Aston Martin DB9

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The Aston Martin DB9 is a grand tourer first
shown by Aston Martin at the 2003 Frankfurt
Auto Show. Available both as a coupe and a
convertible known as the Volante, the DB9
was the successor of the DB7 . It was the
first model built at Aston Martin's Gaydon
facility.
The DB9, designed by Ian Callum and Henrik
Fisker , is made largely of aluminium. The
chassis is the VH platform , also found in the
Aston Martin DBS. The engine, on the other
hand, is the 6.0L V12 from the Aston Martin
V12 Vanquish . The most recent Aston Martin
has a top speed of 295 km/h (183 mph) and a
0 to 97 km/h (60 mph) time of 4.1 seconds.
The DB9 is rated well by car critics, who
appreciate the car's interior and exterior
design. In spite of comments regarding the
DB9's weaker engine and handling, reviewers
liked the car's ride and driving experience.
Some also held issue with the DB9's small
rear seats, cargo space and poor satnav.
The 2012 version has seen many
improvements to the design, the engine and
the overall driving experience. It now has the
most powerful engine yet with peak power of
517 PS and 620 NM of torque. It also comes
with carbon ceramic brakes as standard.
Aston Martin Racing has adapted the DB9 for
sports car racing, producing the DBR9 for FIA
GT1 and the DBRS9 for FIA GT3 . These two
cars are lightened DB9s; the interior features
are removed and the aluminium body panels
are replaced by carbon fibre panels.
Additionally, engine has been tweaked in both
the cars to produce more horsepower. The
DBR9 has won in several events, including its
debut event.
Development and design
The DB9 was designed by Ian Callum and
Henrik Fisker , and was first revealed at the
2003 Frankfurt Auto Show. [4][5] The moniker
"DB" stems from the initials of David Brown ,
the owner of Aston Martin for a significant
part of its history. [6] Despite being the
successor of the DB7, Aston Martin did not
call the car the DB8 due to fears that the
name would suggest that the car was
equipped with only a V8 engine ; the DB9 has
a V12 ). [7] It was also reported that Aston
Martin believed that naming the car "DB8"
would indicate a gradual evolution and
misrepresent the car. [8]
The DB9 is the first model to be built at
Aston Martin's Gaydon facility in
Warwickshire, England. In a 2007 interview,
Aston Martin CEO Dr. Ulrich Bez stated that,
though Aston Martin was traditionally a maker
of more exclusive automobiles, he believed
Aston Martin needed to be more visible and
build more cars. [9] At launch, Aston Martin
planned to build between 1,400 and 1,500
DB9s per year. [10]
The DB9 was facelifted July 2008. This
facelift was mainly the increase in engine
power, to 350 kW (476 hp) and a redesigned
center console. Externally, the DB9 remained
virtually unchanged.
INTERIOR..
The DB9's interior is made with leather and
walnut wood. In newer editions, the leather is
additionally given hand-stitched accents and
joins. On the dashboard, satnav and Bluetooth
come standard. A Dolby Prologic sound
system can be hooked up to satellite radio , a
six-CD changer, an iPod connector, a USB
connector, or an auxiliary input jack. This
sound system can be upgraded to a Bang &
Olufsen stereo. [11]
The coupe comes standard with two front
seats and rear seats. A seating package,
which removes the back seats and replaces
the front seats with lighter seats made of
Kevlar and carbon fibre , can be chosen. [12]
The boot is 186,891 cm 3 (6.6 cu ft) in the
coupe or 135,921 cm 3 (4.8 cu ft) in the
Volante. [11]
Exterior
Made to follow Aston's DB7 model, the DB9
is, according to Aston's initial press release,
"a contemporary version of classic DB design
elements and characteristics". [13] It retains
the traditional Aston Martin grille and side
strakes , and the design attempts to keep the
lines simple and refined. The boot of the car
is pronounced, like that of the DB4 and DB5 .
At the front, DB9 is without a separate nose
cone , and has no visible bumpers. [13] The
exterior skin is largely aluminium, though the
front bumpers and bonnet are composite. [14]
For the 2013 model year revision, Aston made
minor changes to the bodywork, including
enlargening the recessed headlight clusters
with bi-xenon lights and LED daytime strips,
widening the front splitter, updating the grille
and side heat extractors, updating the LED
rear lights with clear lenses and integrating a
new rear spoiler with the boot lid. [12]
Engine
The Aston Martin DB9 was initially launched
equipped with a 6.0L V12 engine, originally
taken from its sister car, the V12 Vanquish .
The engine provides 569 N·m (420 lbf·ft) of
torque at 5,000 rpm and a maximum power of
456 PS (450 hp) at 6,000 rpm. [4] The DB9
can accelerate from 0 to 97 km/h (60 mph) in
4.7 seconds and has a top speed of 299 km/h
(186 mph). The engine largely sits behind the
front-axle line to improve weight distribution.
[10] Changes to the engine for the 2013
model year DB9 increased the horsepower to
517 PS (510 hp) and torque to 620 N·m
(457 lbf·ft). The car's 0 to 97 km/h (60 mph)
time decreased to 4.1 seconds and the new
top speed is 295 km/h (183 mph). [15]
The DB9 can be equipped with either a six-
speed conventional manual gearbox from
Graziano or a six-speed ZF automatic gearbox
featuring paddle-operated semi-automatic
mode . [14] The automatic gearbox increases
the 0 to 97 km/h (60 mph) time to 4.9
seconds, though the top speed remains the
same. The gearbox is rear-mounted and is
driven by a carbon-fiber tail shaft inside a
cast aluminium torque tube. [10]
Chassis
The DB9 is the first Aston Martin model to be
designed and developed on Ford's aluminium
VH (vertical/horizontal) platform which also
underpins Aston Martin's flagship DBS. The
body structure is composed of aluminium and
composites melded together by mechanically
fixed self-piercing rivets and robotic assisted
adhesive bonding techniques. The bonded
aluminium structure is claimed to possess
more than double the torsional rigidity of its
predecessor's , despite being 25 percent
lighter. [10]
The DB9 also contains anti-roll bars and
double wishbone suspension , supported by
coil springs. To keep the back-end in control
under heavy acceleration or braking, the rear
suspension has additional anti-squat and anti-
lift technology. The car also features three
modes for the tuning: normal , for every-day
use, sport , for more precise movement at the
cost of ride comfort, and track, which furthers
the effects of the sport setting. [12]
Wheels
The DB9 initially launched with 483 mm
(19 in) wheels with a width of 216 mm
(8.5 in). [1] These were later changed to 20 in
(508 mm) wheels with widths of 216 mm
(8.5 in) in the front and 279 mm (11 in) in the
back. [16] The tyres are Pirelli P-Zero with
codes of 245/35ZR20 and 295/30ZR20. The
brakes are carbon-ceramic with six-piston
calipers in the front and four-piston calipers in
the back.
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