Read the full review

Rating

Verdict Union of machinery, excitement and a pub interior

When you turn the wheel in a Ferrari it communicates with the front tyres using telepathy. The whole car lets you know that it could flow from bend to bend whether you were there or not. In the DB9, you are made to feel like part of the equation. You have to manhandle the nose into the apex, so when you kiss it perfectly, and you will, because this car handles like a dream, you feel like it was all down to you.

Boy oh boy is it fast. The figures say it will go from 0 to 60 in 4.9sec and on to a top speed of 186, but actually, as you snarl through the countryside, it feels even faster than that.

Inside you have a Volvo satellite navigation system that works, you have a stereo system which sounds as good as anything from Quad, and you have space to move too.

So Aston has done it, kept the traditional qualities of a British car but blended them with German engineering to create a party in the park. An old-fashioned setting, but a whole new sound.

The result is a car for which only one word will do. If you want a “fast” car, buy a Ferrari. If you want a “Volkswagen”, buy a Bentley Continental GT. If you want a “perfect” car, you simply have to have a DB9.

Current price £110,850

Price when tested (Apr 2004) £103,000

Engine 5935cc, 12 cylinders

Power 450bhp @ 6000rpm

Torque 420 lb ft @ 5000rpm

Transmission Six-speed automatic

Fuel/ 17.1mpg (combined) / 394g/km

0-60mph 4.9sec

Top speed 186mph