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What is it?

Aston’s replacement for the Vanquish. It’s billed as a stand-alone model, but it doesn’t take a trained eye to spot the DB9 that lurks underneath.

List price is £160k, nearly £50k more than a DB9 Sportpack. Most of the panels have been reshaped, some of them in carbonfibre. Ceramic brakes are standard, as is a 510bhp version of the DB9’s V12 motor.

What’s it like?

Not what you might expect. Disregard all talk of an Aston supercar: this is an ...Read the full article

Is anyone else as circumspect as me about this new Aston? I loved the Vanquish; the DBS, on the other hand, just looks like a sexed-up DB9. The whole thing smacks of a project that started at the wrong point, was under-funded and rushed through development.

Are we really supposed to believe that some new panels, a chassis tweak, a new interior and a slightly breathed-on engine can turn a DB9 into something worthy of comparison with the Murcielagos and 599s or this world? Cause I don't.

Give me a Vantage and £80,000 change any day.

 The best looking car for ages. I don't care if it looks like the DB9, the DBS makes the DB9 look boring.

Matt Saunders:

Give me a Vantage and £80,000 change any day.

There's no Aston quite like the Vantage version of the William Towns designed V8.

I remember Steve Cropley's article in CAR magazine in the mid 1980s. He tested a brilliant blue V8 Vantage (registration PBM 744W). I think he said it belonged to the then Aston boss Victor Gauntlett (now there's a name). I remember Croppers noting that Gauntlett has clearly been using his Vantage to the full, judging by the shredded state of its rear tyres.

Awesome looking car, big spoiler on the front and blanked-off radiator grille.

In the article, I recall Croppers was amazed that such a big, square looking and heavy beast would hit 60 mph in 5.4 secs, and then thunder on to 174 mph.

Brilliant stuff.