There's too much of action. The motoring industry is filled with cars that outperform each other on a daily basis. It's like every day you wake up to find a new winner at the Nürburgring circuit. A decade ago, a win on the Nürburgring was considered a big feat. It still is but in those days it took a competitor probably a year to break the previous record. That's changed now. The Nürburgring has now become a final inspection checkpoint, and it's going to get repetitive in a few years time. "This car has broken yesterday's record lap timing at the Nürburgring!!" … Same news the next day, next car … every day. Imagine.
People are eventually going to lose track and most importantly lose interest, because there is a threshold for hype. Sure, sports cars and GT cars are meant to go fast and outperform each other, but what if lap timings become a boring subject in the future? Do we deal with it then, or do we look at what could be interesting a few years down the line where the attention span a car might get labelled as 'boring' or 'interesting' all depending on a few minutes shaved off the lap circuit or not. Almost a decade back, not everyone was a car expert.
The general public knew little about cars and what they needed to look for. That's not the situation now. Now the consumer is king. The public is well informed, and even if you're not, all you need is Google to find out if you should really buy that car or not. It's that simple.
If a car doesn't get the attention that its manufacturers think it merits, it's probably because it does not deserve it. The world has always demanded 'remarkability' from cars. It's just that today, the need to be remarkable has increased tenfold because there is too much chaos out there. If I don't think your car is worth my 10 minutes, it's probably because it isn't. What if I've got an opinion lodged in my brain that a certain car couldn't possibly be better than another car I personally think is great?
It's going to take a lot of great performance and convincing to dislodge my opinion. This is what many car companies are facing now.
They've probably eased through the years, content with what they were achieving, without actually thinking about how usual or how little their cars are going to mean to people in the future.
In today's market, where it takes a lot to convince people otherwise, car companies are faced with a challenge: can they dislodge an idea or a notion, especially in today's times?
But some companies are on the right side of the challenge. Like the one I am going to mention in the
next sentence. A car that's always been on the
wow list of car lovers is the Aston Martin. The new DB9 continues to make people and even its competitors go 'wow'.
If you're Aston Martin-committed, you probably wouldn't need to read a review to buy one. You, like most other Aston enthusiasts, are already well informed about its heritage and what this car is all about. You would love to know if it tops the Nürburgring, but that's not why you will buy it. You purchase it because you just cannot resist its appeal and the way it makes you feel every time you look at it and drive it.
It's not a car that is aimed at everyone. That is probably its winning point. It's not the only one in its segment either, so it's not like it doesn't have any competition. It does.
The 2+2 seater DB9 has a 6-litre V12 engine that produces 470 bhp @ 6,000 rpm and 600 Nm of torque @ 5,000 rpm. It does a 0–100 km/h sprint in 4.6 seconds with an unmistakable grunt and exhaust noise that is only heard from 12-cylinder engines.
It is capable of touching a top speed of 306 km/h given the right conditions, and driving this car is an experience that takes your breath away.
It's the speed and enormously high torque combined with the finesse and passion gone into the build and the fact that GT cars don't really get any better than this makes the driving experience complete and fulfilling.
Sure, one could fit a road-going sedan with a high-powered engine and provide a list of other cars in the upper league that are cost-effectively good in speed but that's not what motoring is all about. Cars like the DB9 prove that.
On the road, the Aston's unmistakable presence is reinforced by the distinctive grille, the metal side strakes and the signature rear window shape. The overall design speaks of the large amount of time that was probably spent in perfecting it. Designs and engines get better over time and the Aston makers have been at it since it was founded in 1913. However, one thing that they've probably forgotten to redesign are the rear seats in the DB9.
These are not designed keeping the human body in mind, because there are no humans or babies who could fit in there. The DBS is probably Aston's answer to this – the rear seats have simply been taken out!
Motoring is really about feel and passion. It's usually about how a car responds to you and drives the way you want it to. There are other cars in this segment and the competition is really stiff. But it is pecisely in this area that a car
like the Aston Martin DB9 succeeds in catering to specific enthusiasts.
– Philip Shane is a Dubai-based motoring enthusiast
