The Aston Martin DB9 is right toward the top of my list of dream cars. It’s sleek, it’s classy, it oozes style and it’s powered by a mammoth V12 engine.

What more could a car geek ask for?

Speaking of which, here is a question for the auto nerds that might read this, what does the ‘DB’ stand for?

Underneath the bonnet the DB9 houses a hefty 6.0-litre V12 engine, capable of 335kW (450bhp) and 570Nm of torque, at 5,000 rpms. Top speed is listed as 300 km/h (186 mph), and the DB9 can go from 0-100km/h in a blistering 4.9 seconds. Another figure that is sure to impress, is the DB9’s power to weight ratio. Coming in at 194kW per tonne, the DB9 puts to shame most other vehicles in its class.

The DB9 can be ordered as either a coupe or convertible, with the convertible variant known as the DB9 Volante. The DB9 comes fitted with either a six-speed manual gear box, or the “Touchtronic 2” six-speed gear box, complete with electronic shift-by-wire control system.

As you would expect of a car of this caliber, the DB9 is equipped with a full suite of safety features, including Anti Lock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD), Emergency Brake Assist (EBA), Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) and Traction Control, as well as driver and front passenger dual-stage air-bags and front occupant side air-bags. In the Volante, roll-over bars are automatically deployed, when required, from the rear headrests.

The DB9 comes standard with a 128W Linn sound system. In the useless feature stakes, the DB9 doesn’t disappoint, as it also comes stand with an umbrella holder, Aston Martin umbrella included.

All in all, the DB9 is the car that you dream of owning, but in reality you know your chances of slipping behind the wheel are slim to none. That is, unless you have the spare $300,000AUD plus you’d need to pay for one of the 5,000 or so DB9’s produced each year.Watch the Top Gear boys pit an Aston Martin DB9 against a Eurostar very fast train. The segment as a whole ran for almost 20mins, so it’s presented here in two parts.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Incidentally, the “DB” comes from David Brown, who owned Aston Martin for many years.