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2017 Aston Martin DB11 First Drive

England's history is filled with war. The last 70-plus years of peace and prosperity are an anomaly. Aston Martin, the nation's only independent carmaker, has similarly weathered strife – often of the financial variety – for most of its existence. Now Aston seeks stability. Its plan calls for new vehicles, a crossover even, and some electric propulsion for good measure. This is still a few years away. To get there, Aston will rely on its specialty, the sports car. Enter the 2017 Aston Martin DB11. While the company transitions, the latest in the DB line is already transformed. It's the successor to the 13-year-old DB9 (the DB10 was James Bond's car in Spectre) and has a new V12 with twin turbos cranking out 600 horsepower. The car is based on a new aluminum architecture that's lighter and stiffer than the DB9's, so the DB11 handles better. Naturally, the design is striking. That's not a cliche. Is all of this enough to sway some Ferrari, Porsche, and Bentley loyalists to Aston's fold? We've come to the gorgeous Italian region of Tuscany to find out. Taking the wheel on a sun-drenched morning, we head for Monte San Savino where a rustic lunch awaits. The V12 immediately grabs our attention. The note is buzzy at first, grows agitated, and then the sound morphs into a growling shout. Naturally aspirated engines are more visceral, but the DB11's turbo 12 is nothing to scoff at. The car sounds best in Sport Plus mode, which gives the engine and eight-speed transmission their most aggressive character. We lay on the throttle and the DB11 shoots forward, its long hood pointing the way through the countryside. The names of the villages roll off the tongue as the signs blur. Montisi. Montalcino. Trequanda. Florence and Pisa lay tantalizingly just outside of our route. Romantic as they sound, it's easy to resist Italy's magic. Its drivers are frickin' crazy. Thankfully, the DB11 has quick reflexes. The steering is moderately weighted, and the suspension stays flat and controlled even when we urge the car aggressively through tight curves. The sticky 20-inch S007 Bridgestone tires stay planted and keep us confident. Things only get unruly during hearty acceleration that causes the tail to come out. It happens rather easily. Most of the time the ride is a comfortable experience, as we expect from a grand tourer. With the sedate GT mode locked in, we examine the cabin. Our DB11 has subdued black leather accented by gold stitching.

Rare 1958 Aston to be auctioned in Tennessee

Decaying Aston Martins are showing up on the auction block all over the world. The final, original DBS recently went up for bid in the UK, and to go up for sale on the other side of the Atlantic, a 1958 DB Mark III was recently found wasting away in a Tennessee garage. "I didn't know much about it, except it was old and worth some money," said owner Tammy Maxwell to Clarksville Now. Her husband bought the Aston in Hawaii in 1975 and carried the car along with him until the family settled in Tennessee. He originally intended to restore it but an illness got in the way. Now, the vintage coupe is crossing the auction block in Cumberland Furnace, TN, on April 11 through Auction World Gallery. This example is in very rough shape, though. The paint and trim are gone from the entire front end, and the interior is a rat's nest of parts. There's no mention of whether the powertrain is intact, although a crankshaft is visible sitting in the boot and possibly a carb on the passenger seat. It's going to be a big project to get this Mark III back on the road. According to Aston Martin, the company built just 552 examples of the DB Mark III, and 462 of them were the coupe body style shown here that featured a hatchback. Power came from a 2.9-liter inline-six routed through a four-speed manual gearbox. The car also grabbed a unique footnote in pop culture history as James Bond's car in the book Goldfinger, rather than the DB5 in the film version.

London man keys $150k Aston Martin while pushing stroller

Police are looking for a man who was caught on a dashboard camera keying a supercar last month while out for a stroll with a child in east London. The Aston Martin V8 Vantage was sitting in a parking spot in the London borough of Hackney. It was minding its own business – with its dashboard camera running – when it caught the eye of man passing by. Not unusual for a sleek sports car, but what happened next was unexpected. Instead of admiring its British design from afar he angled the pram off the curb and walked toward the car. Footage shows he then took an object out of his pocket and dragged it along the side of the Vantage's aluminum body panel. The owner of the Vantage told the BBC the damage cost over $14,000 to fix. In terms of cars to destroy, this vandal has excellent taste. The Vantage is small, light, and agile. The most affordable version, the V8 Vantage GT, comes with a full leather and Alcantara cabin, with thick contrasting stitching, combined with real carbon fiber and wood finished in piano black. It can sprint from zero to 60 mph in about 4.6 seconds. News Source: BBC Auto News Weird Car News Aston Martin Videos viral video vantage scratch