It’s a rare car that can walk the tightrope between a classic grand touring experience and state-of-the-art engineering, but the DB9 does just that. It exudes an air of hand-crafted Britishness from every aluminum panel, wood insert, and leather-trimmed surface--and yet under the skin lives a thoroughly modern assembly of extruded aluminum bonded with a high-tech adhesive, a cutting-edge ZF transaxle out back, and a 21st century V12 under the bonnet (as they say in the island nation that spawned the car). The DB9 manages to turn these modern accouterments into a classic GT driving experience, although the performance numbers would make any actual classic Aston blush, as 60 mph comes in a blistering 4.7 seconds. It doesn't hurt that the lines of the car, penned by the legendary designers Ian Callum and Henrik Fisker, are stunningly gorgeous from any angle. The pretty DB9 maintains all of the grace and poise of the headiest Astons of old, with contemporary performance and unparalleled luxury—not a bad combination, all told.
