I might have to use this photograph by Helen and Chelfyn Baxter as my official publicity pic. The Aston Martin V8 Vantage may be inferior to the Porsche 911 dynamically, as my quick drive out to Bethells Beach near Auckland revealed, but it turns heads like crazy. A few moments before this pic, tourists near where I am standing thought, ‘Bugger the Maori artefacts. Let’s look at this.’
   The Aston shows that the brand and how it’s expressed are the heart-felt reasons for spending NZ$245,000 or £79,995 to buy one of these cars. The brand ideas have to include the whole James Bond mystique—which came about because Ian Fleming included a DB3 in the Goldfinger novel, and the car was updated for the film—along with the underdog impression—how for most of its history, Aston Martin never made a penny. The car looks bonkers cool.
   If it were logic alone, the 911 would be the better choice—more kit, more grip, better handling and better acceleration. All that was obvious without measuring it with scientific instruments, which won’t please Aston boss, Ulrich Bez, formerly of Porsche.
   But I would still choose the Vantage, which did win Lucire’s Car to Be Seen in for 2006. The Henrik Fisker looks, the sexy styling, and even the fact that the admirers seem to be a better class than those who wound down their windows to compliment me on the 911 Carrera. There’s a quieter appreciation for a car that looks infinitely better—and those looks seduce me enough to live with those slight inferiorities. Most importantly, the brand values of Aston fit more with my admiration for the underdog; if it weren’t for them, those inferiorities would not be covered up quite so effectively. Posted by Jack Yan, 13:04  permalink

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