Aston Martin is in determined mood. The DB9 has dominated the international motoring press of late and next year the 911-rivalling AM V8 looks set to continue the trend. The winds of change are certainly blowing through the company and the evidence is all around as I'm led into the pristine press garage, located in the stunning new Gaydon factory. Gleaming DB9s are parked in uniform rows, a couple of Vanquishes hunker next to them and there's a reminder of the very recent but almost unrecognisable past in the shape of a DB7 Zagato. It looks great - in a quirky Zagato-esque sort of way - but a glimpse inside highlights just how far Aston has come in a short period of time. Ferrari and the like must be deeply concerned about Aston's resurgence as a builder of serious high-quality performance cars.

The Vanquish is three years old now and you'd be forgiven for thinking that it was almost superfluous since the DB9 came along, but Aston isn't abandoning its glorious flagship just yet. Instead it's repositioning it as a more hardcore driver's car and we're here to try one with the new Sports Dynamic Pack. Think of it as Aston's version of the Fiorano pack that so transforms the 575. Aston has really delved deep to improve upon the standard car with shorter, stiffer springs and completely revised dampers, as well as significantly bigger brakes (six-piston callipers paired with 378mm discs at the front in place of four-piston, 355mm items). Uprated steering delivers 20 per cent quicker response while a new front suspension knuckle assembly and wheel hub assembly are said to improve feel and precision. The pack costs ΂£3000 and it includes some delicious sports seats (lifted from the DB7 GT) and new, lighter, nine-spoke 19in alloys. Aston expects that the vast majority of buyers will be seduced by the idea of a harder-edged Vanquish.

First, a reminder of the standard car. Well, it's wonderful. It rides beautifully and with the sort of hushed calm that is the very essence of a GT car, yet it doesn't trip up when you've turned off the motorway and want the car to morph from opulent cruiser into nimble, rewarding sports car. The steering is talkative and has a nice weighty feel to it, and the suspension does a convincing job of keeping all that mass tied down. Only a sustained and committed run along a really challenging road throws up a few areas that could be improved. The front end could do with just a shade more precision, and there's occasionally a degree of vertical bounce at the rear which can make it feel like the suspension is at its limit of control.
The brakes are probably the Vanquish's biggest weakness - the pedal is limp and a few strong applications have the discs rumbling horribly: fade quickly becomes a problem if you're really pushing on.

That said, as a GT it's close to spot-on. If the Sports Dynamic Pack improves body control, turn-in and ultimate grip without junking the ride quality, then the Vanquish should be able to square up to Ferrari's 575 Fiorano without fear.

You don't even have to turn a wheel to notice that the driving position is improved immeasurably by the sports seats. You're still a bit high but feel much more ensconced in the car; ready to take it by the scruff of the neck. Foot on the brake, twist the key, pull both paddles simultaneously to select neutral and then prod the starter button. That enormous 6-litre V12 bursts into life with a hard-edged bark. Immediately the big Aston feels special. Flip the right paddle and the digital display left of the speedo blinks from 'N' to '1'; a whiff of throttle and the Vanquish is smoothly away.

The ride is noticeably firmer, the tyres thwacking into depressions that the standard car would smother, and pattering gently over broken surfaces. If you're buying the Vanquish purely as a GT this might irk slightly, but it's by no means uncomfortable or crashy. And the rewards when you select Sport to quicken the gearshifts and settle down to enjoy the power and the chassis are, for people like us, worth the sacrifice...

For a big car the Aston really likes to be hustled. It has enormously long gearing so most A- and B-roads are the territory of third gear. It's an epic ratio, pulling hard from 45mph to beyond 120mph in one relentless lunge. The Vanquish can't match the savagery of a 575 but there's still enough mid-range to test the 285/40 ZR19 Yokohama rubber, and the top end is sparkling. The engine note is impeccably cultured but its resonant bellow brings out the hooligan in you, and it's impossible to resist wringing it out time and again to the 7000rpm cut-out. Fortunately, the chassis is happy deploying every last one of those 460bhp.

In the warm dry conditions that we enjoyed, grip is simply phenomenal, the superb turn-in matched by equally iron-fisted traction. In fact, power oversteer isn't on the agenda unless you're particularly brutal or use first (good for 60mph!) for hairpin-type corners. Instead you simply drive to the limits of the front grip, gradually upping your pace until the nose gently starts to push wide. Even at this sort of pace the 1800kg-plus Aston never loses its composure or lurches between direction changes. Body control is top notch and the quicker-reacting steering perfectly complements the improved agility.

The brakes are transformed, too; the pedal is very firm and bites hard from the top of its travel, and there was only the slightest hint of fade on the very tight, demanding road we used for photos. The standard stoppers would've given up long ago with this sort of treatment.

As ever, our only real gripes with the Vanquish centre on the paddle-shift gearbox. It's much improved at manoeuvring speeds and delivers perhaps the sweetest downshifts of any of these systems, but the upshifts are still punctuated by long pauses and engage with a thump. To be fair, if you're pootling the shift speed isn't an issue and the changes are respectable, while at ten-tenths you can live with the more brutal shift in Sport mode. It's when you use full throttle and shift early at, say, 4500rpm that the system feels clunky. And with 460bhp to play with you often short-shift in normal driving conditions. The Gallardo e-gear system is much better at upshifts but can't match the Aston's low-speed smoothness - combined they'd be almost perfect.

Gearbox issues aside, the Sports Dynamic Pack-equipped Vanquish is an enthralling, compelling and usable supercar. It feels, sounds and looks just like an Aston should. It's special. The ride is perhaps a degree too firm (very poor surfaces upset it quite markedly), and the wheel design isn't as elegant as the standard car's, but if you want the most capable and entertaining Vanquish the Dynamic upgrade is an irresistible option. When the long-rumoured 525bhp engine arrives later this year it'll make a formidable package. But even with 'just' 460bhp this Vanquish proves beyond any doubt that the future for Aston's flagship is very bright indeed.