Top Gear flogs the Aston Martin DBS
Top Gear has laid hands on the new hotness that is the Aston Martin DBS, and after watching Jeremy Clarkson take us on an eight-minute tour of the car and what it can do, we desperately want to win the lottery. In his review, he literally places it head-to-head against the DB9 (prettier and less costly) and the Vanquish S (faster in a drag race), and for a time, you almost think he's disappointed in James Bond's latest company car. But as the segment concludes, he has an epiphany of sorts, explaining that its the best car he's driven this year and detailing what makes it special. Then the Stig takes the wheel and does his thing. What's the final verdict? Where does it rank against the other exotica that's lapped the Top Gear test course? We won't give it away, other than to say that it keeps some pretty heady company on that ranking board. Follow the jump and check out the video for yourselves.
[Source: YouTube]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
EJ25RUN 9:49AM (11/27/2007)
Top Gear is the best show ever!
Bout the car, i like the DBS better it reminds me of what a car like that should be. A street version of the gt race car. I would take it over the DB9 ...pay that 50,000...and alot of other cars. It really seems like the best British GT car you can buy today.
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nagmashot 9:49AM (11/27/2007)
wow in the wet the Audi R8 pulled 1:24.4min...3 seconds faster as the DBS in the wet..and nearly as fast as the DBS in the dry..
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Jeff 10:19AM (11/27/2007)
What a POS, gets horrible gas mileage, costs too much and it's too fast. If they would make it in diesel or in a hybrid or fuel cell that gets 50mpg and sell it for under $20,000 then they would sell a ton of them.
Oops, I forgot, it's not GM we're talking about.
Where's the nearest lottery ticket agent? I want one of these in the worst way. OK, I really want 2 of these in the worst way, but I'm not greedy....
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Dan 9:45PM (11/27/2007)
"too fast" ?
Allan 10:22AM (11/27/2007)
So is this a new thing that every week we get a story about the latest Top Gear test? Don't get me wrong, I love the show. But I watched this two days ago when it was on.
Anyway... I think this looks a slight better than the DB9... but he's right about it probably should have been called the DB9S... since it's just a sport model of that. Sort of.
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k.w.a 10:32AM (11/27/2007)
i love this car. it's perfect in every way. it has the elegance of a DB9 but far more aggressive. ever since Casino Royale the DBS has become one of my favorite cars. this car makes me ashamed to be middle class! one day i'll get a DBS...one day.
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mk 11:26AM (11/27/2007)
Great review.
I LOVE aston martin's business plan.
Step 1: Focus on one core segment.
Step 2: Add fantastic products with a flair of tradition.
Step 3: Add even more of those until an enthusiast doesn't even know which one of the offerings they prefer.
Step 4: Get yourself sold out of Ford.
Step 5: ????
Step 6: Profit.
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Tommy 11:25AM (11/27/2007)
I am stopping to read autoblog. If it's not Ford advertisement it's Top Gear Spoilers!!!! I get Top Gear with a weak delay and it's not cool you guys reveal everything like that
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jgp 1:01PM (11/27/2007)
If you don't like spoilers, you should stay the hell off the Internet.
The rest of us like being spoiled, whiner.
bizzLebozzLe 6:04PM (11/27/2007)
we all know he's an aston whore . . . nissan gtr what what
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ALEXDB9 11:28AM (11/27/2007)
YES! That is a beautiful machine.
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KCotner 11:52AM (11/27/2007)
Top Gear is lame,i bet they don't try that stupid "not making its HP" dyno trick with this car like they did with the GT500. That show lost what little credibilty they had when they did that.
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Andrew 11:57AM (11/27/2007)
Well, overrating a car's horsepower, especially as much as they did, warrants a scathing by the brits. As an American, I am often shamed by our country's automotive wrongdoings.
Matt 1:54PM (11/27/2007)
Why? Because a car that claims to have "500 HP" IN IT'S NAME only produces 447?
And don't tell me that it makes 500 at the crank. I have only 447 that I can use.
Long live the Shelby GT447.
Andrew 3:13PM (11/27/2007)
If I remember correctly it made something like 450 at the crank. Much less than 500 at the crank. The company not only named it the GT500, they clamed to make 500hp. Wheel or crank, it was a false statement.
jy 6:34PM (11/27/2007)
@Andrew
It matters ALOT if it was crank or wheel. All US manufacturers are expected to measure crank horsepower as per SAE specifications. If the 447hp was measured at the wheels then we can be sure that the mustang was making more than 500hp at the crank, as drive train losses in rear wheel drives are usually 15%. That would be faulty reporting if they didn't mention there is a difference between flywheel and wheel horse power and they measured wheel horsepower. If the dyno was setup to measure the flywheel horsepower then there is nothing wrong. I believe James mentioned in a segment about cheap supercars that they had a dyno that adjusted to measure flywheel horsepower (funny thing is Jeremy and Hammond just ignored his remark). I'm surprised that they didn't mention in the GT500 segment if it was whp or bhp. Real gearheads would catch that mistake quick, but normal people wouldn't be able to spot that. In fact a lot of auto fans would be turned down on a show that can't even tell the difference between bhp and whp.
JB 12:32PM (11/27/2007)
American cars are rated at the crank, in Europe people expect HP ratings from the wheels... hence the fact they pointed it out.
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KCotner 4:47PM (11/27/2007)
BS. american AND european AND ALL cars are rated at the crank,Ford isn't pulling one over on anybody,NO cars would make their official HP at the wheels. I don't care about the GT-500,it may be crap to drive,but Top Gear was just looking for deceptive ways to make that car look bad and in the process,destroyed their reputation among people who actually know anything about cars. Who would listen to anything these hacks have to say after that?
Also,do some research,the 500 in the name GT500 is meaningless,as it was in the '60s. The '67-70 GT500 didn't make 500HP,just like the GT350 didn't make 350HP. The 350 in the name was the distance in feet from where Shelby was sitting to the building he was looking at when they trying to name the car,so he thought if GT350 sounds good,then GT500 will sound even better for the big-block cars. That name NEVER,NEVER meant HP. Do you think a Ford 500 has 500HP?? A F-150 only 150HP??
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November 2:31AM (11/28/2007)
I think I more noticed how much of the new Venetian Snares album (all the orchestral segments) was used in the segment than Clarkson's review. Then again, Aston just simply doesn't interest me.
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Christian 1:05PM (11/28/2007)
Its funny you guys base your opinion on a car that was rwdynoed on TV on a truck trailer...LOL. The GT500 has been certified 500hp to the latest and strictest international SAE Standard J1349, same as the Viper and LS7 vette for CRANK HORSEPOWER. This is the strict standard that saw Toyota and Honda knocking as much as 20hp off their advertised crank ratings. And everybody in the world uses crank hp to sell cars, otherwise your silly little civics would have "now with 85whp!" advertized.
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