Aston Martin DBS

Since its launch Aston has made improvements to the DBS - but is it now as good as a Ferrari 599 GTB? Steve Sutcliffe finds out...

Here, in a nutshell, is the theory behind the creation of the Aston Martin DBS. On the one hand Aston Martin knew that it needed desperately to replace the antiquated but much loved Vanquish before it could claim to offer a full range of cars. But on the other it knew, too, that its fastest and hardest hitting offering would always struggle against the likes of the Lamborghini Murcielago and Ferrari 599 GTB. The DBS, after all, is little more than a pumped up DB9. With styling tweaks courtesy of Richard Grant and an interior that would appear largely to have been designed by Ray Charles.

And yet… there’s actually something quite smart about where, precisely, Aston has positioned the DBS, even though to begin with its £160,000 price seems comically out of kilter with reality. But if you think about it, the DBS finds itself all alone in the market place because it’s more expensive than any Porsche, yet cheaper and almost as quick as a Murcielago or 599 GTB. Which makes you wonder whether Aston Martin hasn’t, in fact, been rather clever in this instance.

Whether you like the way it looks or not (being a tart I am not adverse to a big wing here or a side skirt there, even if the DBS does appear somewhat bolt-on for a £160,000 Aston Martin) there is no denying the mechanical integrity of the car. It may be little more than a breathed on DB9, but given how sweet the basic car is that’s no bad thing, especially since the breathing in this case is of the psychotically heavy and sweaty variety.

The fundamentals of the engine remain largely unfettled but by concentrating on making it breathe more freely at high revs Aston’s engineers (unaided by Ford this time round) have extracted another 60bhp from the DB9’s 6.0-litre V12. There’s a new bypass valve in the inlet port while the ports themselves have been reprofiled to improve airflow, and the exhaust is virtually all new.

Looking at the numbers there’s not a lot of difference low down, to the extent that the torque figure of 420lb ft remains unchanged and is, in fact, not developed until 750rpm higher than in the standard DB9 (5750rpm v 5000rpm). Instead the DBS is designed to do the business on the other side of 5000rpm, hence the reason it revs 500rpm higher and doesn’t deliver its 510bhp until 6500rpm (the standard DB9 develops 450bhp/6000rpm).

Encouragingly, it also weighs less than the regular car, despite its extra bodywork. How so?Most of that bodywork is made from carbon fibre while the brake discs are made from ceramics. Result; a 65kg reduction in kerbweight to 1695kg, which means a meaningful jump in both power and torque-to-weight ratios (from 255bhp per tonne to 300, and from 238lb ft per tonne to 247).

You may already have read one or two of the launch stories about the DBS – about its edgy handling, strangely soft chassis and odd dynamic personality in general. Well scrap all that because, since then, Aston Martin has apparently rethought the DBS’ chassis settings and revised the way the dampers respond, not just in Sport mode but Comfort, too. And the good news is; the revisions have worked.

Originally Aston’s chassis boys did all the things you’d expect them to do; they fitted stiffer springs, beefier anti-roll bars, bolted on a set of massive Pirelli P-Zero tyres, widened the tracks front and rear and specified monster carbon ceramic brakes to sit behind the new lightweight 20in wheels. Yet the results, somehow, just didn’t add up. According to one or two people who drove the car on its launch (and these were people who knew what they were talking about, rather the ones who turn up in search of a free lunch) the DBS didn’t know quite what it wanted to be on the road. It was too soft to be a sports car, too edgy to be a Grand Tourer.

There is still something curious about this car’s cabin, which features a fine basic driving position but ergonomics so misguided it’s hard to know whether to laugh or cry, but on the road the DBS is now all but sorted. It has a fluidity to its handling and steering that makes even a Ferrari 599 seem flaky in certain circumstances (particularly on a wet or especially bumpy road surface). It’s much improved, in other words, where it really counts. And there was never any doubt about the way it goes in a straight line. Although the V12 lacks what you’d call huge urge below 3000rpm it really does deliver over the last 2500rpm, and it sounds absolutely sensational as it does so. Forget the fact that the dials rotate in the wrong direction and that the sat nav system feels desperately out dated compared with rival systems – because when the DBS comes alive, usually at around 5000rpm in any of the last five gears, it’s amazing how quickly its various issues fade into the background. Even the gearchange is much improved (ignore the lever itself, if you can) while the throttle response, and weight, have also been retuned to make the driving experience feel as cohesive as possible.

It works, too, because the DBS is now one of those cars in which you can get completely carried away by the moment, not to mention by its pure performance. When Autocar road tested the car recently it got to 60mph in 4.2sec, 100mph in 8.7sec and didn’t run out of puff until 194mph. Better still, it got within just 0.6sec of the Ferrari 599’s lap time around the dry handling circuit at MIRA, not because it could match the GTB down the straights (it couldn’t) but because it hung on better, and was easier to drive, through virtually every corner.

In the end the DBS is very nearly a very good car, one that’s endured a rather painful birth and, since then, been improved in several key areas. It may not have quite the same charisma of the Vanquish but, in most areas, it is a massively better car than its predecessor. And as an alternative to a Ferrari 599 it makes a surprisingly good case for itself – especially if, and when, they get round to rethinking that strange interior.

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Baffled Spoon

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