Aston Martin DBS (2008) CAR review

I know Bond drove it last year but what’s all the fuss about? It’s a DB9 with a bodykit isn’t it?

Steady on. The DBS is certainly based on the DB9 but then so is the DBR9 racer that won the GT1 class at Le Mans in 2007. And you wouldn’t find anyone kicking sand in its face. Aston says the DBS is a very different car in character to both the DB9 and also the older Vanquish whose place the DBS effectively takes in the range – even if Aston reckons we shouldn’t see them as like-for-like.

But there’s more to it than war paint, right?

Right. But lets look at that war paint first: flared arches, aggressive front splitter, bonnet scoops, side skirts and a serious piece of carbon acting as a rear diffuser. You may prefer the more demure lines of the DB9 original, but you can’t deny that the DBS is a seriously handsome car with real road presence. And so to the stuff underneath that make-up. The bonnet, bootlid, wings and doors are made from carbonfibre, shaving 30kg of the total kerbweight and standard carbon brakes, the first on an Aston road car, shed another 12.5kg. In total, the 1695kg DBS weighs 65kg less than a DB9.