{"id":19513,"date":"2023-09-26T11:49:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-26T03:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/?p=19513"},"modified":"2026-08-31T12:07:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T04:07:55","slug":"even-at-60-years-old-the-aston-martin-db5-still-feels-like-a-serious-sports-car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/2023\/09\/26\/even-at-60-years-old-the-aston-martin-db5-still-feels-like-a-serious-sports-car\/","title":{"rendered":"Even at 60 Years Old, the Aston Martin DB5 Still Feels Like a Serious Sports Car"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The 12:55pm flight out of LAX gets you into Heathrow at 7:25am local and while it sounds like a really convenient schedule, it\u2019s actually a battle. After the meal and the movie(s), you\u2019d think you could get some shuteye and land feeling refreshed but the fact of the matter is that your body knows its 6pm PT when you try to sleep. It\u2019s damn near impossible, and that\u2019s why we were quite shocked and taken back to know we\u2019d be jumping straight into heritage vehicles when we landed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what would we be driving first? Why, a pristine 1963 Aston Martin DB5, easily worth \u201chalf a million Pounds, I reckon,\u201d according to the reps at Aston Martin HQ. Plus there were only 887 saloons ever made, and who knows how many have survived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plus we\u2019re on the \u201cwrong\u201d side of the road. Plus we\u2019re driving manual, so the gear lever is on the left. Plus we\u2019re on tight, narrow countryside roads with \u201croundabouts\u201d that are so large they have their own gravitational pulls. Plus we\u2019re on no sleep. But no pressure, \u201cyou\u2019ve driven stick before right? You got this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the fear of even curbing the chrome wheels on \u2018the most famous car in the world\u2019 shook off, we got into work mode and learned all about the Aston Martin DB5. September 2023 is actually the 60th birthday for the DB5, a sports car that has transcended time and space as the automotive\/pop culture icon of the 20th century. The Aston Martin crew told us story after story of the DB5, even the tale of the original James Bond 007 Goldfinger car almost not appearing in the film due to creative differences with the company and 007 writer Ian Fleming\u2019s crew. Yet our jetlagged minds took it all in and paid close attention to the brief, knowing good and well they\u2019re about to trust us with driving one of the greatest cars ever built.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We only had 30 mins from start to finish with the DB5 as we had other amazing Aston Martins to experience, but the half hour \u2013 much like the car\u2019s age \u2013 felt so much shorter. Its beauty outside, its luxury inside and its glorious drive; our bucket list was about to be updated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exterior<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the color, the chrome wire wheels and the gallery lighting it\u2019s most likely parked underneath, the DB5 just oozes style and presence. While our model was painted in a beautiful California Sage Green, if it were our car we definitely would have gone with the referenced colors \u2013 British Racing Green i.e. Aston Martin\u2019s signature color, or the James Bond 007 Goldfinger shade of Silver Birch. Nevertheless, its mossy green exterior played extremely well with the chrome accents and tan interior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you walk around a DB5, it\u2019s the small details that really stand out. The headlights for example \u2013 if you weren\u2019t standing up close to them, you\u2019d barely notice they\u2019re actually quite oval and tall in size, and actually recessed within the fenders. Circular shapes \u2013 found at the turn signals, rear tails and bumper reflectors \u2013 are definitely period correct and actually a breath of fresh air to all the sharp angles and cuts we know of today, and even the car\u2019s fairly flat side panels would be an exercise in restraint these days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything we love from modern sports cars are on here: a giant hood scoop for engine cooling, side fender vents that are actually functional, a sloping rear window and even a huge gaping front air dam. It wouldn\u2019t be too far of a reach to say that car companies continue to draw inspiration from cars like the DB5 and rightfully so \u2013 its design exudes character and personality through function and proportion, not something a lot of modern day sports cars can say they\u2019ve achieved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the day, the DB5 is jaw-droppingly gorgeous and timelessly styled, even more so in person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interior<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climbing into the DB5 was equally as evocative as walking around the outside. For starters, ingress was incredibly easy thanks to the car\u2019s fairly tall profile for a sports car, which surprisingly wasn\u2019t felt in the drive \u2013 more on that later. The tan interior allowed us to soak in the DB5\u2019s luxuries (back in 1963 of course) such as its leather upholstery, plush cowhide seats, chrome accents around the dials and levers and more. Once we sat in its excellence and prestige for a few minutes, another surprise we encountered was how solid the door closed. It hinged and shut on first pull, with little effort and with the quintessential \u201cthud\u201d upon closure, reassuring us confidently of its incredible build quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The seats \u2013 while not bolstered like your modern day Recaro or Bride racing seat \u2013 were more on the comfort side than sporty. But what did you expect? The DB5 equates more to a GT luxury canyon carver, not something that\u2019ll set a record at your local track. There was more of this \u201cbuilt for driving\u201d mentality, such as the awesome visibility, the wrap-around windows and thin pillars, easy to read dials and more. The steering wheel however did not age well, less so much the wood trim but more so the size that made it feel like steering a boat. But beyond this, we felt confident inside the DB5 and understood its luxury angle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Driving Impressions<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a deep breath, we fired it up. Wow. The engine \u2013 a modest 4.0L straight six capable of 290 horsepower \u2013 turned over with confidence and a bit of a low roar and while it didn\u2019t sound aggressive, more importantly it did sound healthy. The clutch was a long throw, and mid-to-slightly heavy, which encouraged a closer seating position. But a pleasant surprise was how easy it was to find the bite \u2013 after all, the last thing we\u2019d want to do is stall a DB5. And once the clutch caught, we were on our way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My co-driver alluded that its more powerful than you\u2019d think, probably due to its low weight and the bias in us knowing the car\u2019s age. So he encouraged us to safely and carefully \u201clet it rip\u201d once we got onto the open road. The sensation of wide-open throttling a DB5 is something magical, because it certainly\u2026 went. It wasn\u2019t a neck break, but we didn\u2019t care. We were in second gear, floating around 25mph and once the pedal dropped it soared. Before we chickened out, we looked and saw a good 70mph flash on the gauge which let out an involuntarily \u201cwhoa\u201d as we let off. Shockingly, it felt like the DB5 would\/could\/should go well beyond that before it became scary \u2013 it was that strong of a pull. And we\u2019ll say it like this: going from 25 to 70mph in an F80 BMW M3, or a 997 Porsche Carrera S, or in a Toyota GR Supra is one thing, but a completely different experience in a \u00a3500,000 GBP Aston Martin. Dare we say, it was more exciting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another thing we noticed while on our short country drive was the suspension. Over bumps the car shook a bit and while some parts did rattle some, never at any moment did we feel like we were in a 60 year old car. It cornered with poise albeit with a bit of body roll, and braking and accelerating didn\u2019t rock the car fore and aft much at all. Aston Martin goes above and beyond with its heritage vehicles by restoring them with fresh parts \u2013 this service definitely shows. The DB5 rides on tall, skinny tires, and yet it didn\u2019t feel like that at all. Minus the looser, large steering wheel spoiling the handling just a bit, and a bit of a hunt with finding the gears, the DB5 felt at least half of its age, easily. This was the pinnacle of its charm, and we couldn\u2019t get enough of it \u2013 until we had to get out and try the other heritage vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where It Stands Now<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What motivates someone to pay half a million dollars for a 60 year old car? There\u2019s a lot to factor into that question but for us and it were our money, the charm, prestige, historical importance and overall beauty of the Aston Martin DB5 easily justifies that price. It\u2019s what people know Aston Martin for. It\u2019s Britain\u2019s greatest secret agent\u2019s drive of choice \u2013 Connery, not Brosnan. It\u2019s elegance when you pull up to the boujiest event and it\u2019s fitting for a hill climb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We understand car cultures and cliques, and the JDM fans will probably choose something else from this era, like a slightly younger Datsun Z. Italy aficionados maybe a Ferrari 365 GTB\/4, and us Americans for a Shelby GT500? But hands down, even out of all of those examples, we can\u2019t help but \u201cwake up\u201d to the Aston Martin DB5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 12:55pm flight out of LAX gets you into Heathrow at 7:25am local and while it sounds like a really convenient schedule, it\u2019s actually a battle. After the meal and the movie(s), you\u2019d think you could get some shuteye and land feeling refreshed but the fact of the matter is that your body knows its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[223],"tags":[20,385],"class_list":["post-19513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-car","tag-aston-martin","tag-db5"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19513"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19537,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19513\/revisions\/19537"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ayoyo.com.cn\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}