Aston Martin Vanquish Buyer's Guide
Vanquish has meant two different flagship Astons: the 2001–2007 V12 Vanquish, the last hand-built Newport Pagnell car, and the 2012–2018 Vanquish, the carbon-bodied successor to the DBS. All three of our sold results are second-generation cars, from £37,688 for a 2013 coupé to £66,375 for a 2014 Volante, and a first-generation car is currently listed with an estimate of £50,000 to £60,000.
Know your generations
The original V12 Vanquish (2001–2007, 460bhp) is the Ian Callum shape with the bonded aluminium and carbon structure, built by hand and fitted with an automated single-clutch paddle-shift gearbox that divides opinion to this day. The Vanquish S of 2004–2007 brought more power and sharper gearing and is the collector's pick of the first generation. The second generation (2012–2018, 565bhp) sits on the VH platform with full carbon-fibre bodywork; the Volante convertible arrived in 2013, the 595bhp Vanquish S in 2016, and the coachbuilt Zagato variants (2016–2017) occupy their own market well above the standard cars. Our sold results are all from this second family: the 2013 coupé at £37,688, a 2015 Carbon White Edition at £56,250, and the 2014 Volante at £66,375.
What to pay
Three sold results: £37,688, £56,250 and £66,375, median £56,250. Within that small sample the pattern is orthodox: early standard coupés at the bottom, special editions in the middle, Volantes on top. Active listings agree at the edges: a 2012 car is estimated at £30,000 to £50,000, a 2014 at £75,000 to £100,000, and the 2002 first-generation car at £50,000 to £60,000, which places an original V12 Vanquish above the cheapest second-generation cars despite being a decade older. Zagatos and Vanquish S models would sit above everything here; we have no results for them yet.
What goes wrong
On the 2001–2007 car the story is the gearbox: the automated single-clutch system eats clutches when driven badly in traffic, and the position sensors and hydraulic pumps fail with age. Factory-sanctioned manual conversions exist and generally help both usability and value; budget seriously for clutch condition on any unconverted car and ask when it was last done. The second generation's Touchtronic automatic is far more robust, and from 2014 the eight-speed ZF is better again. Shared V12 items across both: coil packs and leads (a big labour bill on twelve cylinders), fuel pumps, and corrosion in the bonded structure around jacking points if the car has been carelessly lifted. Carbon body panels on the later car make minor accident repairs disproportionately expensive, so scrutinise panel fit and paint records. Check the tyre date codes; these cars do low miles and perish rubber is near universal.
Our view
At our median of £56,250 the second-generation Vanquish is a great deal of hand-finished carbon-bodied V12 for the money, and the £37,688 entry point for an early coupé looks like the value position if the history is complete. Long term, the first-generation V12 Vanquish is the safer classic: last of Newport Pagnell, a Bond car, and increasingly collected, with the gearbox its only real asterisk and a manual conversion the fix. Either way, buy on service history and gearbox evidence, not on colour or miles.
