Some cars make you spontaneously recite
poetry. In the Aston Martin DB9 coupe’s case, it’s early 19th century English
Romantic: “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” While John Keats never drove a
DB9, he almost certainly would have appreciated gazing upon one. A subtle but
precise restyle has resulted in 70 percent new sheet metal, making this 2+2
coupe’s lines even more beautiful. So even if you just hung it on a wall in
your English manor house and looked at it, you’d be happy.
But do drive it. The DB9 is a car that
performs as supremely as it looks. Thanks to subtle engine tuning last year,
the 6.0-liter V12 now makes 510 hp and 457 lb-ft of torque. Power is routed
from the front longitudinally mounted engine through a phone pole-sized alloy
torque tube to Aston’s Touch-tronic 2 rear mid mounted six-speed automatic.
The
DB9 is a well balanced car, partly thanks to its gearbox being located over the
rear axle
The whole thing sits in an aluminum cage on
which mostly aluminum panels — as well as magnesium and composite ones — are
hung. The car, weighing 3,935 pounds, is good for an estimated 4.5-second 0-60
time.
Like many supercars, it has its quirks.
There’s the slippery crystal-jewelry key fob you have to slide into the
dash-mounted slot and push to start the car; the pushbutton shifter is silly.
You can use the paddle shifters to operate the transaxle in a more sporty
fashion, but to get reverse, neutral or park, you have to push those big, fat
buttons on the console. The rear seats are ridiculously small. The new carbon
front splitter scrapes at even the suggestion of a driveway.
There's
a lot to like about the Aston's interior, including its glass-topped key
On the road, the DB9 initially comes across
far more like a grand-touring car than a sports car. That’s not a criticism.
It’s supremely composed in any of the three adaptive-damping settings, though
the differences between normal, sport and track modes are too subtle for many
drivers unless you push the car hard.
We had that chance on some twisting two-lanes
and found the DB9 performed more like a sports car the faster it went. The
paddle shifters changed gears instantaneously. The speed-sensitive Servotronic
rack-and-pinion steering was precise without letting in too much road bounce.
The efficient Pirelli P Zeros never squealed. Likewise, the carbon-ceramic
brakes were never really put to the test but still performed flawlessly. The
body itself was too stiff for us to twist; that torque tube never got torqued
out of line.
The
V12's efficiency has been improved and ready to give you the perfect
combination of rewarding performance
If we were in this market segment (ha!) and
had to choose between this, the Maserati Gran Turismo and the Mercedes-Benz SLS
AMG we’d … uh … we’d pass out. Apart from some silly cockpit awkwardness, we’d
live happily ever after in a DB9 or either of those other two. But the Aston
Martin is certainly the best-looking of the group. So, as Keats said, “Beauty
is truth, truth beauty—that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
