RE: Aston Martin revives DB9

[LaurasOtherHalf]

What's the deal with who owns aston these days? Are they totally independant?

It would appear there's no money to reinvest in building any successors to the current line up which is a shame.

I hate to say it but it would appear they need a 4x4 platform for a premium SUV to bring some coin in, but if they have no other manufacturer they can borrow the platform from I guess they can't afford to develope one themselves?

[GroundEffect]

My fking LORD that looks good.

[f1ten]

its not dated looking its just that there are plenty of them around and i think that people paying £130k for a car probably dont want theirs looking like a 40k 2005 model. in other words Im saying those buyers can be snobby and choosy ... i think they needed to change the shape a bit more...

DanDC5 said:

Why change beauty when you can subtly enhance it? Nothing wrong with how Aston's look now, they're just getting better.

[F1GTRUeno]

Virage front with DBS rear and engine?

Still looks good though to be honest, I'd be quite happy with the original DB9 pre-every-facelift.



Best wheels, best design pre-agressive bodykits, simply and pretty.

Edited by F1GTRUeno on Wednesday 19th September 09:51

[munch997]

So basicly they have lots of Virage to shift as they didn't sell many due to being too similar to the DB9, so they rebadged them, but to make people belive its a new car, fitted a DSB bootlid.
Bravo.

[anonymous-user]

Isn't this the same pattern they followed with the DB7? Take a beautiful car and then over time make it look fussier and less resolved with half assed modifications to the styling? I suppose they must decide that they have to do something to make the new ones look different to the old, even if it doesn't actually improve the look of the car. The car in it's original incarnation, as pictured above, looks so fresh even today.

[f1ten]

your bang on here, thats exactly what happened. I bet examination of the chassis numbers would show this to be true!

munch997 said:

So basicly they have lots of Virage to shift as they didn't sell many due to being too similar to the DB9, so they rebadged them, but to make people belive its a new car, fitted a DSB bootlid.
Bravo.

[A Scotsman]

Still one of the most graceful looking cars on the planet.

[George H]

CurvaParabolica said:

I see they're taking the Porsche approach to revisions; it is still a beautiful car to look at though.

Probably because it's the best way. Evolution not revolution.

[SCRR]

Seriously, is this the Vanquish? Or at least what the Vanquish was? Or is it the Virage? What's the difference with the DBS? The Vantage is still the little one, right? What's your Vector, Victor?

[y2blade]

Stunning

[sday12]

A few mods and a private plate and my 55 £30k DB9 looks like a £130 car, nice one!

[MrTappets]

That's much more like it! OK it's only taking exactly what Aston had before (Virage looks, DBS engine) and tweaking it a bit, but now it's one good car, rather than the bits of one good car split up between three.

Incidentally, what's become of the Rapide? I always thought that was an especially huge missed opportunity (I'd rather have seen a genuinely spacious estate), but Wikipedia says production of that's stopped too?

[stew-S160]

had ham said:

Yawn.

Am I the only one who is now totally bored with this generic Porsche/Viper/similar looking cars design?

Not really. A great looking car is a great looking car.

[George H]

sday12 said:

A few mods and a private plate and my 55 £30k DB9 looks like a £130 car, nice one!

Only to someone who doesn't know Astons very well. If you change the front lights you're going to need to change the wings, bonnet and bumper. Not going to be cheap.

[mugwump00]

I cannot believe some of the snipes and whinging from all the Walter Mitty's on PH who obviously don't drive am AM only because of their reluctance for revolutionary model changes.

AM have taken the DB7/DB9 massively further in ~18 years than Porsche have the 911 in 50. And yet at no stage has there really been a prettier contemporary rival. That's some achievement, how about some credit?

I can buy a much more powerful, hi-tech car for much less. Subjectively, my brief time in a DB9 was a little disappointing. But I'll always want one, even just to look back at it whenever possible.

[Jaykaybi]

It's a Virage to the casual observer. They should have dropped the DB9 name altogether and been left with:

Vantage
Virage
Vanquish

Nobody looking for a DB9 would be particularly put off if all they had was a Virage to choose from. I had one for a week recently, lovely car.

[George H]

MrTappets said:

Incidentally, what's become of the Rapide? I always thought that was an especially huge missed opportunity (I'd rather have seen a genuinely spacious estate), but Wikipedia says production of that's stopped too?

Because the Rapide S will be out soon, probably with the DBS engine.

[monthefish]

Codswallop said:

Okay then... so Aston Martin discontinue the Virage, then they "re-focus" the DB9 by making it look like the Virage they just discountinued

[Beefmeister]

As I said in the AM section - I think they should have simply canned the DB9 and upgraded this as the 13MY Virage. More power, cheaper, better.

The range would then have a nice flow to it as well - Vantage, Virage, Vanquish.

(ignoring the Cygnet, obviously)