When I was a teen, there was no such thing as Youtube. Anyone who wanted to see cars on TV needed a cable subscription and to tune in at a set time of the week. I LIVED for Top Gear and 5th Gear night. Of course, now the content on cars is literally never ending, and a lot of those episodes that I devoured are now on Youtube for endless viewing.
At one point, I tended to favor 5th Gear over Top Gear, mainly because they were more informative than entertainment biased. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy Clarkson and Co at their peak.
The first video I want to share is this 2004 review of the then all-new, and Ford funded, Aston Martin DB9. This is the review that made me fall in love with the DB9, and Aston Martin in general.
The styling, one of the most beautiful and perfectly proportioned piece of automotive styling in the history of the car. That long bonnet, the organic shaped headlights the perfect sweep of the roof into the deck. The styling still holds its own nearly 20 years later, and the interior has aged better than expected.
But it's the engine that sold me on Aston Martin. It may have started life as a Duratec V6, but it's one of my favorite car noises ever. I especially love that slurred upshift sound from the 6-speed ZF automatic. Later cars got louder exhausts, but it's the induction note I crave. The part where the reviewer, Tom Ford, repeatedly goes up and down the gearbox, I would have listened to a 1000 times.
I fell in love with the DB9 in 2004, and still heavily adore it. The newer Astons don't seem to have the stylistic perfection or have the same purity of the naturally aspirated V12 in the DB9.