Thursday 12th January 2006

Final Aston pics from Detroit

DB9 Volante and details of the Rapide

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Aston Martin DB9 Spyder

Here's the final crop of images from Detroit -- all Aston Martins, specifically, the DB9 Volante and more details of the four-door Rapide.

^{Thanks to Nauman Farooq and Bhupender Kapur}

[mightymouse]

That Spyder is to die for

[Wintermute]

What's the difference between the Spyder and the Volante?

Or am I just being dull and "spyder" has been used generically?

[shadytree]

Spyder




It's a V O L A N T E !

[rich1231]

shadytree said:

Spyder It's a V O L A N T E !

I think that was posted just to wind you up :-)

[aston67]

it is a 2 seats only like the V8

no more a 2+2 like you have in the volante now - shorter chassis possibly

A67

[door]

rich1231 said:

shadytree said: Spyder It's a V O L A N T E ! I think that was posted just to wind you up :-)

Worked too. But shouldn't it be called a rag top!

[bunglist]

Shame who ever had the camera, did not know how it worked.

Why is there no shot of the whole car.

[twincam16]

'Volante' only came in with the DB6. Before then, the Aston factory convertibles were just 'Convertibles', but the special Touring-bodied DB2/4 Barchettas were 'Spyders'. I suspect it refers to that.

[R988]

Whats with the awful lights on the rear of the four door? As if it didn't look bad enough.

[v12Aston]

Looks like they are the same rear light units as in DB9 and V8 Vantage but minus the body-coloured inserts.

[danmangt40]

I love 'em all. I don't give a crap how many models there are, there's so few of them around that its ok for there to be so many similar looking models. it could be worse. look at 911s! There's 15 different models of every generation and they're all basically the same thing! and that's before you even get to the pile of tuners who are so convinced they've modified the car so fully that it deserves a completely different name! so who cares if there are 4 different cars that all look pretty similar: db9, vanquish, rapide, v8 vantage. Have you ever seen 2 in a day (without going to an event that would specifically encourage astons to congregate)

[mikeyboy]

One thing about the Rapide is bugging me though. Theres no partition between the boot and the passenger cell. Doesn't that mean its going to suffer from the same sorts of problems as the 350Z coupe? i.e. loads of road noise. if it does its hardly going to be luxury motoring is it?

Also just a general point that Ford the parent company should think of. Aston uses the same platform for all of its newest cars (vanquish excluded) therefore its quick and dare I say it, cheap to bring out new models which people want. Why then haven't Ford used this model on Jaguar? I know they did it for the XJ and XK but don't and won't on the new S and to be defunct X type? Surely that would be better for Jag than sacking people and closing factories?

[:J:]

Wasn't the X a Mondeo underneath ?

Also, haven't Jag been using the same chassis since the 60's, lol....