DB9 v.s. 1987 Corolla sedan (this is not a joke!)

[V8slayer]

I just went to test drive the DB9 this afternoon. And the only car I can compare it to was my auntie's Corolla. No modern car I've driven in my ten years of driving experience comes close to matching the abbysmal performance of that overpriced hunk of junk.

I thought the purpose of a performance GT was to have supple ride for cruising yet stay flat into corners. A difficult goal certainly. But how the hell did they make it bumpy when cruising yet still have ridiculous amounts of body roll when cornering? It just reminds me of small cars of the mid-80's.

The brakes, or murder weapons, depending on how you look at it, don't get me started. You depress the pedal 1cm, 2cm, 3cm no reaction, then all of a sudden, you run into a wall. The car loses all momentum and you're doing 30mph. Very much like my auntie's Corolla.

After that, you try to exit the corner with some decent speed because you entered it SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SLOOOOOOOOOOOWLY. But the "SIX LITER V12 piece of S**T" revs the hell out of itself yet the car doesn't pick up a shred of speed. Well I have driven a third car like that, a 1.6L 2000 model Nissan pulsar.

And lastly, the most unbelivable part about this supposed performance car is the stability at high speeds and under heavy braking. Sure it was a bumpy mountain B road. But doing 70mph was the most scary experience I've had in a long time and you simply didn't dare go any faster. Then you try to slow down quickly from that speed and I nearly soiled myself. In both situations, the car shivers and shudders from left to right. Your knuckles go white from holding onto the steering wheel so tight. You're holding it in a straight line through brute strength alone. If you didn't, it would have spat you onto the cliff face or into the valley.

The combined result of the above characteristics is a car that inspires no confidence whatsoever. My friend and I went back to the dealer, picked up my M3 and went back to the same stretch of road to make sure it wasn't us or the road. And I tell you it wasn't. The M3 attacked corners with vigour, it encouraged you to push harder and harder. So it wasn't the road. And on that one long stretch, 80mph without breaking a sweat and braking was instant and stable. So it wasn't us.

It is such a shame because to look at the DB9, exterior and interior, it is the most beautiful car ever. How the hell can they screw up the dynamics so bad?

And one more question this raises is, "How much did Jeremy Clarkson get paid to praise that car on TV?" Seriously though, I don't see how any automotive enthusiat can stand that car after half an hour.

Sorry about the rant, but I'm just flabbergasted at how far short of expectations the DB9 fell. I've loved that thing for nearly a year. It was a sad day.

[NISSANSPDR]

This isnt a comparo...it's more of a lambasting

[crayzayjay]

Get Ulrich Bez on the phone, Slayer has spoken


Some pretty surprising comments there... maybe it was a lemon...

[NISSANSPDR]

Originally Posted by crayzayjay

maybe it was a lemon...

OT and speaking of lemons, in GT4 I ran across an Abarth...I won it in a race and used it for the Lightweight K races...I thought of you the whole time Jay since you are I guess a driver/fan of Abarth

I wish they had given me this



Reminds me of a cross between a Datsun 510 and an E30 M3

But what I got was this...I did a couple mods like stage 1 turbo kit and another a few other go fast goodies...it was pushing like 110hp...good enough to beat the competition...funny thing was...later on...I did a British Lightweight car race and they let me use my Lotus Elise 111R since it was less than 4000mm. Thing was my 111R had 326HP and weighed like NOTHING...so needless to say I only saw my competition on the front straight

This is the Abarth I got

[V8slayer]

But Jay, that's the thing, I'm not an Aston Basher. I didn't want it to be bad. I had an order on it for almost a year (now cancelled of course). I wanted to love it.

What do you mean by a lemon? Aston would hardly use a lemon as their one demonstrator in our entire state.

Can you give me a possible explanation as of to why? I mean it doesn't exactly require a lot of skill to go fast in a straight line then slow down. That's all car and road, nothing to do with the driver. How can my M3 which costs less than half the DB9 go so much better on the same road with the same drivers?

[crayzayjay]

Originally Posted by V8slayer

But Jay, that's the thing, I'm not an Aston Basher. I didn't want it to be bad. I had an order on it for almost a year (now cancelled of course). I wanted to love it.

What do you mean by a lemon? Aston would hardly use a lemon as their one demonstrator in our entire state.

Can you give me a possible explanation as of to why? I mean it doesn't exactly require a lot of skill to go fast in a straight line then slow down. That's all car and road, nothing to do with the driver. How can my M3 which costs less than half the DB9 go so much better on the same road with the same drivers?

I don't know.... The DB9 has had good reviews from TG, CAR, and evo, which is why i thought it would at least be capable of going in a straight line? Maybe the tyres were past their sell-by?

Originally Posted by NISSANSPDR

OT and speaking of lemons, in GT4 I ran across an Abarth...I won it in a race and used it for the Lightweight K races...I thought of you the whole time Jay since you are I guess a driver/fan of Abarth

I wish they had given me this

Fiat (Abarth) 131 Rally =

I don't drive an Abarth, the logo is there mainly because of my eternal love for the Lancia Integrale (the unbeatable rally versions of which were built by Abarth). And i do love the Simca as well:




Gorgeous

[Neutrino]

Well I certainly can belive it, i've seen the new Vaquish S on the TG track being lapped by the Stig (nov 14 2004 episode) and beside putting up a crappy time its chassis looked really unsetled and this is the frpom the sportier "S" version. Therefore i would not be surprised if its younger brother the DB9 has the same issues. Also lets not forget that despite is suposedly modern AL chassis it is a bit heavy around 3900 LBS.

I know those are GT cars but still i would expect better. I really hope they will keep their word and deliver in the AMV8 true porsche level chassis dynamics.

[CrzyMR2T]

Originally Posted by crayzayjay

I don't know.... The DB9 has had good reviews from TG, CAR, and evo, which is why i thought it would at least be capable of going in a straight line? Maybe the tyres were past their sell-by?



Fiat (Abarth) 131 Rally =

I don't drive an Abarth, the logo is there mainly because of my eternal love for the Lancia Integrale (the unbeatable rally versions of which were built by Abarth). And i do love the Simca as well:




Gorgeous

thats a nice looking car.

about the db9 test drive, maybe you didnt drive it long enough? cause you know, it can be a lot different depending on which two cars you compare. maybe you had to get a little more used to this car, than any other cars that you ve driven.

[V8slayer]

How is driving a car longer going to improve it's stability at high speeds and under braking? That's a very basic thing that has nothing to do with the driver.

[Rakshas]

I'm not doubting you, but are you sure it was working properly? For a car that recieved so many good reviews it's shocking that it wuld behave like that.

[syr74]

I don't know which is harder to believe. That this guy is claiming to have driven a DB9 with a straight face or that people apparently believe him. "I drove a DB9 and it just wasn't up to my standards". roflmao

Not only has this guy not driven a DB9, he hasn't been close enough to one to sniff the leather. This is such a crock of shit it is amazing.

You know, if this is beliavable let me tell you about the Enzo I drove last week. It was amazing. You could have outrun that underpowered Italian hunk o' shit with a Suzuki Swift.........

[V8slayer]

For all you experts out there, what if the guy who drove it before me did something like clip the kerb really hard. My friends and I are almost convinced that's what happened.

Would that explain most of what I felt? Cause I'd assume it'll throw the wheel balance right out which would explain the high speed instability. And if he clipped it hard enough to upset the brake balance, then it's not suprising that it nearly spit me into the cliff face on my left.

How's that for a theory? I mean the engine was still somewhat sluggish for a 6L V12, but at least the dynamic flaws would be explained.

[Neutrino]

Originally Posted by V8slayer

For all you experts out there, what if the guy who drove it before me did something like clip the kerb really hard. My friends and I are almost convinced that's what happened.

Would that explain most of what I felt? Cause I'd assume it'll throw the wheel balance right out which would explain the high speed instability. And if he clipped it hard enough to upset the brake balance, then it's not suprising that it nearly spit me into the cliff face on my left.

How's that for a theory? I mean the engine was still somewhat sluggish for a 6L V12, but at least the dynamic flaws would be explained.

Its somebody hit a curb and caused the wheel to be out of balance it would cause some very heavy shaking at higher speeds. If the wheel is out of alignement the car will pull on its own to one side or another. So its easy to find out if that happened.

Of course curb impacts that severe also leave some very visible marks on the wheels.

About the brake balance, it will not be affected by this, because even if the wheel is so far our of alignement that the tire contact patch will be very different from the factory spec (in which case the problem would be very visible since the wheel would lean) EBD would fix the brake inbalance.

[V8slayer]

Just spoke to my Aston dealer yesterday. He told me that they checked the records and the DB9 I drove had a puncture in the front left tyre about a week before my test drive. They had the puncture repaired but there was no wheel allignment done. He's going to get it checked and I'm going in again in about two weeks.

Sure hope that's all it is.

[Neutrino]

Originally Posted by V8slayer

Just spoke to my Aston dealer yesterday. He told me that they checked the records and the DB9 I drove had a puncture in the front left tyre about a week before my test drive. They had the puncture repaired but there was no wheel allignment done. He's going to get it checked and I'm going in again in about two weeks.

Sure hope that's all it is.

A punctured tire cannot mess up the alignement of a car. Only a big hit to the wheel can do that.