She's here, she's here!!!!
Discussion
The day the deal was done...
and safely home after a splendid run down the road…
Well, I must say, I am delighted! Having had to wait for 2 weeks for her to be serviced and one or two bits fettled, the last few days have been a real drag (see
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
for further details!)
My father-in-law and I drove up together to AMWorks this morning, looking nervously at the large black clouds forming around the M25 as we made our way North. Remarkably, as we approached Milton Keynes, the skies cleared to leave a crisp, clear blue. After a coffee or two and a tour around their splendid facility for my father-in-law, we completed the paperwork, waved a fond farewell to the traded-in Jaaaag, and fired up the V12V.
The boys had done an amazing job, the car looked absolutely beautiful, the inside immaculate, and under the bonnet like new. One of the jobs I had asked for was to replace the dash buttons with the new glass ones, and these looked absolutely fabulous, superbly fitted by the techies up at AMWorks.
There is not a lot I can say about the drive home, all motorway and intermittent rain showers, but the performance and handling crisp and accurate, the noise, just sublime.
Having gone from a manual DB7V into a DB9 tiptronic, it is amazing how much I have missed a proper manual. I didn't realise it of course, as the DB9 was a much improved car generally than the DB7, and the 7's clutch was set in concrete, so didn't lament its loss when I moved. However, the V12V has a light clutch, and the gear change is solid and true.
I had originally set my heart on a DBS, and narrowly missed out on chassis no 007 which Nicholas Mee was selling last year. God, that was a nice car… I drove a couple and saw several more, and to be honest, when I saw one being brought outside for me at AMWorks, I nearly bought it on the spot. I'd also seen a couple of V12Vs that hadn't really impressed me much, so it was a pretty simple answer in my mind - I was going to drive a DBS and a V12V back to back , AMWorks had both and were both in the zone. I was going to leave with one or the other, and I just needed to drive the V12V to prove to myself the DBS was a better car, and that would be that… Or so I thought.
On the same test route, the V12V was just a bit sharper, a bit tighter, and, if you can imagine such a thing, made the DBS feel a little bit boring. I also think the luggage space in the Vantage is going to be better than on the DB9/DBS, it was always a bit of a struggle. My wife was with me on this trip - she thought the same. I am very lucky to have a MemSahib that not only likes nice cars, but is a real petrol head and a bloody good driver too, so it was important we agreed on the final choice.
So there we have it, lightning silver, obsidian black with silver stitching, B&O stereo, shiny glass buttons, front and rear parking sensors and a big sloppy grin you wouldn't believe!
More and better photos to follow once the sun comes out
As always, my personal opinions are just that, and no, I don't give a stuff about a bit of condensation in the headlights!!
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