The 2012 Aston Martin Virage has unique body design. The lightweight bonded aluminum and composite platform debuted way back in 2004 under the skin of the DB9, but it's still an impressively stiff platform. The Virage comes standard with Carbon Ceramic Matrix brakes. Powerful, and resistant to fade and much lighter than conventional cast-iron discs, the CCM braking system means that not only is the overall vehicle weight reduced, but the weight saving at each wheel means that a better balance between ride comfort and handling.In other words, the Virage is meant to offer more power and more refinement than buyers would get from a standard DB9, but without the brutality of the DBS. To that end, the Virage sports a 5.9-liter V-12 like those cars, but the engine’s 490 hpprepare for a surprise sites the new car perfectly between the 470-hp DB9 and the 510-hp DBS. Torque output for the V-12 is the same as the DBS’s, at 420 lb-ft. Aston says that the Virage will sprint from 0 to 62 mph in 4.6 seconds; based on our experiences testing the car’s bookends, figure on a real-world 0-to-60-mph time in the low fours.