This dream car? Martin. Aston Martin.
As far as car names go, Aston Martin is the coolest of them all. It is so cool in fact, even James Bond chooses it as his company car.
All this fame and coolness is just fine, but how are the cars? Is it just the name, or is there some substance
Recently, I borrowed a brand new DB9 (from Grand Touring Automobiles in downtown Toronto), one of the company's latest offerings, to see what it is like.
This was a sort of a reunion for me, since I had a DB9 test car in the UK last year. However, the time I spent with it on UK roads was during nothing but wet weather. I didn't get a feel for how the car drove on dry roads.
Thankfully, the time I spent with it locally was on a gorgeous sunny day, and let me tell you, I spent a lot of time with it.
This is by no doubt one of the world's prettiest cars. Not a single line is wrong, not from a single angle does the car look anything but gorgeous. If I owned this car, I'd make arrangements to park it in my living room.
I would make sure I spent as much time driving it as I would admiring it. The admirations continue when you step inside too, since this car has one of the most modern interiors. There is the right mix of wood, leather, suede and aluminum accents. There is modern technology too, since you can have satellite navigation, power everything, and the coolest instrument binnacle on the planet. You need to see the dials to fully appreciate them, but to give you an idea, they are set in multi-layer aluminum sheets, with individual glass crystals set as markers, and at night time, they glow white. How much cooler can it get?
It does get better though. In the centre of the dash, you'll find a big crystal button. When you turn the ignition on, that button glows red. Push it, and the 6.0 litre, V12 fires up with an angry growl that would wake up all your neighbours.
That monster engine produces 460 hp, and it is mated to a six-speed automatic gearbox (a six-speed manual is also available.) This is the nicest auto-box I have ever used. Many autos these days have manual shift options, but this one has a different feel to it. This one feels like those F1-shift gearboxes, only more refined and smoother.
Like the F1-gearboxes, you have up shifts on your right hand, down shifts on the left, and this just makes driving so much better. You feel like a star racing driver, and isn't that what a car like this is supposed to feel like?
This Aston Martin has racecar speed too. With 0-100 km/h dealt in 4.7 seconds and a top speed of 305 km/h this is a seriously fast machine.
The only two things I would want changed to enhance the driving experience is to give it more steering feel; you somehow don't feel the front wheels are biting hard into the tarmac. Secondly and most importantly, I would give the car better brakes. The ones it comes with don't feel like they are really grabbing hard, and that is not great when you have to lose a ton of speed from a high-speed run.
Other than that, it is a phenomenal car. If you can own one, you'll love every minute you'll spend with it. In order to own one, you have to spend $230,000 plus our government taxes for it. For that sort of money, you deserve one amazing car, and trust me; you'll be getting one amazing car in the DB9.
All this fame and coolness is just fine, but how are the cars? Is it just the name, or is there some substance
Recently, I borrowed a brand new DB9 (from Grand Touring Automobiles in downtown Toronto), one of the company's latest offerings, to see what it is like.
This was a sort of a reunion for me, since I had a DB9 test car in the UK last year. However, the time I spent with it on UK roads was during nothing but wet weather. I didn't get a feel for how the car drove on dry roads.
Thankfully, the time I spent with it locally was on a gorgeous sunny day, and let me tell you, I spent a lot of time with it.
This is by no doubt one of the world's prettiest cars. Not a single line is wrong, not from a single angle does the car look anything but gorgeous. If I owned this car, I'd make arrangements to park it in my living room.
I would make sure I spent as much time driving it as I would admiring it. The admirations continue when you step inside too, since this car has one of the most modern interiors. There is the right mix of wood, leather, suede and aluminum accents. There is modern technology too, since you can have satellite navigation, power everything, and the coolest instrument binnacle on the planet. You need to see the dials to fully appreciate them, but to give you an idea, they are set in multi-layer aluminum sheets, with individual glass crystals set as markers, and at night time, they glow white. How much cooler can it get?
It does get better though. In the centre of the dash, you'll find a big crystal button. When you turn the ignition on, that button glows red. Push it, and the 6.0 litre, V12 fires up with an angry growl that would wake up all your neighbours.
That monster engine produces 460 hp, and it is mated to a six-speed automatic gearbox (a six-speed manual is also available.) This is the nicest auto-box I have ever used. Many autos these days have manual shift options, but this one has a different feel to it. This one feels like those F1-shift gearboxes, only more refined and smoother.
Like the F1-gearboxes, you have up shifts on your right hand, down shifts on the left, and this just makes driving so much better. You feel like a star racing driver, and isn't that what a car like this is supposed to feel like?
This Aston Martin has racecar speed too. With 0-100 km/h dealt in 4.7 seconds and a top speed of 305 km/h this is a seriously fast machine.
The only two things I would want changed to enhance the driving experience is to give it more steering feel; you somehow don't feel the front wheels are biting hard into the tarmac. Secondly and most importantly, I would give the car better brakes. The ones it comes with don't feel like they are really grabbing hard, and that is not great when you have to lose a ton of speed from a high-speed run.
Other than that, it is a phenomenal car. If you can own one, you'll love every minute you'll spend with it. In order to own one, you have to spend $230,000 plus our government taxes for it. For that sort of money, you deserve one amazing car, and trust me; you'll be getting one amazing car in the DB9.
