2009 Aston Martin DB9 Volante

First Drive Review
More power and a revised transmission make driving Aston Martin’s stunning ragtop almost as pleasurable as gazing at it.

In Aston Martin’s lexicon, four-seat convertibles are known as Volantes, center stacks are called façades, and in the case of the DBS and the 2009 DB9, the key has become an Emotion Control Unit. That last term deserves a chuckle, because even for jaded automotive journalists, it takes more than a pocket-sized stainless-steel-and-glass transmitter to control the emotion elicited on rousing the 12 cylinders that live under the hood of a drop-dead gorgeous DB9 Volante.

Certainly, the DB9 could sell on looks alone, but when a car is this beautiful (and costs $200,000, give or take a shekel), performance expectations are high. And frankly, the DB9’s curb appeal hasn’t quite been matched by its performance up to this point. An automatic coupe we tested a few years ago took 4.8 seconds to reach 60 mph from a stop. That number is quick but not mind-blowingly so—just ask a Dodge Charger SRT8 or a Mercedes-Benz E550. It’s good, then, that Aston Martin blessed the ’09 DB9 with more horsepower, a quicker-shifting automatic, and minor chassis tweaks, all intended to help bring its thrill factor more into balance with its immutable beauty.

With more than 10,000 units sold thus far, the DB9 is already considered the most successful Aston Martin ever. And with this year’s extra helping of excitement, the DB9 finally has dynamics to match its looks. In the Car and Driver lexicon, we’d call it “pretty damn good.”