Aston Martin of Beverly Hills invited me to test drive the new Aston Martin DBS at the recently re-opened Malibu Beach Inn at Carbon Beach, Malibu on Tuesday. We arrived around noon to a parking lot full of Aston Martins. We were then treated to a catered lunch in one of the meeting rooms that had a large deck overlooking the ocean. We met with some of the Aston Martin corporate reps and my Aston Martin sales rep, Janelle Salehi.

After waiting for my turn, I jumped into the DBS passenger seat and headed south on the PCH (Highway 1) with one of the reps. Eventually we turned off the road and headed up one of the Santa Monica mountains. The thing I noticed right away was the amazing sound that came from a combination of the V12 and the dual exhaust.

Soon after heading up the hill, I took control of the car. Having driven these hills quite often in the Vantage, I decided to push the DBS to the limits. I quickly noticed the extra HP and the loose traction control. It was actually more difficult to handle in the corners but also more adventurous.

In my opinion everything on the DBS was just a bit better than the V8 Vantage. I was expecting a lot more from the DBS since it costs more than double the price of the Vantage. Personally, I wouldn't be able to justify the $330K+ asking price for the DBS. I would pick the 2009 Vantage with the new 4.7L V8 and other upgrades.