Aston Martin was bought by Ford since as early as 1987, but it was left very much ignored until recently. Now Ford has big plan for the British premium sports car maker. It wants to push its sales from today's 1,500 cars a year to 8,000 cars a year. This consists of a few hundred units of Vanquish, 2,000-2,500 units of DB9 and 5,000 units of V8 Vantage. The price structure of the 3 cars will be £160,000, £100,000 and £70,000 respectively. To work this out, Ford installed ex-Porsche engineer Ulrich Bez to head the company, invested enormous money into a modern factory and employed Henrik Fisker as dedicated designer. By the way, the latter was best known for designing BMW Z8.  

For a company targeting at producing 8,000 cars a year, it is impossible to develop 3 separate platforms. Therefore the solution is to use a common platform called VH - stands for Vertical and Horizontal - for the DB9, V8 Vantage and the next generation Vanquish. The platform employs aluminum bonded frame chassis and is flexible enough to extend in vertical and horizontal directions to accommodate the trio. They will also share a transaxle gearbox mounted at the rear axle for 50:50 weight distribution, and in the case of DB9 and Vanquish, a common V12 engine with different state of tune. This allows Aston to have 3 cars out of relatively little additional cost. 

The chassis of DB9 consists of mostly extruded aluminum bonded by rivets and adhesive like Lotus Elise. Compare with Vanquish, it saves cost by using cast aluminum transmission tunnel instead of carbon fiber one. Magnesium are extensively used, such as door frames, door inner panels and steering column mounting while the all-round double-wishbones suspensions are made of forged aluminum. The body panels are partly aluminum and partly plastic composites. As a result, DB9 tips the scale at 1710 kg for the 6-speed manual gearbox version (6-speed ZF automatic adds 50kg). This means a saving of 70kg from its predecessor. While this seems not much, in terms of stiffness the aluminum chassis is definitely in a different league. Aston did not give any rigidity figures, but from road testers' observation it is immensely rock solid, letting the suspension to concentrate on providing accurate control.  

Like its predecessor, DB9 is strictly a 2+2. A combination of low roof, steeply raked windscreen and rear window limits headroom for the front passengers. At the back, despite of a wheelbase gain of 150mm, it is still more suitable for luggage rather than human. The DB9 was styled by Henrik Fisker but its general shape evolves from Ian Callum's Vanquish. From some angles it is very difficult to distinguish the two. However, good observers will notice the car has softer lines and surfaces to reflect its more civilized character, although drag coefficient is the same 0.35.  

A comparison with its rival Ferrari 612 Scaglietti is interesting. Although they were launched in the same year, both have aluminum construction and a V12 engine, they are very different in character - the Aston's shape is powerful and purposeful, obviously more beautiful than the disappointing Pininfarina design. However, while you expect Aston to be more comfort biased, it is the Ferrari that actually delivers real comfort, no matter in ride quality or cabin space (it's a true 4-seater). We shall see later… 

DB9's 5935cc V12 is an improved version of DB7's unit. A lighter crankshaft and other components reduce 12kg while pushing power by 30hp. However, compare with 612 Scaglietti it is by no means powerful. The Ferrari V12 can rev to a sky-high 7250rpm and produces 540 horsepower there. In contrast, the Aston V12 is no where as revvy. It generates just 450 horsepower at a relatively leisure 6000rpm. Lack of variable valve timing and variable intake is one reason, but the main cause lies on its bloodline - the Aston V12 was originally constructed by mating a pair of Ford Duratec V6 powering your everyday Taurus. That's not a good starting point for a supercar engine. 

Aston claims a top speed of 186mph (300km/h) and 0-60mph in 4.7 seconds. In practice, performance figures vary a lot from test to test. We take the best selling 6-speed ZF auto as example. Autocar once recorded 5.4 sec in its formal road test in UK, but in other occasions it did 5.1 sec and even 4.8 sec. Car & Driver was faster still, taking just 4.5 seconds. However, 0-100mph are more consistent, ranging from 10.1 sec, 10.2 sec (both Autocar), 10.3 sec (C&D) and 11.3 sec (again Autocar). Getting rid of the slowest one and taking the average, we can say it normally takes just under 5 seconds for 0-60mph and just over 10 seconds for 0-100mph. This means it falls some way behind arch-rivals such as Ferrari 612 Scaglietti and 575M, Mercedes SL600 and of course, the superpower SL65AMG.  

However, the Aston is very strong in handling. Its adequate size - smaller and lighter than Ferrari 612 - and its remarkable chassis stiffness make it feel sharp and agile in the twisty. A combination of 50:50 weight distribution and low polar moment of inertia (like the Ferrari, 85% mass within the wheelbase) enables great balance and stability in corners. The springing is stiff and damping is good, reducing body movement to minimal. But the ride is very taut, even harsh by the standard of Grand Tourers. Lack of adaptive damping might be an excuse, but a Porsche 996 always go well without adaptive damping. Strangely, this Aston is supposed to be the most civilized one in the trio, but actually it does not want to compromise. Hardcore drivers will praise the accuracy of its steering and the heaviness of steering and brake pedal. Others may differ. One thing is not in doubt: its V12 is smooth and roars beautifully.  

Open the door, the cabin is a revelation! while DB7 had one of the poorest finishing cabins in premium sports cars field, the DB9 received a lot of care and attention to make sure it is worth spending the money. At the first glance, the cockpit is fully bespoke, without any visual link with a mass production Ford, Jaguar, Volvo or the like. The instrument panel is made of brushed alloy, as is the control area of the center console. Above which is a single big piece of wood, very classy. The doors are trimmed with leather, wood inserts and alloy handles. Even the switch gears reflect a high level of attention to details. Therefore, although space is fairly confined, the Aston's cabin will put a proud smile on its owner's face. 

Undoubtedly, DB9 is a well finished product. What a pity its market positioning is embarrassing - being a Grand Tourer, its cockpit is too cramped and the suspension setting is too hard; being a super sports car, it is not fast and swift enough. However, I am really glad to see Aston Martin dare to be different. While everybody else - including Ferrari - is going soft and easy, it is not a bad thing to have a more hardcore GT to choose from.