The Hot Wheels Aston Martin DB9 Falls Short Of Perfection

I’ve made no secret of my love for 2000’s and 2010’s era Aston Martins, as they just exude cool in a way that few other automakers have ever managed to replicate.  The Hot Wheels DBS is among my favorite premium castings, and I’m a big fan of the new Vanquish casting as well, so I was very excited to get my hands on this new DB9.  Perhaps my expectations were a bit too high, but this model falls a little short of what I was hoping to see. 

I’ve been looking over this casting for days trying to identify exactly why it doesn’t live up to my expectations, and it’s been a surprisingly hard question to answer.  When I compare it to pictures of the 1:1 car, most of the proportions are pretty accurate and it’s fully detailed, which is normally the perfect recipe for success.

The DB9 casting is a tad small – more Vantage than DBS – but Hot Wheels models are rarely perfectly to scale, so that’s not the end of the world to me. 

I believe my problem with this model is less with the casting itself, and more with the execution of this particular example.  These stance-friendly wheels with their stretched tires just don’t match the character of an Aston Martin, and they make the ride height look higher than it should be.  This matte-finish charcoal colored paint is also a bit unbecoming for an Aston Martin, as it looks more like it belongs on a BMW M car or perhaps just a plasti-dipped drift missile. 

The paint also hides details, which is unfortunate because this silver-series release gets plenty of nice detailing, including the silver vents on the hood and fenders.  Even the grille that made Astons of this era so beautiful gets lost in the charcoal paint.  The grille also looks a bit small, but that might just be because I’m so used to seeing the later facelifted DB9s. 

It’s a similar story around back, as this model has both an Aston Martin badge and a DB9 badge, but you can barely see them against this paint.  At least the brake lights are visible and look great, though I always picture DB9s with clear brake light lenses.  Given that this model was part of the silver series, I find it unforgivable that there is no license plate at the back.  The result is an odd blank space that just looks too empty. 

It feels unfair to criticize the paint choice too much on this DB9, since Hot Wheels was just trying to replicate the movie car.  Rather, this model emphasizes the pitfalls of relying on movie cars to expand the Hot Wheels range.  After spending a few days looking over this casting, I think it has a lot of potential to be a great model if it can escape the Fast & Furious range.  That’s certainly not guaranteed, since so many of the Aston Martins from Hot Wheels are only ever released in their James Bond liveries, but it would be wonderful to see a cleaner, more classy deco on this DB9.  Some silver paint, PR5 wheels, and a rear license plate would go a long way to transforming this casting into the effortlessly cool Aston Martin it deserves to be.