Ouch, looks doable, but painful

https://aston1936.com/2016/08/08/how...on-martin-db9/

 

Thread hijack (sort of, but relevant to the OP if he is considering a newer car)...

As discussed on this forum before, newer V12's with Bosch engine management do not have the prime mode function. I cringe on starting the car after winter storage every year as a result.

Unfortunately, the list of fuses in the V12VS manual does not include the fuel pump. Do you know the actual fuse number, or of any other way to disable the pump or to achieve the equivalent result?

 

It is very doable, all thanks to the Aston1936 writeup I just did plugs, coil packs, and PCVs in my 42k mile 2007 DB9 after getting misfires and warning lights. It was worth the back pain, aches, and bruises and it drives like the new car now.

 

I'll figure something out and let you know what I do. My 09 6speed DB9 has been sitting since February. Will figure out a way of disabling the fuel pump when I get back home when trump opens up EU -> US border.

 

I test drove a 06 DB9 Volante today.

The interior finishing on this car is incredible. Pictures don't do justice how well the instrument cluster is finished.

The engine disappointed me somewhat. Maybe I should stick around for a later model in the 500hp range. I understand a GT isn't about having gobs of power like an AMG, but it feels like it'd be the slowest car in my collection which is strange to say with a 6.0 V12 Aston Martin.

The engine was inaudible before the valves opened up. I guess that fuse removal trick is a must.

 

Hi Silverstone, the 06 is prior to the update of a vast amount of useful things that happened late 2008. Amongst these were a boost to 470bhp. From what I have seen on YouTube with straight line drag races against, among others, a C63 AMG, the Aston doesn't come into its own until around 140kph at which point it romped away from the Benz. Where I live 140 will get your car impounded so it's really academic. Whilst looks are a personal thing, since owning a DB9 I've never before heard every single person, male and female, enthusiast or not, refer to a car as beautiful. I've had cars of similar performance and all the motorcycles I've owned would leave the Aston for dead, but nothing has ever prompted me to just go down to the garage and stare, until the DB9.

 

The remote valve control is a must.

 

I suspect that it's not an actual power deficit that you're experiencing. Aston's throttle programming is extremely disappointing. It makes a fantastic engine feel lazy and weak. Next time you test drive an Aston, open the throttle up MUCH more than you think you should and you'll see that the car has alot of power. If you do this and still find it lacking in power, then you will want a later car, but if you feel that the car is more responsive with larger throttle, then figure in another $1000 for a tune.

 

My Granturismo is similar, there are remapping tunes that make it feel quicker to the pedal without changing horsepower or torque. Seems like a GT thing I guess, but I wasn't expecting it out of a 6.0 V12. I might have to try this car out again.

 

I can only speak from V8 Vantage, V12 Vantage and Vantage S experience, but all these cars share a similar trait in accelerator pedal behaviour, so I've no reason to think the DB9 would be that much different. All these cars have a very long travel accelerator pedal compared to just about any other modern vehicle I have driven, meaning large ankle movements are required to achieve different rates of acceleration. Maybe this is what blue2000s refers to as throttle mapping. At any rate, I wonder if this is what you are experiencing?

For anyone used to the very common, over exaggerated throttle responses to relatively tiny applications of accelerator pressure on modern vehicles, a drive in an Aston might seem underwhelming. Like electrically assisted power steering, this is another modern car quirk that really bothers me. I suspect a lot of the time it is done to mask turbo lag (given the current ubiquity of turbocharging), or at least to fool the driver into thinking the car is actually faster than it is (modern supercharged Jags suffer the same jumpy throttle I find, so it's not just limited to turbos). In the end all it does is make the car impossible to drive smoothly. On the other hand, the long travel Aston pedal allows for very smooth and precise metering out of exactly the amount of torque the driver wants - I love it and wish more manufacturers took this approach!

 

@spinecho -your description of throttle behavior is how all cars with a throttle cable have ever behaved. By the geometry of the butterfly valve in the throttle, a set amount of throttle opening has a larger effect on flow at low initial position compared to high initial position. From idle, there should be an immediate response and a relatively large surge in torque. It's the throttle by wire that upsets this expected behavior.

I found the Vantage's initial pedal response to be extremely lazy. Driving a manual transmission, I depend on blipping the throttle to both get moving from a stop and during heel and toe downshifts. In stock tune, the engine's response to fast blips felt delayed and weak. I suspect that Aston was trying to linearize throttle response, which is not what naturally happens in a throttle body. From the factory the car feel slow just off idle and to me, the throttle response felt a bit delayed as well, and I had the factory sport pack tune. I can only imagine what the car must feel like with the standard settings. The Velocity AP tune corrects this and allows the car to behave as it would with a cable, which makes the engine much more responsive to initial tip-in.

 

When the power of the V12 comes on, boy does it come on. I need to think twice if I want to do what I wanted or back off. I think it has plenty of power.

 

Having driven plenty of cars with throttle cables over the years, I will agree that they are more similar in feel to the Vantage than most throttle by wire cars, but that's not at all what you are trying to say, is it?

You state my description is "how all cars with a throttle cable have ever behaved", but I can't say it has been my experience that they all behave the same, which I think might be a reasonable interpretation of your comment.

Which Vantage do you refer to as "extremely lazy"? If the V8, I would agree, and had I kept the car a lighter flywheel and/or tune would have been in order. Still, I did appreciate the 'long pedal' aspect of the car that I mentioned above. If the V12 Vantage (and S), well we will have to disagree - the throttle response is more than sharp enough for my liking, and elicits plenty of torque from off idle. Perhaps the DB9 is tuned differently for more of a GT feel, or maybe its automatic transmission contributes to a different feel (maybe I missed it, but I didn't see the OP state he had test driven a rare manual car).