Aston Martin DB9 Volante: Being Right Before Everyone Else

Let’s get one thing straight: I’m not James Bond.
He drives a DBS, and wrecks it in almost every film. I sell cars and dream a little. If you’re reading this, so do you. Make yourself comfortable.

A Black That Doesn’t Even Try

It’s black. Not “anthracite”, not “very dark grey depending on the light”: black. The cream interior sets it off, and twenty years haven’t touched it. The dials are gorgeous, the finish too, and there’s even an iPod socket, for those nostalgic for 2007. On the sill, a small plaque states the essentials: Hand built in England.

Then there’s the infotainment screen, borrowed from Volvo. It’s ugly. We won’t fall out over it: nobody buys an Aston for its screen.

The V12, or Good Taste That Knows How to Seduce

Turn the key and you get it. The sound is insane. The harder you push, the better it gets, without ever being too loud or deafening. It’s the perfect balance between good taste and sex appeal.

Born in Cologne, developed with Cosworth’s help, then off to England. German by birth, English by adoption. Like the Windsors, but with more horsepower.

An Aston V12 is no small thing. When they’re gone, people will say, “Ah yes, but back in the day…”. So enjoy it now, and ignore the “it was better before” crowd who’ve never driven one.

It Was Already Waiting for Them

In 2007, the Ferrari California didn’t exist. Neither did the Maserati GranCabrio. I love the Italians, and each deserves a prize for best engine note. But for the best mix of image, dream and quality, the answer was already in Gaydon.

Ian Callum’s design hasn’t aged a day. Screens always do. Good luck to the ones in the GranTurismo or the California.

An Invitation to Travel

Roof down, it’s an invitation: a beautiful road, a weekend in the country, a blast down the motorway. And it belongs to a generation that doesn’t overheat in town, which is a blessing.

It has spent more time waiting in a garage for someone to live their dreams than living them itself. The result: 45,500 km (about 28,000 miles) in nineteen years, roughly 2,400 km a year. Plenty in reserve.

A Service Book That Tells It All

Delivered new in October 2007 by Garage Tarcisio Pasta, in Ticino. First service at 916 km. Then a gapless record at Aston Martin Riviera Cars in Lausanne (2009 to 2017), and at Aston Martin Geneva from 2018, up to 39,448 km. Anti-corrosion inspections stamped in 2009, 2017 and 2019.

Between the January 2017 service and the last stamp, it covered only about 1,400 km. A car that was looked at more than it was driven. The next service will be done before delivery, and the book is a duplicate, and we’re telling you so.

Who Should Buy It?

Everyone will assume the driver is a golden boy, a lord of the manor or a secret agent. Nobody will mistake the dream: the one about the guy who leaves with the supermodel, er, sorry, with the Aston.

Let me correct that: the dream of being “the guy” is just as much a woman’s. You just have to want it. No typical profile, only the dreamer who sleeps in all of us, waiting to be woken up.

In Closing

Bond never drove it. Lucky for the car: he’d have wrecked it. You could keep it.