When I wrote the review back in July, I nearly ran out of superlatives to describe Gaydon's most powerful and expensive roadster.

I don't understand Ferrari's current design language and McLaren supercars still have a whiff of IT department about them.

Aston, meanwhile, just seems to be consistently knocking it out of the park.

The latest Vanquish is emblematic of a company on the up and up: it's stunning, especially in Volante form. And it's all surprisingly delicate.

That 5.2-litre V12 engine's peak output - all 824bhp of it - doesn't kick until 6500rpm, and when it arrives, it hits hard.

A clever bit of torque-shaping in GT mode helps it arrive cleanly and in a linear manner through the first four gears, but in Sport+ mode it's rampant.

And the best thing? There's no downside to it being a Volante. I'm sure Max Verstappen could tease out some dynamic differences between the coupé and the convertible on a track, but on UK roads I couldn't.