THE looks are long and lean, the power savage, the refinement guaranteed.
It’s not a mirage, but the Virage. And performance car maker Aston Martin will be showing it for the first time at the Geneva Motor Show next week.
Sitting between the DB9 and more powerful DBS models, the new Virage has been designed to combine outright sports car performance with luxury, comfort and refinement.
With a hand-built 6.0-litre V12 engine producing 490bhp beneath the bonnet, the powerplant is mated to a six-speed Touchtronic II automatic transmission mounted on the transaxle contributing to perfect 50:50 weight balance.
And the Virage’s dynamics have been tuned for an engaging yet more refined driving experience, where the driver can extract maximum performance with greater ease.
A newly developed Adaptive Damping System (ADS) intelligently ‘reads’ the road to provide optimum road holding, adapting to different conditions.
It’s a set-up that now selects up to five different stiffness settings within Normal mode, and a further five stiffer settings within Sport mode.
As for styling, there are new Xenon lamps, new front bumper, five-bar aluminium grille, 20-inch alloy wheels, chrome side vents and fresh rear diffuser, while inside there are upgraded and heated Bridge of Weir leather seats.
Each Virage will have 70 man hours of craftsmanship lavished on the interior alone and, in all, more than 200 hours will be spent handcrafting the Virage at the Aston HQ in Gaydon.
Pricing will be confirmed at Geneva where two further new models - the V8 Vantage S and Cygnet city car – will also be shown.