Supercar Odyssey » Australian Car Advice

2008 Aston Martin DBS Video Review

July 15th, 2008 11 Comments

A short while ago the CarAdvice team embarked on an epic journey to the centre of Australia to road test two of Aston Martin’s most stunning creations; its hero car - the DBS, along with its baby brother - the V8 Vantage.

Together with the most spectacular natural scenery on offer from the Australian outback, CarAdvice was also handed the keys to our own private runway to really put the DBS through its paces.

2008 Aston Martin DBS Review

June 22nd, 2008 14 Comments

2008 Aston Martin DBS Review & Road Test

Power, poise, beauty and soul the DBS truly wants for nothing.

Model Tested:

2008 Aston Martin DBS Coupe 6.0 litre V12 Six Speed Manual - $466,600 (RRP)

Power, Handling, Grace, Exclusivity, Comfort
High Set Gearshift Position, Handing It Back

CarAdvice Rating:

- Words & Photographs by Matt Brogan & Anthony Crawford

An adrenalin fueled Full Throttle tour of Europe earlier this year saw the CarAdvice team road test some of the world’s premier supercars in their home environment, a feat well worth the bragging rights. It was therefore completely epic to receive one the most anticipated vehicles of all time on home soil, a truly unique experience.

When Aston Martin’s representative for this region said he wanted to do something very special with the first drive of the DBS in Australia, we knew the Great Ocean Road wasn’t going to make the cut. So we put in a call to trusted colleague and 4WD guru, Ian Glover, a man who has driven through every road, town, track and waterhole in Australia, several times over, and who was certain to offer up some gold.

Ian’s first question was “What colour is the DBS?” to which we replied, “Lightning Silver”. “Deep red dirt would make for a beautiful contrast,” Ian offered “so you can either go up to the Northern Territory, or to the Cawnpore Hills, on the edge of the Simpson Desert.”

As we’d never heard of the Cawnpore Hills, we were intrigued and so began the many months of planning required for such an adventure, but as we would soon find out as with most good ideas, there’s always a catch.

These particular hills are no ordinary garden variety mounds of soil, they are in fact called Mesa, Spanish for table (due to their flat-topped appearance), and are found in only two places on earth. In Australia they’re conveniently located quite literally in the middle of nowhere, smack bang in the middle of the incredibly large 62,000 square kilometre Boulia Shire, 560km south of Mt Isa, which suddenly made the tyranny of distance, and the logistical challenge therein, seem almost overwhelming.

Boulia township, population 300, was to be our home base for several days and sits at the start of the infamously lonely one lane road known as the Min Min Way. This glorified goat track plays host to a strange phenomenon known as the Min Min light, which since the time of Burke and Wills has been documented for giving plenty of travelers the creeps whilst traversing the dark flat expanse at night. It is said that the unusual lights follow you for very long distances and to this day they have not been properly explained by science - at least we could outrun them in the DBS!

Our astonishing test candidate, Aston Martin’s stunning and highly sought after new DBS, drew a lot of attention on arrival in Mt Isa and as supercars go, they don’t get much newer than this one. Being thrown the keys to build number one (47 test vehicles precede) had ensured us absolute exclusivity and despite having a vast collective experience in driving such exclusive cars, we were all humbled at the offer to be first in the country to put wheel to road.

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V-Sport’s GoPro HERO video camera

June 9th, 2008 10 Comments

On our recent jaunt to Europe for our Supercar Odyssey, we had the opportunity to test out one of the hot ticket items on the market today. Named the GoPro HERO camera, this tiny little box is able to be mounted to all kinds of surfaces and allows for footage which previously could have destroyed conventional video cameras.

Recording 56 minutes of video to a 2GB SD card, the GoPro can be quickly released to change position for different angles, or a different view - all while being waterproof.

V-Sport’s GoPro HERO video camera

June 4th, 2008 No Comments

On our recent jaunt to Europe for our Supercar Odyssey, we had the opportunity to test out one of the hot ticket items on the market today. Named the GoPro HERO camera, this tiny little box is able to be mounted to all kinds of surfaces and allows for footage which previously could have destroyed conventional video cameras.

Recording 56 minutes of video to a 2GB SD card, the GoPro can be quickly released to change position for different angles, or a different view - all while being waterproof.

Aston Martin DBS First Steer Video

May 3rd, 2008 10 Comments

CarAdvice has been given an Australian exclusive first drive of the exquisite Aston Martin DBS.

Expect a full video review in the coming weeks, until then feel free to read Anthony’s exclusive first steer.

2008 Aston Martin DBS first steer

April 23rd, 2008 10 Comments

2008 Aston Martin DBS First steer

“The DBS is a luxury GT, but it feels quicker off the line than Lamborghini’s Gallardo Superleggera”

- Words by Anthony Crawford (in the UK) - Photography by CarAdvice

Our sole purpose of going to England was to be the first Australian media outlet to drive the no nonsense, hard-core, Aston Martin DBS. You’ll more than likely know this car, as James Bond’s British Secret Service company car, in the last Bond Film.

Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera & Spyder Video

April 19th, 2008 10 Comments

What we did in two days with the best that Italy has to offer. CarAdvice presents the Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera & Spyder Video:

2008 Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera & Spyder Review

April 4th, 2008 7 Comments

2008 Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera & Spyder Review (Road Test)

Models tested: 2008 Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera & Spyder

Looks to die for, Italian soul & passion, German engineering, incredible noise.

Which one to pick?

CarAdvice rating:

- by: Alborz Fallah & Paul Maric

Alborz

Having left Bugatti in France, I was under the impression that my life was pretty much complete. Sure there is still Formula 1 cars and hell maybe I can even try my luck in a MiG fighter jet one day, but it was pretty much downhill from here on.

On the flight from Strasburg to Bologna, all I could think about was how I was going explain to the beautiful people at Lamborghini that yes, the Superleggera is fast, but its just not THAT fast.

Nothing was going to excite me any more, I was going to turn into an bitter old man that would be disappointed with pretty much anything that wasn’t a Veyron - Yeah… right.

Bugatti Veyron Review - Video

March 30th, 2008 39 Comments

Our video review of the world’s greatest and fastest car, the Bugatti Veyron, is here now.

If you haven’t done so already, click here to read our written review.

Bugatti Veyron Review

March 17th, 2008 52 Comments

2008 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 review

“Nothing, absolutely nothing other than a Formula One car on a hot lap, can prepare you for the time warping acceleration of the Veyron at full throttle. This car is disturbingly fast”

Model tested: 2008 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 - Black Metallic

Price as tested: AUD$2.7 million

Bugatti has created the automotive Holy Grail

I can’t afford one - yet!

CarAdvice rating: (six stars!)

By - Anthony Crawford & Alborz Fallah

After twenty-three gruelling hours in a seriously packed economy class cabin, we arrived in Frankfurt via Abu Dhabi, ready for what we thought was a well earned luxury business class flight to Strasbourg in France.

Turns out, our double degree IT guru and fellow motoring journalist Alborz, (who said his friend at flight centre had it sorted), had completely misread the ticket. Bus – actually meant BUS – the road going version. All sorted?

By some stroke of luck though, the bus company had grossly overbooked both Strasbourg bound buses, and Bruno, the guy at the Lufthansa desk, worked some magic and presto, we had a Ford Mondeo TDCi for twenty-four hours, at no cost. Gold, we thought.

The diesel powered Mondeo is no slouch, within moments we are sitting on a comfortable 200km/h as we head towards Molsheim, the home of Bugatti.

It couldn’t have been more than twenty minutes into the trip and bugger, something felt badly out of whack with the front end. What we found, was a dirty great big hole in the middle of the right front tyre tread, which meant we weren’t going anywhere fast. That is, until we got the spare on and rebooted to that blissful 200km/h.

The look of disappointment on our faces, when we lifted the boot lining and saw that 125-width space saver, said it all. And it was a Sunday!

Rather than push on at an impossible 80km/h (its downright dangerous on the Autobahns) we stopped in at Hertz in Heidelberg and switched over to a little Peugeot 307 1.6L diesel powered wagon, which believe it or not, was good for a steady 190km/h and that’s hauling the four of us, with a stack of luggage and camera equipment!

Alborz also forgot to download the Euro maps on our Mio Sat Nav and we were damn too tired to figure out the road map. Lots of stops to ask directions in my half decent French (the other’s will surely deny me that credit) eventually paid off.

Molsheim is not a big place, and when we saw the Bugatti sign inside a high security compound, smiles were a plenty. We were less than twelve hours away from an event, few in the world will ever claim.

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