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If you’re a plutocrat with a penchant for expensive automotive bling, but don’t want to be too showy about it – good news! Aston Martin’s Lagonda Taraf will now be available in locales other than the Middle East. That means that you’ll be one of 200 to sample one of the 6.0-litre, V12 machines. Well, that’s if you’ve got a suitably large enough bank account – prices haven’t been released, but the unit of measurement is likely to be ‘shedloads’.

However, for those of us with more modest budgets, there is a solution, and we have to look back to William Towns’s striking Lagonda. With this particular example up for sale for £130,000 it’s still not beer money, but some way short of the Taraf. 

PERFORMANCE

Okay, so the Taraf will win this on numbers alone. That 6.0-litre V12 sees action in all of Aston’s ‘big’ cars, and while precise performance figures for the Taraf haven’t been released, in Vanquish flavour it produces a meaty 568bhp and 465lb ft. That means sub-four seconds to 60mph and a top speed of 201mph. 
That’s not to say the Towns Lagonda isn’t swift – it uses a 5.3-litre V8 engine to produce 280bhp, which will whisk you to sixty in just over eight seconds and on to 140mph. 
One wonders whether twice the horsepower will be of any use to Taraf owner – you wouldn’t want to get Bollinger over the rear seats when the chauffeur gets frisky with the loud pedal, now would we?

HANDLING

No-one outside of Aston Martin has driven the Taraf and it’s highly unlikely the majority of us will, but given that the Rapide is generally well-received, it’s hard to imagine it being awful. And despite its looks the Aston Lagonda is an enthusiastic steer, too. While the non-Vantage V8 upon which the undergarments are based can draw some criticism for being a bit soft and floaty, there’s a harder-edge to the Lagonda’s steering that means your chauffeur can still give you spillage problems, should he or she feel the need to be naughty in the bends. However, it’s not wallowy – it corners flatly and the ride comfort is superb.
That does rather focus the mind; we can’t imagine many Taraf owners driving their cars, where a lot of Lagonda custodians do (well, until they stop ‘surprisingly’). We’d say if you’ve ever tried a Bentley Turbo R, you can expect similar levels of feel here. But then the Bentley Turbo R looks like a lightly modified Bentley. Whereas…

THE LOOKS

William Towns shocked the word with his Lagonda design back in 1976, and despite being in production until 1990 (the one in our pictures is one of the last ones made), it never got boring. In fact it’s still somewhat futuristic despite its age, much like the Porsche 928 that shares a similar life arc. Everything about it pushes at the avantgarde; if this was a building there’d be protests outside town halls and snooty columns in broadsheet newspapers. And for that, I love it. 
It’s the kind of design that is usually seen by a select few at motor shows, then hidden to gather dust in manufacturer museums or very private collections. The only link such concepts have to production reality is a video game version or bits of it featuring tenuously on a hatchback’s mid-life facelift. This, however, stalks the land as a modernist masterpiece on wheels. 
This all reflects badly on the new boy. The Taraf, while a pleasing design, lacks the sheer outrageousness of its older brother. I imagine this restrained look was intentional, and it’s certainly not ugly. However, will we be discussing its aesthetic merits, good or bad, nearly 40 years after its launch? Hmm.

PRACTICALITY & INTERIOR

The Taraf is customisable to your heart’s content and if you’ve got the cash to spend on one, I imagine you’re not interested in finding out how many baked bean tins fit in the boot. You probably arrange for them to be shipped separately in your own private jet. 
The Lagonda, however, is a large car (shorter than a Mercedes S-class of similar age, however), but that’s the least of your worries, frankly. Aside from the usual handbuilt Aston ‘quirks’, the Lagonda was notorious for its electrical maladies. However, by the end of the car’s life the electrics had been rationalised and retuned; and there’s now a wider knowledge base to help sort out such issues. The car we’ve chosen is a very rare Series 4 model and by then most problems had been attended to. The vendor’s even offering a one-year warranty! 
If you do break down, you can take in the intriguing mix of space-age switchgear, LCD instruments and Olde English clubhouse leather and wood. Not a bad way to spend a few hours, to be honest…

SUMMARY

On paper, the Taraf may be 'better', but that's not the whole story. For sheer emotional pull the William Towns-penned machine is rather more appealing. Not only is it cheaper, it makes a statement and dares to be different. Quite whether that statement is the cream to your coffee is up to you, but at least someone tried. 
For either the Taraf or the Aston Lagonda, may I offer my services as that chauffeur? I apologise about the spilled vino in advance… But which would you have? Let us know below…