Aston Martin DB9 (2004 - 2018) V12 Volante Touchtronic (470bhp) 2d Auto Owner Review

How reliable do you find the car?

This is the second DB9 that I have owned, both have suffered from moisture in the nearside rear light cluster, the first car, I just put up with it and and then sold it. There was also a problem with the seat heating elements on the drivers side which failed, this also takes out some control unit or other, Aston know about this and there was a recall, I believe that some vehicles actually caught fire! If you have the same problem, play up about it, I did and it was all sorted out FOC!. LED's in door handle light failed on drivers side, can't remember the actual cost but about £170 ish comes to mind, (warranty for parts, labour down to me for some reason) not really important, just a niggle though at night when you can't locate the sodding door handle (the door card etc seemingly also has to be stripped to get at it). The current one my Volante, needed a new light cluster too, one single indicator LED went O/S with was annoying, however, even more annoying was that the warranty would not pick it up, "Bulb Failure! they told me, since when did an LED become a bulb?? anyway near enough 800 quid to replace!! (I picked up that bill!). Moving on ... (Volante) one tyre pressure sensor failed on low battery voltage, the warranty checked the other three and found those to be a bit "Iffy" so they picked up the bill to replace all four of them, with labour about 900 quid I recall. Nearside window needed continual resets, did not close the last 2/3 mm when having opened the nearside door which when the speed rose above about 30 MPH, became a total pain. Warranty again picked this up, another 900 ish for a replacement window mechanism. Current issues, "Emission System Service Required" whatever that means! only intermittent at the moment, maybe just a Lambda Sensor, clears after some "spirited driving" but returns when driven sensibly for 60/70 miles, oil consumption is totally negligible so that is probably not the source, I had the same emission issues with a 911 Turbo when driven sensibly but again, this cleared itself after a bit of spirited driving! The Aston people who look after my 9 for me tell me that its not a major issue to be concerned with and will get it onto the data logger and interrogate when I have time (Several of the forums also mention this event) however, If I'm doing my bit to P**S Greta off, and put a smile on Mr Clarkson's face, well then so be it! In summary, my feelings on the Aston Martin DB9, a great car, just forget the few niggles which you will surely experience, ensure that you get a good warranty, and turn your face up to grin factor eleven every time you look at standing on the drive and twelve when you push the "emotion module" or whatever other silly name Aston have for the starter thing when the twelve cylinders wake up! Word of warning though, don't drop the crystal glass one though they look very pretty and cost near enough a grand to replace! Would I buy another, you bet, perfection will always have a few drawbacks. If you are reading this in consideration of purchase, carry out your due diligence, check everything and ask lots of questions, Service Records, old Mot's and Invoices (there will probably be quite a few!) Finally, check around door handles, screen and door mirror mounts for corrosion, mirror mounts on both of my cars needed to be repainted, Astons often have paint finish issues in these areas. Hope that this review helped an good luck! DJM. PS. Should you still retain any hooligan tendencies, fuse 17 or 18 I think it is, which is located in the nearside fuse box in the boot releases the "quietening things" which live in the back box's to the open up to the default position which is supposed to keep the beast quiet until it reaches 3000 RPM or so,. Now that really will get the pigeons off the roof, remind the neighbours that you are nipping out for a blast and small boys at the roadside to give you a cheery wave and a thumbs up ... ENJOY!