DB9 Sport Pack and Transmission Updates
Discussion
I have been shopping for a DB9 for the past few weeks and have a couple of questions I'm hoping can be answered.
I'm interested in a car with the Sport Pack, but am wondering what years this option was available? I know that one of the external cues for the Sport Pack was different wheels. In looking at online ads, are the wheels the only external visual cue? And what is the likelihood of the wheels being put on after purchase without the rest of the sport pack? Was that a common owner-preferred "upgrade"? Also, did this option become redundant and obsolete with the 2009ish update that had the adaptive suspension?
Also, I've test driven a 2014 DB9 that was very nice, but much too expensive for me and the paddle shifters were okay. Not Ferrari fast and crisp, but sporting (especially in sport mode). I also test drove a 2005 Vanquish S that overall was a very nice ride, but the paddle shifted transmission was so slow it was like exercising underwater. Pull the paddle and then pause, pause, pause, change the gear, pause, pause gear engaged and now you go again. I am still looking for a 2009/2010 (my target years) DB9 to test to see where it falls in that range (I assume in between) but am wondering if there is a particular year where the transmissions were updated or if it was a year-by-year gradual improvement.
I'm interested in a car with the Sport Pack, but am wondering what years this option was available? I know that one of the external cues for the Sport Pack was different wheels. In looking at online ads, are the wheels the only external visual cue? And what is the likelihood of the wheels being put on after purchase without the rest of the sport pack? Was that a common owner-preferred "upgrade"? Also, did this option become redundant and obsolete with the 2009ish update that had the adaptive suspension?
Also, I've test driven a 2014 DB9 that was very nice, but much too expensive for me and the paddle shifters were okay. Not Ferrari fast and crisp, but sporting (especially in sport mode). I also test drove a 2005 Vanquish S that overall was a very nice ride, but the paddle shifted transmission was so slow it was like exercising underwater. Pull the paddle and then pause, pause, pause, change the gear, pause, pause gear engaged and now you go again. I am still looking for a 2009/2010 (my target years) DB9 to test to see where it falls in that range (I assume in between) but am wondering if there is a particular year where the transmissions were updated or if it was a year-by-year gradual improvement.
Edited by RossoDiamante on Sunday 13th March 12:03
After doing a little more digging around, it seems that in 2010, there was a "Premium Sports Pack" which included the Adaptive Damping System.
It's still a little unclear to me whether all "standard" 2009-2011 DB9's had the uprated springs and roll bars from the Sports Pack option cars of the 2006-2008 era cars? If not, I assume that the "Premium Sports Pack" did include these other suspension bits in addition to Adaptive Damping?
It's still a little unclear to me whether all "standard" 2009-2011 DB9's had the uprated springs and roll bars from the Sports Pack option cars of the 2006-2008 era cars? If not, I assume that the "Premium Sports Pack" did include these other suspension bits in addition to Adaptive Damping?
RossoDiamante said:
After doing a little more digging around, it seems that in 2010, there was a "Premium Sports Pack" which included the Adaptive Damping System.
It's still a little unclear to me whether all "standard" 2009-2011 DB9's had the uprated springs and roll bars from the Sports Pack option cars of the 2006-2008 era cars? If not, I assume that the "Premium Sports Pack" did include these other suspension bits in addition to Adaptive Damping?
Hi Rosso, I hope this summary helps.....It's still a little unclear to me whether all "standard" 2009-2011 DB9's had the uprated springs and roll bars from the Sports Pack option cars of the 2006-2008 era cars? If not, I assume that the "Premium Sports Pack" did include these other suspension bits in addition to Adaptive Damping?
2007 MY (late 2006) Sports Pack becomes an option for DB9 Coupe only (consisiting of uprated Multimatic springs/dampers, beefed up antiroll bars, lightweight alloy wheels, new front undertray, etc, etc).
2009MY Aston introduce a facelift DB9 which features suspension revisions including new Bilstein dampers as standard. The Sports Pack is still an option and retains Multimatic's.
2010MY (late) new (Bilstein) adaptive damping (ADS) introduced as an option, called initially the Premium Sports Pack. This was also available on the Volante for the first time.
2011MY -ADS becomes standard fit on all DB9 (Conventional SP set-up becomes an official aftermarket fitment (not a new factory option) for earlier cars, this changed to Bilstein dampers, no exact date for change from Multimatic is confirmed).
2013MY - ADS improved now newer 3 stage system introduced for the Virage based DB9.
Grant3 said:
RossoDiamante said:
After doing a little more digging around, it seems that in 2010, there was a "Premium Sports Pack" which included the Adaptive Damping System.
It's still a little unclear to me whether all "standard" 2009-2011 DB9's had the uprated springs and roll bars from the Sports Pack option cars of the 2006-2008 era cars? If not, I assume that the "Premium Sports Pack" did include these other suspension bits in addition to Adaptive Damping?
Hi Rosso, I hope this summary helps.....It's still a little unclear to me whether all "standard" 2009-2011 DB9's had the uprated springs and roll bars from the Sports Pack option cars of the 2006-2008 era cars? If not, I assume that the "Premium Sports Pack" did include these other suspension bits in addition to Adaptive Damping?
2007 MY (late 2006) Sports Pack becomes an option for DB9 Coupe only (consisiting of uprated Multimatic springs/dampers, beefed up antiroll bars, lightweight alloy wheels, new front undertray, etc, etc).
2009MY Aston introduce a facelift DB9 which features suspension revisions including new Bilstein dampers as standard. The Sports Pack is still an option and retains Multimatic's.
2010MY (late) new (Bilstein) adaptive damping (ADS) introduced as an option, called initially the Premium Sports Pack. This was also available on the Volante for the first time.
2011MY -ADS becomes standard fit on all DB9 (Conventional SP set-up becomes an official aftermarket fitment (not a new factory option) for earlier cars, this changed to Bilstein dampers, no exact date for change from Multimatic is confirmed).
2013MY - ADS improved now newer 3 stage system introduced for the Virage based DB9.
The reality is though that when the 2009MY came out with its upgraded suspension the dealers were telling me "don't bother, the only benefit in putting the sport pack on is the lighter wheels". I thought about it but from memory it was going to cost over £2k, so wasn't really worth it. Net result is I suspect a DB9 09MY onwards with a sport pack is going to be very rare (I'm assuming the dealers all gave the same advice with the same result to would be purchasers).
Then with the premium sports pack, I think it was only available for 6 months or so (Grant might know dates) before it too became obsolete with the 2011MY. So again will be ultra rare
That being said one possibility might then be to test a "standard" 09/10MY car and if you still want more from the suspension have it adapted afterwards. Otherwise you might have to wait years for one to come along (and possibly have to pay a premium for it, with no guarantees that colour etc are right for you)
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