Aston Martin's AAA Bond Rating

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All the surfaces appear to have been labored over intensely. Wood trim, leather, and brushed metal are so regal they just beg to be touched. If you're like me, you'll likely find yourself sitting and running your hands over the seats and dash buttons for an unusually long time before the thought of starting it up even crosses your mind. Even for a supercar costing nearly $200,000 the interior impresses.

The cabin is full of nice touches. Turn the car on and a screen nestled between the speedometer and tachometer flashes "Power, Beauty, Soul!" The navigation system, meanwhile, can be stowed away at the push of a button. The stereo system, which pumps out a mind-boggling 950 watts, has a dedicated screen worthy of high-end home stereos like the ones made by Bang & Olufsen.

There have got to be a million fine details, certainly too many to list. But my favorite is integrated into the navigation system. The Aston is so fast, the map is sometimes forced to automatically scale to your velocity. In other words, mash the gas pedal and the nav. system pauses for a brief second and begins readjusting itself to your rapidly increasing speed. It's the kind of thing you're only likely to find in a car that has no problem cruising at way over 150 mph.

The DB9 is rated to get between 13 and 18 mpg. Good luck trying to stick to the top end of that range. A car this powerful begs to be abused. In testing composed mainly of backroad high-speed curve dicing, I averaged 13.9 mpg. Then again, if you drop $185,045 on a car, the cost of gas is likely the last thing on your mind.

Buy It or Bag It

This Aston's not for everybody though. First of all, there are plenty of better handling cars in this price class. The $175,000-plus Gallardo and $168,000-plus Ferrari F430 are obvious standouts. What's more, there are a few better handling, much less expensive cars out of this price class.

A $92,000 Porsche 911 Carrera S Cabriolet will let you have fun in the sun, get to 60 in the same time and reach top speeds right around the Aston's—all with plenty of change left over to spend on, say, a down payment on a love nest or even a second Porsche. What's that? Comparing a DB9 to Porsche? What a brute! I know.

And, of course, that's this Aston's saving grace. You can't really comparison-shop. You wouldn't buy it just for the speed or the value. Besides its looks, which are arguably the best in the business, the DB9's virtues lie in it being an all-around, all-or-nothing package. In the end it's a supercar you might actually want to grow old with.

Vella is a writer for BusinessWeek.com in New York.