Bond-style DB5, DB4 Convertible Top $1 Million At Aston Martin Auction
1 million Sunday when Bonhams staged its annual Aston Martin Sale at the Wormsley Estate in Buckinghamshire England. The auction was staged in conjunction with the Aston Martin Owners Club鈥檚 Spring Concours. 1,097,622 after what Bonhams termed a 鈥渂idding war鈥?among would-be owners from the UK, the US and Scandinavia. The British buyer eventually won that war, and the car. The 1963 DB4 convertible was one of only 70 produced and was offered with the Aston Martin Assured Provenance inspection paperwork. 鈥淭his was a fantastic result for the DB5 - and proves the perennial popularity of the quintessential 鈥楤ond鈥?car,鈥?noted Tim Schofield, who heads Bonhams motoring department in the UK. 鈥淭he last three DB5s sold by Bonhams at Wormsley, Goodwood and in our Bond Street sale have all realized strong over-estimate results. Bonhams did not announce a total sales figure for the auction. According to reported results, dozen cars and a 1970 David Brown 990 Selectramatic tractor were sold, along with dozens of lots of Aston Martin-related automobilia.
Grip is soon an illusion, roadholding a series of broken promises, and anything other than the tenderest of touches on either pedal risks sending us into the sea. Still, at least I'm awake now. Racing up and down the zig-zagging hillsides in second and third gear feels like riding the freshly honed cutting edge of a curved dagger. Get it wrong, and brace yourself for the worst. Get it right, and you're rewarded with the satisfaction of steering inputs, gearchanges and throttle adjustment working in harmony and shrugging off the weather. In such moments do true sports cars make themselves known. Initially we compare the Porsche and BMW at considerably less than full throttle, enjoying the fact that both are happy to be driven relativelyslowly and have their share of comfort and convenience. Inside, the Z4's cockpit is usefully spacious, if burdened with an awful lot of instrumentation and switchgear and a busy, fat-rimmed steering wheel. The most button-heavy zone is around the gear selector.
Here we find the latest version of the iDrive controller, four driving programme keys labelled Sport, Comfort, Eco Pro and Adaptive, the DSC switch and the toggle that opens and shuts the roof in a brisk 10 seconds. The dashboard of the Cayman is positively olde worlde when pitted against the BMW's clever colourful displays, the practical controller and the ergonomic multi-functionality of the Z4. The differences between the two MMIs look insurmountable at first, but the novelty soon wears off and you adjust to whatever you're in. The BMW has the more clearly legible displays, the more logically arranged direct-access buttons and the more advanced voice control system. But as far as I'm concerned both cars would benefit from a large digital speedometer, a bigger tacho with a visual and audible redline-approach warning, and a large read-out to tell you which gear you're in. Come early afternoon the rain eases off and strong winds begin to blow the blacktop dry. We spend all afternoon swapping between the duo on some truly great roads dotted with blind corners, heart-attack descents and cinemascope vistas.
The police must be busy helping drenched cats out of trees, because they're certainly not out here measuring how much we're exceeding our fun allocation. With the cornering grip back in full force, the BMW gets a chance to really shine, and show off the merits of front-mounted straight-six versus the Porsche's mid-mounted boxer four. Although our Z4 has more power and more torque, it weighs a substantial 1535kg versus 1440kg for the Cayman. When we first drove an early Z4 on the BMW proving grounds in Miramas, the roadster impressed with a variety of talents. It worked well as open-top GT, it would perform as sports car for road and track, and it blended the relaxed mastery of a cruiser with the hardcore handling of a bruiser. Six months later, on this historic patchwork turf north-west of Lisbon, the M40i passes its baptism of fire in the company of a serious rival. The nub of our comparison is a demanding 10-mile stretch. Up in the Z4, down in the Cayman. Then up in the Cayman, down in the Z4.