Ah, the DB9. As an exotic car brand, Aston Martin doesn’t make very many cars. Even when they do have a varied range of models, most of them seem to be clones of each other, with a little nip/tuck here, or a steroid injection there. Nothing stands out in particular, but that’s reserved British styling for you.
This DB9 GT is viewed as the DB9’s final form, with a minor power push up from 510 hp to 540 hp. The touches are minor and subtle; things like GT badges and small exterior aesthetic pieces like a diffuser and splitter are all expected on a more extreme variant of a model. It gets a new infotainment system. The price goes up by a smidge. Nothing much to report here, but it does bring up an issue with the evolution of Aston Martin’s range.
The DB9 has roughly 2 more years left on it’s life, with the DB11 looming on the horizon. The DBS still sits a little higher than the DB9 in the Aston Martin range, but it’s also significantly more expensive. Aston Martin has rather cleverly selected and designed their cars to fit in a niche of their own, not going against “big” volume brands like Porsche and Ferrari, and instead going toe to toe with other brands like Bentley.
On top of this, the DB9 has a rather specific function. It’s not agile and aggressive like a Porsche 911, with a kerb weight sitting at between 1750 kg and 1890 kg depending on which body style you choose. It’s designed as a cruiser, and yet that V12 motor is so eager to rev that the two characteristics are almost at odds with each other.
It’s said that the new DB11 will be far lighter thanks to composite materials, and will also feature a range of Mercedes-AMG sourced turbocharged motors- and if this is the case, the characteristics of the DB-model will change in it’s entirety once again. But progress, as much as we fear it, is just as important for consumers as it is for a manufacturer.
