Speeding to the Top of the Hill (part 2 of 2); Aston Martin DB9 means to set new standards for what a GT can be.(News)(Product/Service Evaluation)

The GT character also comes through in the car's comfortable ride-it is astonishingly unflappable for something that is also so responsive. Once, shying away from that centerline around a blind turn, we drop the left-rear wheel into a curbside drain a couple of inches deep, and stiffen up with anticipation of the coming jolt. But no, the car simply drives out of the situation as smoothly as it went in. Like a luxury sedan. It also tends to roll just a touch more than would be ideal for a purist sports car, but the blend of ride and handling qualities is really above serious reproach. On these roads, where so many other sports and GT contenders have demonstrated both their strengths and weak- nesses, the DB9 passes every test without revealing a significant flaw.

The overall DB9 package is roughly the size of a DB7, a few millimeters' difference here and there, but the wheelbase is longer and the track wider, so there is a bigger cabin designed to give a six-foot-three-inch male enough room to work (neither Bez nor Main is a short man). The engine mounts both lower and farther back than in DB7, the drive being carried aft by a carbon fiber shaft spinning in an aluminum tube. Eighty-five percent of the mass is between the wheels; the fuel tank mounted in such a spot that the balance of the car doesn't shift as the tank empties. Which prompts a short tale of journalistic adventure: The example we drove had a flaw in its fuel gauge, the float in the tank having moved sideways under hard cornering such that it hung up on the evaporative emissions gear. So it read "full'' all day, even when, twice, Aston Martin handlers checked to see if it was time to top off. So we eventually ran out of gas and had to call for help. We were informed it was a rare condition, caused only when a driver cornered hard to the right (above 0.8 g, they said) with the tank near full. So that's how we crazy press drivers helped develop the DB9: Production models have an S-bend in the wire that carries the float, so that it can't hang up on the evap gear, even if you go haring away with the tires barely warm- ed, like some slalom racer on a mission to set fastest time of the day.

Neither a Porsche nor a Ferrari GT, this Aston Martin presents an enticing alternative to either one.

"This isn't meant to be a race car on the road,'' says Main. "It must be comfortable to drive slowly, and exhilarating to drive quickly. It mustn't be nervous, but linear and predictable.''

The stiff structure is a big part of that story. Like Vanquish, the DB9 is built of aluminum and composite elements bonded together in aerospace fashion-welds and fasteners are minimal, the resulting monocoque being both stiffer and lighter than more conventional construction, even within the growing universe of all-alloy body-shells. Aston Martin goes so far as to claim it is the most structurally efficient in the world, factoring in strength, weight and torsional rigidity. Built at the recently opened Gaydon facility-Aston Martin's first purpose-built car manufacturing plant- the base, manual-gearbox car weighs 3769 pounds. With automatic transmission and all options it just touches 3968 pounds. If that seems high for a 2+2, take a look at the mass of the all-aluminum Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, which offers real rear legroom for its extra 150 pounds, or even Aston's own Vanquish, a two-seater that weighs 4100 pounds. The power-to-weight ratios of the two Astons are virtually identical, despite the DB9's lower peak figure. Consider, too, the DB9 offers virtually every luxury feature known, from 128-watt Linn audio system with six-disc in-dash CD changer through Recaro-designed and built ...