Aston Martin DB9

Aston Martin DB9 specs Top Speed: 186 mph / 300 km/h 0-60 mph: 4.7 seconds 0-100 mph: 10.8 seconds Engine: 6.0-liter V-12

Aston Martin's cars reflect the power of idea combined with the aesthetics of the technology. This popular sports car maker at Warwickshire, England, now keeps itself ahead of its competitors with its modern DB9 sports GT car. The name 'DB' is derived from David Brown, the owner of Aston Martin. The DB9 model was designed by Ian Callum, elder of the famous car-designer brothers of England.

The craftsmanship of Aston Martin has been the key identifying factor of their cars. DB9 is no exception to it. Aston's sports car concept is all about character and involvement of the driver. Identifying the needs on the roads had been a great challenge to these carmakers and that is the reason why they developed the perfect sports car with an aerodynamic efficiency.

The body panels of DB9 are made of aluminum and its lightweight composites. The lightweight material, combined with its aerodynamic body, removes all the doubts about its performance. The extremely lightweight body that weighs 1710kg had been an impossibility for a fully equipped V12 powered sports car till the advent of 2006 Aston Martin DB9. And the speed? An awesome 186mph!

The attractive features of this Volante are the perfectly sculpted body panels, 19-inch alloy wheels, titanium wheel nuts the lateral air vents and concealed pop-up door handles. The trunk occupies a mere 6.1cubic feet. Amazingly, it carries twelve cylinders and altogether a weight of about two tons.

The gear change system inside the DB9 is an interesting piece of work. Its pretty much a switch between a luxury car and a race car. The Touchtronic manual mode enables the gear changes using the paddles mounted behind the steering wheel, and the automatic gear change option allows the gear changing according to the various driving conditions.

DB9's instrument panel comes with a difference. The tachometer that is used inside the DB9 runs in the anticlockwise direction and does not have the red line to indicate the rpm limit. The rpm limit is indicated by a red warning light when the vehicle attains the red line limit.

Launched in 2004, as a replacement to the older model, DB7, DB9 brought record sales to the company. This fast car continues its expedition in the New Year pausing challenges to its competitors. The sale of DB9 has crossed 5000 units per year, a figure that the rivals, Ferrari F430 and Porsche 911 had boasted for. This has encouraged the DB9 loyalists to increase the production of DB9 than the previous models.

The DB9 has been the favorite of sports car fans since its launch. It is used both as a two-seat Volante convertible and a 2+2 coupe with an extra back seat. The titanium wheel nuts are capable of lowering the ride height by about 6mm, and thus offer easy suspension modifications as per the requirements.

DB9 has been the popular choice of sports car lovers because of its important features- best transmission, affordability, and the performance.