Starting off with a DB9 comparison

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

JMS05

New Member
Joined
Mar 16, 2017
Messages
5
Car
Z4M Coupe (Currently)
Hi, so I picked up my new to me C63 coupe a month ago and thought I'd share my experiences. I previously had a BMW Z4MC, an amazing drivers car and I could talk about its virtues all day long but to compare the two is apples and oranges. Instead I'm lucky enough to have extensive use of a MY2008 DB9 via the family and the comparisons are much more relevant. My C63 is a performance pack vs the DB9 which has the sports pack (stiffer suspension, lighter wheels, chassis bracing) but unfortunately is not the facelift so only 450hp vs the MY2009 475hp engine.

Performance
C63. It revs faster, louder and is the iron fist in the velvet glove it promised to be. Most speeds and most gears the C63 is faster, not by much but quantitatively it is. However the DB9 is the ironfist in the cashmere glove. The torque seems to come from lower down and doesn't need to be at high engine speeds. When you are at legal speeds in a C63 cruising and the DB9 is the same, without a kick down the DB9 motor is stronger. And from the standing start the Aston gets away cleaner with its factory LSD (mine doesn't have) and 285 section tyres rather then the C63 relative bike tyres. The reason the DB9 is slower is the gearbox. With a 6 speed torque converter it has that elastic band response from low speed, is rarely in the right gear and even with the paddles has a mind of its own and a very lethargic one at that. Lions with donkeys in charge of swapping the cogs as it were. The C63 has its critics for the gearbox (MCT in this case) but I can only assume they have never driven an auto DB9.

Handling
Draw. My original assumption was the DB9 grand tourer would seem heavy compared to the sports coupe C63. Wrong. I haven't had both on a weighbridge but I think the two would be almost equal. The DB9 is almost all aluminum and despite being bigger I could swear it is lighter. The sports pack on the Aston helps with feedback and probably communicates the road surface better than the C63 and the ride is probably more supple. As a GT the steering is too over assisted and feels too light at speed. The C63 is weighted better and turns in sharper than the understeering DB9. However its much closer to call than you would expect. I can attest to this with the 'running 10 minutes late to a wedding' routine, all back country lanes you've never seen before and making time when possible without hitting villages like an F22 raptor. The C63 gets their that minute quicker but...

Occasion
DB9. When you do inevitably turn up late in the Aston you look like an international spy who's debrief overran. Forgivable and ultimately desirable. In the C63 they assume your arms deal overran and you are a bellend. In London traffic everyone lets a DB9 in, everyone keeps a C63 out. The difference in reaction is incredible especially considering the 2 similar specs of the cars, almost same colour, red calipers, 19inch wheels. Everyone from young to old wants to talk about the Aston and to be honest so does the driver. Flush door handles with LEDs, glass glowing starter button, front lit aluminum dials, factory fit umbrella. They call it an emotion control unit instead of a key but once you've driven one you understand why they need to keep it in control.

Photos attached.

I could write pages on this and many more about why I love the C63 and chose it over another DB9. Horses for courses. Anyway hope to meet many of you soon.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0339.jpg
    IMG_0339.jpg
    136.2 KB · Views: 133
  • IMG_0338.JPG
    IMG_0338.JPG
    189.6 KB · Views: 120
  • IMG_0337.jpg
    IMG_0337.jpg
    140.5 KB · Views: 116
The Amg fights its corner well considering the Aston was approx £160k new, nice write up and welcome.
 
I've driven both back to back (facelift AM) and AM handles much better in my humble opinion. The engine which has 4 more cylinders sits behind the axle unlike C63. The cabin is much better in the AM. Gearshift buttons on the dash, how cool is that? Both are nice cars with a massive price difference between them but it's AM for me hands down.
 
Two different class cars, i dont really see how you can compare them, the Aston is several classes above the C63 IMO.
 
.......
 
Last edited:
Intresting comments about the two cars. In my case it was a few years ago when I had sold my Porsche and in my normal way of doing things I set a budget for my next car.
In one day I tried and Aston Martin V8S soft top in pale metallic green from a main agent in Walton on Thames, an Audi R8 then finally the SL63.
First up the Aston Martin that was at the very top of my budget, the car looked fabulous but it had a paddle shift gearbox and that was truly awful even in auto mode it didn't do traffic nicely. I said to the salesman the last time I drove a car with a gearbox as bad as this it was a Maserati 4200 Gambiocorsa, to which the knowledgable salesman did say it was the same manufacturer. I wasn't keen on the rather too jiggly ride and the engine sounded harsh at high revs. Anyway I drove the car back and said I had other cars to try.
Next up was an Audi R8 as someone who had owned and at times loved my late V8 Esprit I thought that the R8 would be a new version of the Esprit which it was but I felt it was a bit bland inside and very little wow factor.
Last car of the day was a SL63, a soon as it started up I was part sold, then driving it the MCT gearbox was a revelation it did what you expected it to do, plus you could adjust the ride comfort mode.
Needless to say I bought the SL63, but if the Aston martin had had a gearbox I could live with and adjustable suspension exactly what was in the SL I'd have probably bought it.
 
Hi, so I picked up my new to me C63 coupe a month ago and thought I'd share my experiences. I previously had a BMW Z4MC, an amazing drivers car and I could talk about its virtues all day long but to compare the two is apples and oranges. Instead I'm lucky enough to have extensive use of a MY2008 DB9 via the family and the comparisons are much more relevant. My C63 is a performance pack vs the DB9 which has the sports pack (stiffer suspension, lighter wheels, chassis bracing) but unfortunately is not the facelift so only 450hp vs the MY2009 475hp engine.

Performance
C63. It revs faster, louder and is the iron fist in the velvet glove it promised to be. Most speeds and most gears the C63 is faster, not by much but quantitatively it is. However the DB9 is the ironfist in the cashmere glove. The torque seems to come from lower down and doesn't need to be at high engine speeds. When you are at legal speeds in a C63 cruising and the DB9 is the same, without a kick down the DB9 motor is stronger. And from the standing start the Aston gets away cleaner with its factory LSD (mine doesn't have) and 285 section tyres rather then the C63 relative bike tyres. The reason the DB9 is slower is the gearbox. With a 6 speed torque converter it has that elastic band response from low speed, is rarely in the right gear and even with the paddles has a mind of its own and a very lethargic one at that. Lions with donkeys in charge of swapping the cogs as it were. The C63 has its critics for the gearbox (MCT in this case) but I can only assume they have never driven an auto DB9.

Handling
Draw. My original assumption was the DB9 grand tourer would seem heavy compared to the sports coupe C63. Wrong. I haven't had both on a weighbridge but I think the two would be almost equal. The DB9 is almost all aluminum and despite being bigger I could swear it is lighter. The sports pack on the Aston helps with feedback and probably communicates the road surface better than the C63 and the ride is probably more supple. As a GT the steering is too over assisted and feels too light at speed. The C63 is weighted better and turns in sharper than the understeering DB9. However its much closer to call than you would expect. I can attest to this with the 'running 10 minutes late to a wedding' routine, all back country lanes you've never seen before and making time when possible without hitting villages like an F22 raptor. The C63 gets their that minute quicker but...

Occasion
DB9. When you do inevitably turn up late in the Aston you look like an international spy who's debrief overran. Forgivable and ultimately desirable. In the C63 they assume your arms deal overran and you are a bellend. In London traffic everyone lets a DB9 in, everyone keeps a C63 out. The difference in reaction is incredible especially considering the 2 similar specs of the cars, almost same colour, red calipers, 19inch wheels. Everyone from young to old wants to talk about the Aston and to be honest so does the driver. Flush door handles with LEDs, glass glowing starter button, front lit aluminum dials, factory fit umbrella. They call it an emotion control unit instead of a key but once you've driven one you understand why they need to keep it in control.

Photos attached.

I could write pages on this and many more about why I love the C63 and chose it over another DB9. Horses for courses. Anyway hope to meet many of you soon.
Love this!! Thank you!

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
 
Cheers very interesting especially the other drivers perspective...
One of the reasons I'm thinking of debadging- bit sick of bellends in fiesta St's who seek a challenge
 
Hi,
Neighbour has a nice V12 Aston - biggest problem is the strange auto gearbox.
It's basically a robotised manual ZF gearbox with actuators to change gear and control the clutch.
Before he starts the car - you hear a pump system pressurising the gearbox hydraulics.
Apparently many people have removed all the auto bits and converted them back to a standard manual gearbox.
His car is very light as it's a mixture of aluminium and carbon fibre.
Cheers
Steve
 
This sounds like an early SMG gearbox I had on a E36 M3, I too had it converted to a manual, absolute pants!
 
Intresting comments about the two cars. In my case it was a few years ago when I had sold my Porsche and in my normal way of doing things I set a budget for my next car.
In one day I tried and Aston Martin V8S soft top in pale metallic green from a main agent in Walton on Thames, an Audi R8 then finally the SL63.
First up the Aston Martin that was at the very top of my budget, the car looked fabulous but it had a paddle shift gearbox and that was truly awful even in auto mode it didn't do traffic nicely. I said to the salesman the last time I drove a car with a gearbox as bad as this it was a Maserati 4200 Gambiocorsa, to which the knowledgable salesman did say it was the same manufacturer. I wasn't keen on the rather too jiggly ride and the engine sounded harsh at high revs. Anyway I drove the car back and said I had other cars to try.
Next up was an Audi R8 as someone who had owned and at times loved my late V8 Esprit I thought that the R8 would be a new version of the Esprit which it was but I felt it was a bit bland inside and very little wow factor.
Last car of the day was a SL63, a soon as it started up I was part sold, then driving it the MCT gearbox was a revelation it did what you expected it to do, plus you could adjust the ride comfort mode.
Needless to say I bought the SL63, but if the Aston martin had had a gearbox I could live with and adjustable suspension exactly what was in the SL I'd have probably bought it.

Comparing an SL AMG is a much better comparison with a DB9. The C63 is just a C Class at the end of the day.
 
flowrider99 said:
Comparing an SL AMG is a much better comparison with a DB9. The C63 is just a C Class at the end of the day.


That beats a db9 ;0))
 
flowrider99 said:
I'm sure a C63 is faster than quite a few cars, but that doesn't make it a good comparison to those cars. Better to compare cars from the same market segment.


Read the first post sir.
Cheers
 
The robotised manual I believe will be from an early Vanquish. The DB9 was a more conventional ZF 6-speed auto. Both awful in their own special ways.

Fair point on the SL63 being the better comparison it terms of market segment. I'd argue the c63 is just as valid as they are both 2+2 hardtop coupes with front engine/rear wheel drive configurations. The DB9 may have been many classes above new but for someone with £40k burning a hole in their pocket for a used car, that or a 507 is an interesting dilemma.

On a side note I chose a PP coupe over a 507 as not having a garage I value the extra subtlety when parked outside. If I did have a garage it would be hard to say no to a DB9 at this price point although it's easy to make a strong case for a 507.
 
The robotised manual I believe will be from an early Vanquish. The DB9 was a more conventional ZF 6-speed auto. Both awful in their own special ways.

Fair point on the SL63 being the better comparison it terms of market segment. I'd argue the c63 is just as valid as they are both 2+2 hardtop coupes with front engine/rear wheel drive configurations. The DB9 may have been many classes above new but for someone with £40k burning a hole in their pocket for a used car, that or a 507 is an interesting dilemma.

On a side note I chose a PP coupe over a 507 as not having a garage I value the extra subtlety when parked outside. If I did have a garage it would be hard to say no to a DB9 at this price point although it's easy to make a strong case for a 507.

I agree when I did my three car test drive it was with a secondhand car budget in mind the fact that a lot of these cars fall off a cliff deprecation wise opens up a tantalising Pandoras box albeit with an eye on potential running costs.
I really didn't like the Aston Martin perhaps it's me, I'm maybe more Brooke Bond than James Bond and being let out of junctions means F**k all to me. It's what a car drives like to me which is the most important factor.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom