upcoming Volante's rear end, which is just as good looking as the coupe's. The front end should also mimic the regular DB11's, but the fact that Aston Martin didn't release any images of the Volante's front fascia has us thinking that it could be slightly different than the coupe's. Power for the DB11 Volante is expected to come from the automaker's all-new 5.2-liter twin-turbo V12 that generates 600 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque. While the coupe is able to hit a top speed of 200 mph and can get to 62 mph in 3.9 seconds, the Volante will be a little slower to 62 mph and will have a lower top speed, as well. Having a roofless DB11 will also cost more than the coupe's base price of roughly $212,000. With the DB11 Volante set to be revealed in the early months of 2018, we expect to see a lot more of the roadster in the upcoming months. Related Video:

Aston Martin lead designer doesn't fear the future

Marek Reichman is the chief creative officer of Aston Martin, so he oversees the creation of some of the world's most desirable vehicles. This includes not only the production cars from the venerable British brand, like the DB11 coupe and convertible, or the all-new Vantage, but also "Specials." These limited-edition, extremely expensive, outrageous and drool-worthy custom vehicles are developed by Aston's special advanced engineering skunkworks, like the Vulcan and Valkyrie. And, now, with the revival and reimagining of Lagonda as an electric and autonomous ultra-luxury sub-brand, he's also responsible for creating a full line of vehicles to fill out its offerings — a limousine, a coupe and an SUV. Speaking at the global launch of the brand's new Vantage — long its best-selling vehicle and the entry-level gateway into the Aston universe — Reichman is cautiously optimistic about the future of the traditional sports car. In part, because he believes that some humans will always crave speed and feel. "Washing clothes became automated, building refrigerators became automated. Everything becomes automated, because we see it as advanced," Reichman says. "But there will always be a segment of the population that wants that experience. That engagement." Of course, as technology advances toward the alleged inevitability of our electric and autonomous future, and rules regarding who can own or drive what kind of car lead or follow, this segment may become increasingly restricted. Reichman lives in Oxford, England, which will become the first city in Europe to completely ban carbon-emitting vehicles in the start of the next decade, so he is well aware of these impending changes. "At the high performance end it might become the province of the rich, who will need private spaces to use these vehicles," he says. "But what will happen with the Morgans or the Lotuses of the world — the more accessible brands? There may still be a place for them." View 17 Photos This sense of possibility stems from Reichman's belief that the next generation can hold simultaneously divergent ideas. "I think there is always going to be a space for the personal need and desire for performance driving. I see it even in kids today," he says. "They believe in the world of electrification. That that is their inevitable future.