Even the cheapest Aston Martin will cost you the better (or worse, to be precise) part of Dh400,000. And that only gets you a new V8 Vantage. A lot of money in anyone's book.
But you can get into this exclusive club and finally be able to turn to your wife and say, "Honey, we're taking the Aston tonight," for far less money than that.
After the glory days of long-time Aston Martin owner David Brown — during his tenure all models carried his initials, hence the DB2, DB3, DB4, and so on — the Gaydon carmaker fell into neglect. In the Nineties Aston Martin needed a saviour, and Ford stepped up to the plate to pump in the cash.
Brown may have been long gone by this time, but his legacy endured and the first product under Ford's umbrella continued the naming tradition; the DB7 was born at the 1993 Geneva Motor Show and promptly stole the limelight. It probably saved the company, too.
Presence and elegance were something no Aston ever lacked, and the DB7 lived up to its name. Everyone loved the design, but everyone also had something negative to say about Ford's contribution, which mainly stretched to interior ergonomics, and the mechanicals.
Needless to say, stay away from the early cars if you're looking for a cheap ticket into an Aston Martin. Fortunately even the later, redesigned models, introduced in 1996, get started at about Dh100,000 and rarely trample over Dh200,000. In fact, if you have that much cash to spend you'll be plonking your tush into the leather seat of a pristine open-topped DB7 Volante.
Of course, the most desirable DB7 always has a Vantage tag following, but even those are less than Dh150,000, and we're talking late model (production ceased in 2004), very low-mileage cars. The Vantage also has the benefit of a V12, instead of an ancient Jaguar-derived straight-six.
Later examples all came with plusher seats and airbags, softer suspension, better brakes and modern headlights. Earlier DB7s are said to be more dynamically pleasing, but then they would be, heaving almost 100kg less in the engine bay than the V12-powered cars.
Whichever one you choose, you're bound to be getting a first-class ticket for economy class prices. And the gorgeous looks, well, they come for free.
