Aston Martin DBS – living the life!
August 26, 2009 by Anthony Crawford
Even as motoring journalists, $500,000 supercars are hard to come by in Australia.
If you’re lucky you might get 24 hours in a car or if you’re married to the dealer principle’s daughter you’ll probably get a couple of days, but never a full week.
The brief I got from Aston Martin Australia was to use the car as you would your own daily driver! You know, go for coffee, for a surf, school drop off and to Officeworks, if you like.
As it happened, my wife and youngest daughter were going down the coast for the weekend and taking the family chariot, so Aston Martin’s flagship supercar the $505,691 DBS has been our only transport for the past few days and no one here is complaining.
It’s a fast car, a blisteringly fast car, and the very same model Aston Martin that actor Daniel Craig, playing James Bond, drove in the most recent Bond movie, Quantum of Solace.
Under the bonnet sits a huge 6.0-litre V12, which produces more power and torque than any driver could ever require.
However, you don’t buy an Aston Martin DBS for power alone as there are several other supercars that will outpace this rather substantial grand tourer, for what its worth.
If there is any brand that properly personifies good old-fashioned ‘class’ it’s Aston Martin and this car just oozes the stuff from every side and angle.
It’s a big crowd puller too, wherever the car is parked there’s always a bunch of onlookers around the car; some admiring its unquestionable beauty and other more desperate individuals who have worked up the courage to ask for a photo in the driver’s seat, which I generally oblige.
It also doesn’t seem to matter what you park the Aston next to it’s always the stand out car in most eyes.
So, what’s it like living with a supercar seven days a week?
To be honest, the only guys I know of who use their supercars to go and get the milk are ‘E’ and his Hollywood star mates from my favourite TV series, Entourage.
You just don’t see a lot of Ferraris, Lamborghinis or Astons doing the daily commute these days. They’re most likely hidden away under dark cover, only to be wheeled out for the Sunday morning drive.
Not me, if I ever end up with the big bucks the one thing I’ll be doing with my supercar is driving it, every day of the week, at least while I’m on this earth.
While the DBS has one of slickest manual gearboxes in the business, if I have to endure the peak hour crawl each day I’ll take the six-speed automatic box, which makes this torturous routine bearable.
It’s a nice, lazy style shift at slow pace, but the moment you have reason to put the boot in, things get a whole lot more urgent and within an instant, you’re in supercar mode and hurtling towards the horizon.
But there’s another equally important bit of standard kit in the DBS, particularly if you are urban bound and that’s the stupendous Bang & Olufsen sound system.
I never did get to switch the system on while driving the DBS Volante to Le Mans recently as the sound of the V12 at a constant 7000rpm outclasses even Mozart.
Around town it’s a different story, switch on the audio and you’re in for a treat. Out of the dashboard rises two of the most exquisitely crafted tweeters you have ever seen, ready to assist in delivering 1000 watts of the best sound you’re ever likely to hear, period.
That said I still find myself with a difficult choice between the beautiful high pitched race car-like burble when the engine fires to life, and again when you gently accelerate away from the lights, or that superb sound from the B&O audio.
And don’t think for one minute that just because this a supercar capable of travelling at speeds in excess of 300km/h it has to be inherently uncomfortable, quite the opposite in fact.
You can option the carbon fibre lightweight seats, which are entirely comfortable, in a combination of supple leather and Alcantara but again, the more luxurious pews are the standard Sports Seats, which feel as though they have been custom moulded to the curves in your back, such is their comfort.
The DBS is strictly a two-seater although there are two sizeable benches replacing the rear seats, as you would find in the less expensive DB9 sibling.
Inside the cockpit, its nothing short of five-star luxury with leather and Alcantara everywhere you look, including the headliner.
There’s little, if any use of plastic inside the DBS, as all the switchgear is polished aluminium and anything with a hard surface is either lightweight metal or carbon fibre, as are the door handles.
Parking at my local shopping mall in Sydney can be stressful, even in a Fiat 500, so you could be excused for thinking that a car as wide and as long as the DBS might prove a challenge for some.
Not so, the all round vision is quite good despite its low slung stance and the front and rear parking sensors working in concert with the well calibrated power-assisted steering make parking a breeze in tight spots.
While you might be a lot closer to the car next to you that’s not an issue either as the doors are designed to open both out and upwards, making it easy to exit the car in a tight spot regardless of your stature.
It’s highly unlikely that any one who owns a supercar would ever need to take it to the beach, albeit with surfboard in tow. They’re much more likely to have at least one luxury SUV in the garage for those weekend lifestyle activities.
Nonetheless, given that I had the go ahead to do just that I was determined to go through with the plan, but more than a little concerned as to how I would fit my board inside.
Again, no need for any panic, drop the passenger seat back and my only consolation was that I had to settle for my six-foot fish, rather than my usual six-foot-six-inch short board.
Now you would think that at 7.30am on a Sunday morning I could slip under ‘onlooker’ radar and hide the big Aston between to two obviously well worn utilities.
Not a chance, by the time I returned to the car after a few clean one-footers, there were several requests for photos in the driver’s seat and a command performance from the V12.
I was indeed happy to oblige my fellow surfers, but only after I took my bloody wetsuit off so that I didn’t cook in Sydney’s unseasonably warm temperatures.
CarAdvice will post a final wrap up of our DBS loan, next week.
Print it: 
Lol, I bet no-one will ever see a supercar used this way ever again!
Wonder if it is designed to hold a surf board….
GORGEOUS car.
If only cars were as cheap here as the USA – then I’d have one of these in a heartbeat.
I can’t believe there are people on these blogs who think any Maserati looks better than this…
Agree 100%
Simply put, the most beautiful class in it’s class. I don’t think it will be outdone until the next DBS arrives. You seem like a really nice guy, coz I don’t think I’d let random strangers in my car for a photo heh.
Anthony,
I’m pretty sure it was you who asked me last time about the Aston Martin DBS I spotted on the F3 freeway when I was over from Perth last time (the same weekend as the Aston Martin Club day in the Hunter Valley). Well, thats the one! The plates I remember very clearly :). I think I still have the photo of it shooting off into the distance somewhere on my computer too :) *sigh* I would give my left nut to have one of those.
The Realise
cars prices in Australia are not too bad already
take a look at cars in our neighbouring countries such as Singapore n Malaysia..where tax are around 300% import duty + 10% sales tax
and guess what?they have more supercars than Australia
fail
I wish more people would use their exotics (preferably Astons) as their daily drives. That way those of us who can only dream, can at the very least admire one for a few seconds as it sits at lights, as it drives away from the lights, or even as it sits in the car park of the local shopping district.
What a car, what an exquisite design, just mind bending. Oh and that 911 looks like a VW beetle in comparison to the DBS, it had to be said…
Anthony your one lucky man!
STEP ONE – Get my 6′4 out of its cover and chop four inches off the nose.
STEP TWO – find $500,000.
STEP THREE – Go surfing!
Love your work Anthony!
learn to use commas properly please Anthony (or at least let me edit it for you). you’re a journalist, so your articles shouldn’t be FULL of punctuation errors.
amazing car though. even when i see the standard DB9 while driving i try to get closer to it for a better look.
Many thanks for the advice Jbot, God knows I do try and will continue to improve my grammar before it is checked by our sub editor.
Nooice….
8.5 out of 10! [ONLY a Ferrari can get 10/10]
We are not here for the spelling-bee comp., just to test and photo the said vehicles in a professional way.
Job {well} done A!
Kip
@ PS/ refer…
A/
Can you please take a photo of the key, that will freak them out!
Also
B/
Take a piture of a normal 100% humanoid sitting in the back seat to check for leg and head room.
Many thanks,
Kip
aston has rear seats! i did not know that!. i’d be scared to drive it because i don’t want anybody hitting me, you drive a cheap car and hit a few rubbish bins and it’s all good but if i was in that thing i’d want all cars and anything sharp to always keep 2 meters away from it
Any tips on becoming an automotive journalist Anthony?
Great article! Next week can’t come soon enough.
I am in heaven. Astons are up there with the best. The Baby Aston in 4.7 guise is my favourite, but now I am not so sure. In this colour the DBS looks the dogs bollocks. It is sad that supercars are not used as daily drives. If any supercar could qualify as a daily drive, this one must. Looks comfortable, I assume it does not have back breaking suspension a truck like gearshift/clutch (if it does’nt have one of those ridiculous flappy paddle gearboxes) and awkward seating postition (all the pre-requisites for a supercar with character).
Now onto the reasons for a supercar not too be used as a daily driver IMO! People do not use these cars everyday because they are:
a) Unliveable on a daily basis because of some of the points above.
b) Fear of some jealous mongrel keying their car/other vandalism or stealing their car.
c) Some person who does not care hitting the car with their door or other part of their car while exiting a parking bay.
d) Some numbskull not watching where they are going involving your car in an accident. I assume the supercar driver would not be driving recklessly, because everytime I have seen a DBS or a 599 fiorano (not very often by the way) they were driven so slowly that the line of corolla’s behind were itching too get past.
A minor accident in a car like this is anything but minor. A customer at the place I work has a current model green XKR jag and it was involved in a low speed rear end crash in a car park. He was rear ended. Damage ended up costing 30k dollars through insurance. I dread too think what the DBS would cost!
John, add fuel to that list.
It’s not the price (half a mil for the car remember) but it’s the fact that every 300km’s you’ve gotta stop to fill it up. If you sit in traffic long enough, yes, you will see the needle drop, it’s a daunting feeling, especially when the fuel warning light pops up when you still have 1/8th of a tank left!
Just WOW..
Oh the things I would do for one of these…
Queenwood School, my daughter goes there you must be a local guy, Anthony. :)
Great article – this is the exact car I aim to trade in my CLK Black for in a few years time!
Where’s the wrap up “next week” ??
Cheers,
Brent