DB9 is fine

There are some calls you take without hesitation: the president, the pope . . . the Aston Martin PR guy. It seems press fleets are suddenly overflowing with Astons Martin. We just drove the svelte DB9 you see here, and soon you'll read on these same pages about the stunning new Vanquish. If we could get back in a Rapide and if Aston would build a shooting brake and an SUV, we would never have to drive anything else.

But first, this DB9.

Ah, the DB9.

It's a beautiful thing made more beautiful by its recent refresh. True, the styling hasn't really changed too much since Ian Callum was in the sixth grade. But Callum was a heck of a designer, and you can't help but like what he and Henrik Fisker have created here, even though the proportions and flowing lines have barely shifted since the basic shape you see here debuted as an '05 model. But why change a good thing? The 2013 DB9 takes the most classic modern Aston Martin lines and stretches them just right. You could draw a line from the Virage to the DBS to the One-77 and have this car. A new hood and decklid are joined by a pronounced sill running the length of the side.

Yes, the design is evolutionary but it has evolved from such a storied line that it's almost genetically engineered to look smooth. As near as we could tell, everybody who saw it loved it, which is why many buyers choose these in the first place anyway.

Another plus: the sport GT's power. Thanks to engine upgrades galore, the new car is significantly more powerful. The 6.0-liter V12 (or 5.9-liter or 5,935-cc, depending on how much of a stickler you are for math) now makes 510 hp and 457 lb-ft of torque, up 40 hp and 14 lb-ft. To get those figures, engineers revised the block, redid the heads with dual variable-valve timing, enlarged the throttle bodies, uprated the fuel pump, revised the intake manifold and machined the combustion chambers. It's more powerful, but they were careful not to overpower the coming “Super GT” Vanquish, which is—and very much deserves to be—King of all Gaydon.

Power is routed to Aston's Touchtronic 2 rear-midmounted six-speed automatic. We have never warmed to the console-mounted push-button shifting available on this car, but the paddle shifters work just fine in comparison.

The powertrain sits in a stronger, lighter version of Aston's Gen4 VH (vertical horizontal) chassis with Aston's Adaptive Damping system holding it off the ground. Adaptive Damping is Aston-speak for a three-mode adjustable suspension. In all three settings, the system adapts to whatever driving style you're exhibiting at the moment. Aston characterizes this car as a sport GT—not a sports car—and that's about right. Smaller, lighter cars such as the Porsche 911 and Ferrari 458 are sports cars. This one competes against the grand, speeding cruisers of Europe: the Maserati GranTurismo, the Bentley Continental GT, the Ferrari FF . . . and it might even be cross-shopped by Porsche Panamera intenders. It's fast and fanciful, with a top speed of 183 mph and a 0-62-mph time of 4.6 seconds. But at 3,935 pounds, it's nowhere near nimble and tossable.

The engine sound is what gets your attention (after you've used a shovel to scoop your jaw off the tarmac upon seeing the thing). Slide the key fob into the slot, push the start button and “braaaarooomph!” What a burble that is, somewhere between the roar of a blower Bentley and the sharp retort of a Lexus LFA. Pick a button on the dash and you're off.

Straight-line acceleration is the DB9's strong suit, roaring into space with authority that must be granted by royal decree from Her Majesty the Queen.

But straight-line stopping is also pretty good. The latter you can do all day and all night long (if you're at LeMans, for instance), since the DB9 gets carbon-ceramic brakes.

The DB9 starts at $185,415, and if you look like you can afford that bit of change, maybe your Aston Martin dealer will let you test-drive one.

This article originally appeared in the Feb. 4, 2013 issue of Autoweek. To get Autoweek delivered to your door biweekly, click here.

By Mark Vaughn