Aston Martin DB9 – The Time is Now

Father Time can be a sneaky son of a gun. Before you know it your knees have become a lot more vocal when you take the stairs and you’re now leaving parties at 9pm to crawl into bed with a good book. It’s the same with car manufacturers, too. Let’s take Aston Martin as an example. One day its releasing its sleek new DB9 two-door grand tourer and the next you’re doing a double take as that very same car turns 20 years old. Twenty!

It’s funny, because modern GT cars don’t really look that much different today than they did back in the early 2000s. Park a brand spanking DB12 next to a 2004 DB9 and you’ll see what we mean. But go two decades in the other direction and you’re back in 1984, and the then current model rolling out of Newport Pagnell was the Aston Martin V8, a vastly different beast to the DB9. Yes, that inherent Aston Martin DNA is still there but the two cars are world’s apart compared to the DB9 and DB12.

Without getting too Marty McFly on you, if we popped up in 2004 – when the DB9 was released with a list price of over £100,000 for the base model – and told you that you could pick one up for under twenty grand just two decades later, you’d probably think we were a bit crazy. Or drunk. Well, prices have been very much going down and to the right since 2017, and as we all know, that’s the wrong direction.

The wrong direction for Aston Martin maybe, and for those who picked one up when prices were still high, but it’s very much the right direction for modern classic car fans and the time is very much now to pick one of these beauties up.

An Introduction to the Aston Martin DB9

Aston Martin took everything it learned from its previous DB7 V12 Vantage and improved upon it for the DB9. Following significant investment from Ford, who were owners at the time, the DB9 was built upon Aston Martin’s new ‘vertical–horizontal’ platform. Developed by then CEO Ulrich Bez as a way for AM to be much more flexible with how it built its cars the DB9 was the first model to utilise this new way of manufacturing which incorporated bonded and riveted aluminium for increased torsional rigidity, whilst also being lighter.

Introduced in 2004 the DB9 featured a 450bhp 5.9-litre V12 with either a manual or automatic gearbox – both six-speed – that would continue to be updated at various points throughout its 12 year tenure. The Volante convertible came out later in the year and 2006 saw the release of an optional Sport Pack which offered improved suspension alongside a handful of visual tweaks. The first proper facelift came in 2008 that saw a boost in power to 470bhp as well as some fettling to the chassis and auto box.

A second facelift would arrive two years later in 2010, this time mostly limited to styling tweaks, and then a more comprehensive update was released in 2012 that included another hike in power to a whopping 510bhp, ceramic brakes as standard and further, more significant aesthetic improvements. The final iteration of the DB9, badged the GT, arrived in 2015 with 540bhp this time round.

Whichever iteration you choose though you’re getting yourself an incredibly handsome and impressively capable luxury GT car from one of the best to ever play that particular game. This isn’t a track weapon so the automatic gearbox is perfectly suited to the car’s refined brutality but the manual version does provide that extra level of engagement should you require. Beauty, power and comfort (oh and the noise!) habitually come at a high price, but buy wisely and you can have it all for a bit of a bargain.

What Should I Look For?

The most important thing when buying a used DB9 is to ensure it has full service history, preferably by Aston Martin specialists. These cars may be cheap now but they weren’t cheap to make and they’re not cheap to run and as such they require a level of care and maintenance a little bit above your daily runabout. Servicing is required every 12 months or 10,000 miles, alternating between expensive and a bit more expensive depending on whether it’s a minor or major inspection of the oily bits.

Aston Martin did make a fair few boo-boos with the DB9 and there were a whopping nine recalls over the course of its production cycle that were instigated by a whole host of both electrical and mechanical issues. In 2009 there was a recall for the automatic gearbox not engaging Park properly and another whereby a fault caused it to default into neutral so check these have been actioned, which they probably have by this point. Clutches generally last around 20,000 miles (if you don’t drive like the Dukes of Hazzard) so check the service history for any replacements because a new one will set you back north of £2,000.

The DB9 is a bit of a lardy beast and so the suspension and steering components are under quite a bit of stress. Again, there were three recalls related to the steering, including the front subframe bolts being incorrectly torqued so check these have been resolved. While you’re there inspect the rear subframe and anti-roll bar bushes too.

Oh, and if you don’t want to catch fire while driving to Waitrose on a winter’s morn then make sure the heated seats have been sorted. There was a recall to fix them as the control module can fail, allowing them to get too hot causing a potential fire risk. We appreciate a heated seat as much as the next person but that’s perhaps a little too toasty for our liking…

The V12 is generally an under-stressed unit and as long as regular servicing has been carried out it shouldn’t cause any issues. There’s no cambelt to replace either which is good news. Corrosion can rear its head despite the car being made from aluminium so check for any bubbling and inspect any edges where paint could have been chipped which will allow moisture ingress.

What Are Prices Like?

Rock bottom, which means there’s only one way for them to now go. We’ve seen prices steadily declining for years but that curve has bottomed out and we can pretty much guarantee that these cars will now begin to appreciate, so if you want one, and you really should, now is definitely the time.

You just have to look at prices here on Car & Classic to see what we mean. The cheapest on site at the time of writing is up for just £19,995 with a bunch of decent examples hovering around the £25K mark. You’ll obviously pay more for super low mileage cars, later models and GT variants so we’d stick to early examples with a good chunk of use under their belts for the best bargains.

£25,000 to £35,000 will put you in a good position for either a coupé or convertible Volante but remember that all important service history and try to buy the best you can afford. You needn’t worry about higher mileage examples so long as they have been regularly serviced and maintained, but by too cheap and you’ll be paying twice.

Why Should I Buy One?

Because it’s an Aston Martin. For twenty grand. That’s less than the price of a brand new Kia XCeed, whatever that is. There’s just something about an Aston. People see you driving around in a DB9 and they won’t be jealous. They won’t look disapprovingly at you as you blat past. They’ll nod their heads in appreciation, thinking “nice car that, they’ve done well”.

An Aston Martin DB9 isn’t as ostentatious as a Ferrari or as brash as a Lambo, it’s sophisticated and refined, a handsome and capable grand tourer that still turns heads in all the right ways, so forget your brand new EVs and boring SUVs, get yourself a DB9 instead because there’s nothing quite like the sound of a V12 at full chat. It’s pure poetry. A shouty sonnet perhaps, but poetry all the same, so crack on and start your search today.