530 Miles in the Perfect Grand Tourer FIRST Road Trip in My Aston Martin DBS!

The Aston Martin DBS: A Drive to Remember

As I sat at the wheel of the Aston Martin DBS, I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement and anticipation. This was my first opportunity to spend significant time with the car, and I was eager to learn what it had to offer. With over 80 miles to go before we reached our destination, I settled in for a long drive through France, ready to put the DBS through its paces.

As I began the journey, I couldn't help but notice the softness of the car's suspension. It was a bit softer than I had expected, and it made me wonder if this was an intentional design choice or simply a result of the car's age. Despite my initial reservations, however, the DBS quickly won me over with its smooth and effortless nature. The 80 miles flew by in no time, and before I knew it, we were approaching the end of our journey.

One of the things that struck me most about the DBS was its responsiveness. While it wasn't as lively as some of my other driving experiences, it was still a joy to drive, with a sense of poise and balance that belied its age. I found myself enjoying the gentle pace of the journey, taking in the stunning views of the French countryside and feeling grateful for the opportunity to spend time behind the wheel of this beautiful car.

As we approached our destination, I couldn't help but feel a sense of accomplishment. Despite the long drive ahead, I had thoroughly enjoyed my time with the DBS, and I was excited to see how it would perform on more challenging roads. And now, as we entered Germany, I knew that we were in for another treat.

As we crossed the border into Germany, I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement. The mountains rose up on either side of us, and the water sparkled in the sunlight. It was a truly breathtaking sight, and one that I felt grateful to be experiencing in the DBS. We were now entering the third country of our journey, and I knew that this would be an adventure like no other.

But for now, we had to keep moving. The last 12 kilometers to our destination loomed ahead, and I was eager to reach our final destination. And so, with a sense of satisfaction and contentment, I accelerated the DBS forward, feeling its power and smoothness as it devoured the miles.

Finally, after over 9 hours on the road, we arrived at our destination. We had made it through France and into Germany, and we were one step closer to our final goal. As I climbed out of the car, I couldn't help but feel a sense of pride and accomplishment. It had been a long day, but one that I would never forget.

The DBS was a gentle giant, with a smooth and effortless nature that belied its age. While it wasn't as lively as some of my other driving experiences, it was still a joy to drive, and I found myself enjoying the calm pace of our journey. As we settled in for the evening, I couldn't help but feel grateful for the opportunity to spend time behind the wheel of this beautiful car.

One of the things that struck me most about the DBS was its paint job. While I normally prefer bright colors, I have to say that the midnight blue suits the car perfectly. It's a stunning look, and one that adds to the overall sense of elegance and sophistication that the DBS embodies.

As I looked around at our surroundings, I couldn't help but feel grateful for this little slice of heaven. We were parked in a beautiful spot, with breathtaking views of the German countryside stretching out before us. It was the perfect place to unwind and enjoy the evening, surrounded by nature's beauty and the sound of birdsong.

The DBS had been a gentle companion on our journey, and I knew that it would be just as reliable when we returned home. With its smooth and effortless nature, it had won me over, and I couldn't wait to see what other adventures it would bring. And so, with a sense of contentment and satisfaction, I settled in for the evening, ready to face whatever the future might hold.

For now, however, I was just happy to be here, surrounded by the beauty of nature and the tranquility of the DBS. It had been a long day, but one that I would never forget. And as I drifted off to sleep, lulled by the sound of crickets and the gentle rustle of leaves, I knew that this was what driving was all about.

The Auto Barn: A Fun and Games Ahead

But our adventure wasn't over just yet. Tomorrow, we had a new challenge in store for us - the Auto Barn. And while I didn't know exactly what to expect, I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement and anticipation. The Auto Barn was notorious for its challenging routes and unpredictable conditions, and I knew that it would be an adventure like no other.

As I drifted off to sleep, I couldn't help but wonder what the day ahead would bring. Would we face treacherous mountain roads, or steep and winding descents? Only time would tell, but one thing was certain - with the DBS by our side, we were ready for anything that came our way.

And so, as the sun began to rise, I climbed back into the driver's seat, feeling a sense of excitement and anticipation. We were in for another adventure, and I couldn't wait to see what lay ahead. The Auto Barn was just around the corner, and I knew that it would be an experience unlike any other.

As we set off on our journey, I couldn't help but feel a sense of awe at the sheer complexity and challenge of the route ahead. We were in for a wild ride, with steep hills, sharp corners, and unpredictable conditions lurking around every bend. But with the DBS by our side, I knew that we would be ready for whatever came our way.

And so, with a sense of determination and excitement, I accelerated forward, feeling the power and smoothness of the DBS as it devoured the miles. We were in for an adventure like no other, and I couldn't wait to see what lay ahead.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhi guys I'm shme hello and welcome back to the channel where this is a bit of an unplanned one so I need to be in Germany tomorrow and the plan until yesterday at least was to fly there but flying at the moment is in absolute chaos whether you're in the UK around Europe I'm pretty sure the same goes for anywhere in the world right now there are so many people trying to travel there are lots of shortages everything is delayed and I figured if it was going to be 3 4 5 hours delayed and have potential luggage issues and who knows what else well we might as well drive right driving is always significantly more fun so we were here at this Museum having a little look around thinking which car has never done a road trip and perhaps which car has never been to this Meandering piece of tarmac somewhere in the Eiffel mountains and well we fell on the DBS since buying the Aston Martin DBS with all of the paint that we've been restoring to be honest I haven't actually driven it all that much only up to this point about 175 Mi so I figured why not depart on a 1,200 Mi nearly 2,000 km road trip with the DBS especially given it's just come back from topaz after the paint at God Lemmons now at topaz having ppf paint protection film over the lovely midnight blue paintwork so that's the plan for today a very spontaneous drive down to the euro tunnel across to France we're actually going to be slogging all the way down through France down to about Strasburg and then only the last maybe 10 miles in Germany but about 530 Mi we'll see if we can find some interesting checkpoints along the way but basically my first proper Drive in the DBS and it's a road trip which is exactly how we like to do it so come along for the journey let's see how it's going to go in the new Aston Martin there are other cars here in the collection that up to this point haven't yet been for a road trip I'm not sure if I would want to chance it in the E500 estate it is a little bit older the cpra is our team car that stays here in the UK obviously the sf90 had an amazing trip just a month or two ago and it will potentially be abroad again very soon I would love to take the Vantage Roadster on a rerun of the Original Adventures in the shim mobile for those of you who remember that more than a decade ago when I drove it over to Paris went to visit Alex smolik we went down to Monaco in the south of France amazing times we've taken the GT Roadster we've taken the C63 the Heritage RS has actually never been to the ring and the two cleos but neither of them are in a state to go anywhere at at the moment all of the others have been and before you wonder as you might have just spotted there's something lurking under a cover over there that's going to be on the museum Channel very soon so stay tuned for that so pretty much with the cars that are absent at the moment and things in all sorts of different places oh and the electric mini is definitely not up for a road trip well it fell on the DBS the perfect car for the occasion we've got some luggage space back here two suitcases slightly awkward boot or trunk space because you can't put two cases next to each other standard carry-on airplane size you have to squeeze them like this you can get some extra bags around the side but it's a granor it's a dynamic sporty granor I have the auto as opposed to the manual which will certainly be very comfortable for many hours on the road you wouldn't be very comfortable if you were squeezed into the back of it well it is technically well I think they call it a 2 plus two the amount of space behind the seats is um negligible to say the least but it's a very very comfortable cabin really nice looking thing we don't have any Bluetooth audio unfortunately that's definitely something I could have prepared for a little bit more in advance but like I say until yesterday this wasn't the plan so let's get the car started let's get out on the road let's make our way towards the first stop at the Euro tunnel the good news is that it is a beautiful day today perfect for a long journey it should be pretty similar weather the whole way through our drive as I said it's about 530 M or so 850 km the Google Maps time is about 10 hours 10 hours in effectively one long SLO but this is a nice way to be doing it and this is why I was so Keen to get the DBS on the road for this journey watching out for the trucks had experience of trucks on the M25 before and we don't want to repeat of that but basically it's a car that was designed for this purpose the DBS remember when it launched back in 2008 I want to say was the slightly more Dynamic version of the DB9 which is Aston Martin's Grand Tor it's exactly for this and I was saying about the seats behind me you can see now the the space is fairly minuscule you'd have to be rather tiny to sit back there and to be honest there are a few things about the car that are just totally weird and make no sense at all but we do have cruise control even if it's very old school the way it's mounted here on the steering wheel and we've got an hour and 20 or so down towards the Euro tunnel hoping the traffic today is going to be smooth and on side and I do have a plan for somewhere I'd like to stop in France but I'm not sure if you can stop there anymore or if Speedy Gonzalez or if they've changed the rules that mean that you can't but I suppose we're kind of going to find out when we get there so for the time being it's just taking it easy really it's just down towards the Euro tunnel I've made my flexi plus booking as usual so we've got some freedom I haven't been on the continent for actually about 2 months now since we came back with the sf90 the stto and the GTC foro after the trip to Denmark with them where we had stopped obviously at the nurburg ring on the way back home but this car I haven't taken on a run and it's a right of passage for every shim mobile as I always talk about we have to do a Euro trip we have to go to Germany and we have to go to the Eiffel mountains at some point in time so that is exactly what we're going to do to surround this trip that I'm heading on already anyway because it's just much more fun and if you think about that Journey door too 10 hours or so so versus flying as soon as you've gone to the airport and we're actually going to somewhere about 2 hours from the airport at the other end as soon as you have gone to the airport had some delays flown picked up a rental car driven a couple of hours at the other end it's actually about the same amount of time anyway and I much prefer having my own car there it's always infinitely more fun so I've planned everything like the French telepage tag so we can drive straight through and all the documents and stuff that you need to have these days to make our way uneventfully I hope although I suppose if it's eventful that makes the video more exciting we'll see how it goes but to cross over under the tunnel to France and onwards for a long old drive down the French auto routes we are arriving the signs for the channel tunnel this is the exit it's been a fairly standard Drive except for one really mad bit of traffic which meant we had to leave the motorway and find a way around and that was all chaotic as you can probably imagine but what I'm super intrigued to find out is how busy is it going to be here here how busy is it going to be at the checkin and the passport control of the Euro tunnel because as I mentioned earlier the airports right now are unbelievably delayed overwhelmed just super super super busy and I'm hoping that this is going to be our fairly smooth plain sailing way to go about this journey I can tell you in this car by the way you just stick it on cruise and let it waft along and it's super chill it's very very very docile when you're just driving like this and that's one of the things I think gets a little bit confused with the DBS it's easy to think that this is like an AMG GT you know quite a dynamic car but it's not even though it's the more Dynamic version it is still very much just chill mode fully engaged and um yeah cruising on so this bit is not busy let's hope it stays like this as we make our way all the way through and get towards checkin in a moment or two it's been a very quick stop cuz we want to get the next train just grab some snacks here at the flexi plus Lounge let's get this rocking and rolling to make our way straight out of here I actually parked next to the motorcycle parking I was thinking oh there'll be nobody who can park right alongside us but that didn't work so well um make our way through this way in the tall vehicle sections as always because who wants to risk the wheels in a car like this but it is a rather magnificent day perfect for a long old drive it does make it so much more pleasant when the skies are blue as opposed to wet and miserable and Grim but we go this way actually think they've changed some things around here a little bit normally spending time at the other end we go straight through to the was going to say it's the large vehicle queue yes that's okay go up here and join this onean High Vehicles crazy thing though is how much more expensive this has got in recent times because pre pandemic the Euro tunnel return the way I was doing it flexi plus would be about 288 this Crossing was 54 so it's up a good 75 80% which is mad but then so is everything these days hey especially fuel but still I think flying's up even more so traveling is changing traveling is changing fast we do have a green light or don't we have a green light I think we did we did have a green light but the front vehicle wasn't here which meant that we've now missed the opportunity to be one of the first to board which is slightly frustrating can't change that anyways at least we will get on the train very shortly and our journey will commence it's busy here but at least it's organized busy kind of everything's happening on time as it should even though every train is going to be packed and yes we have hot ceramic brakes and a very noisy train alongside us sorry for that but at least we're going to be boarding and then it's going to be a long long long old Journey on the other side kind of anxious about setting the nav to see exactly how long it will be but I think about 7 7 and 1 half maybe even 8 hours in effectively one one long pit we'll see how it is and there's a train arriving we've got Victor Hugo and Charles Dickens on the side of it and all the graphics and lots of other names as well Isaac Newton that's quite fun it is time to board on the train we go usual procedure line all the cars up in here then we have a 35-minute crossing under the English Channel until we arrive in Cal on the French side we are offboarding already that was actually very quickly done as if by magic we are now exiting the train onto the other side into France where we touch down on French tarmac we've exited the train we are now in France which means quite a few hours ahead of us I can't for the life of me work out how to pop this car into kilm per hour it did it through the nav system which I was doing while we were on the train but it hasn't done the dashboard so I don't know if that's totally separate setting somewhere anyway I've got ways running and everybody always asks about ways but it's by far the best for a long journey like this just knowing what the traffic is doing Etc and that is going to be in kilometers so all will be well anyway it's a cruise from here so we'll get comfortably onto the auto routes in the right direction and then take it from there I think a 100 things just happened at once we don't need this anymore so I can remove that from the window that's our ticket for the Euro tunnel and we're cruising on the auto route with which will probably be a very smoooth very open Journey always lots of UK cars when you've just come off of course everybody coming overall though I think we saw more European cars on the UK side than normal on this journey what is different though is typically in 2 km I would be going straight across towards Germany or the nurburging well obviously in Germany or anywhere in that direction whereas this time we're going to be heading significantly more south in the direction towards the Alps and Switzerland more in in that direction which is interesting because it will take us very close to the Circuit of re go or rasco I think they say in French which is somewhere that's actually changed the rules around it recently and I don't think you're allowed to stop there for photos anymore I think obviously you can drive past cuz it's on a public road but we probably can't pull in we'll have to see exactly what it looks like when we're there and what the rules are around that now because it's always such a magnificent place to go the legendary old Formula 1 track that makes part of a normal french road now we do have the air conditioning blasting for obvious reasons because on to get the temperature down in here but basically we'll just take it as it comes and try and make some good progress this actually only says 5 hours and 25 minutes which is vastly less than I thought originally it's only 5 and 1/2 hours we are doing very very very well for ourselves so let's join the correct auto route here which is the a26 we'll scan our bip thing and get onto the long leg heading south this is where in theory I'm going to be very smug with this thingy bob which I basically get to use to blip straight through except I think that they actually don't have any specific dedicated Lanes at this first one for the telepage I think you have to join the general queue but at many of them especially down in the south of France in summertime you get to skip straight through there'll be a lane just for t pass Tage uh we need to follow the truck oh it is a dedicated Lane I'm just behind the truck you win some you lose some anyway in theory this just goes up here wait for the beep there we go green light and we can go straight through nice and easy and it all charges my credit card back at home Big Time recommend one of these if you're ever doing a road trip around Europe these for France you can get them for Italy you can get them for other countries as well and they make life so much easier Jump Ahead a fair bit and we are now arriving in the Magnificent French Countryside at the historic circuit up ahead of us now a little bit more reading and basically the rules here have now changed to try and deter car clubs who were causing a little bit too much commotion here so we can drive by and I think maybe if you're on your own you could pull up but effectively there's now a rule which means you can't stop in front of the grand stands which after many years of coming here with so many different shim mobiles where way back on the ring wi Ting came on the Black Series tour I've stopped with so many different cars along the way they kind of want to reduce the trouble that people are causing and that's completely Fair anyway we will just drive through taking it gently taking it easily it's such a cool place to be with the grand stand up on the left you have the pit boxes on the right as you go by restored and very nice oh they've actually got the car Park area at the back so you can park at the car park at the back you just can't stop like out here anyway it's super cool as a place to just drive through and visit and see cuz there's so much history here these roads were a Grand Prix circuit the roads we're driving on right now were fullon race territory which is yeah quite special you can actually arrange as groups I found a link to that if you want to get in touch and come here as a group of cars you can set it up but basically to do that officially rather than just turning up and causing chaos I think that's what they're Keen to avoid but it's always a cool place to be we'll just turn around and go straight back the other way to continue on with our journey this way's make sure we get the right corner um and yeah not getting anybody's way and I've completely given up trying to put this car into kilometers I have no idea I don't remember from my old Advantage if there was a way to do it an easy way to do it so it kind of is what it is any anyway what an amazing place what an amazing thing that this still exists that it's just like this and just in the middle of nowhere just yeah available and only a few minutes from the motorway wow cool really cool every time anyway let us continue with this Voyage our next stop is probably not going to be until we're crossing the border into Germany or we might need some fuel before then actually going to see it it'll be quite interesting to see how efficient this car is oh look 28888 Mi on the dash that's a nice number if you like nerdy accurate numbers that kind of thing is always fun so onwards yeah let's make some progress a few hours further on we're only 1 hour and 120 km now from our destination I think we'll cross the border about 10 km before that it continues to be a very very pleasant drive but obviously this is by far the most time I have spent in the DBS I mean we have now driven to 29,45 Mi so I think that means today we're 3 or 400 mil in already actually obviously cuz we're going 530 Mi we got 0 to go we're 450 mi in so I have spent three times as many miles in the car today as I have in this car in total before today so some thoughts about it and one of the things is like this we're sitting at 130 km an hour which is the speed limit here on the French auto routes it is a grand tour it is so gentle chilled calm easy comfortable soft torky if you need it to be obviously we're in Drive we're in automatic we don't have the sport suspension other the sports um gearbox mode selected it just wafts along now I tend to be a person that likes a car that's a bit more Dynamic than this for example the Ferrari v12s they're a little bit Twitchy they're a little bit Lively and that gives you a bit more excitement from them and this engine is obviously a very lazy V12 it's a very big V12 6 or 5.9 l of naturally aspirated glory and it's a car that very much suits this now one topic of discussion is should I have got one with a manual which would cost in the UK at the moment about 25 £30,000 more they do of course hold the value by they cost more but they're also still worth more in the current market obviously at the time I suspect they were probably cheaper to buy a manual than an auto but the manual for me wouldn't suit this kind of drive you want a manual in a sporty car in a car that for taking for a blast down twisty roads which is not what this car is for the DBS is for just chilling in just totally chilling in in modern terms this is not like you know if you take I'm trying to think there's no specific Aston equivalent right now but let's say with Ferrari this isn't like the DBS isn't like the 812 competency only to the 812 this is softer than the 812 this is a soft soft soft soft car so I'm sitting here thinking I'd like it to be a little bit more poignant I'd like it to be a little bit more responsive I'd like it to be a little bit more lively obviously we've still got the 80 miles to go and then we've got 6 or 700 miles probably coming back again um on the extended route we're going to do to go via one of my favorite places to drive but it's quite interesting to spend so much time at the wheel of it and get to know it a little bit more because obviously this is as I said basically the first drive this is the first time I've spent significant time in this car full stop so really learning what it's all about actually I did drive my friend Freddy to vish's manual DBS about 1,000 mil so I've spent more time in his than I have in mine still even having owned it for 3 months um I'm very pleased that everything's working that's always one of the Delights with a slightly older car there's nothing that's falling apart trims or notable issues there a small squeak from the window from the driver's window when it goes up and down which is a little bit annoying but all that kind of stuff is fixable and pretty minor in the grand scheme of things so overall this has been quite suited to the occasion and a very smooth Journey really we've just got to keep on crunching on this last hour until we shortly before that crossed the border into Germany I believe that Crossing this bridge is going to be the entry into Germany I might be slightly wrong but we're certainly about to be going over some kind of river here and yes is that the sign up there is that the sign or certainly nearly the sign wow the view up here is actually really cool with the the mountains in front of us water alongside and yeah there we go deut land so we're now in Germany this car enters its Third Country I don't think we've got any new auto bar today though that's going to have to wait so stay tuned for the fun and games some kind of factory and Manufacturing immediately as soon as we come over I was going to say stay tuned for the fun and games of the auto bar because I suspect that might be the antics of tomorrow we shall have to wait and see anyway it's actually quite a nice it's a beautiful evening this so we ented deut land and now we enter the bunus Republic deut land I don't really know which is the actual border crossing but anyway all's well the ends well and we have our last 12 kilometers to where we're stopping for tonight we've made it the end of a long drive but to be honest pretty quick considering how that Journey can be we left the museum a little over 9 hours ago about 9 and a/4 hours to drive 530 MI all the way from England to where we are now parked up in Germany on a truly spectacular evening beautiful weather it has to be said and it's good to be back of course today has been a gentle long SLO to be honest there will be some more fun and games while we are here of course a trip up the Auto Barn towards the nurburging probably tomorrow so stay tuned for that but here in time to get the things done that we have come out for and to enjoy a first Euro tour adventure with the car and to be honest in this light the paint looks almost black and as you know from the channel I like bright colors I don't often normally go for something quite as dark as this but midnight blue suits the car so well the DBS is a stunning looking thing and for a drive like today it's such a calm effortless grantour it has so much talk when you get back on the throttle still in sixth gear it's a six-speed automatic gearbox it just pulls away goes with the flow cruises along and it's been a lovely car to drive for such a long SLO to be completely honest feel very calm and ready to grabb a bike to eat before yeah going to chill out for the evening so DBS on the road thank you for joining for the adventure stay tuned for what's still to come with it but glad to have stretched the legs and to have driven over 500 miles or so today across from England through France here to Germany that's it for now though thank you very much for watching as always guys I really appreciate your support stay tuned for plenty more with the DBS on the way back towards home that's it for now I'll see you again very soon cheers forhi guys I'm shme hello and welcome back to the channel where this is a bit of an unplanned one so I need to be in Germany tomorrow and the plan until yesterday at least was to fly there but flying at the moment is in absolute chaos whether you're in the UK around Europe I'm pretty sure the same goes for anywhere in the world right now there are so many people trying to travel there are lots of shortages everything is delayed and I figured if it was going to be 3 4 5 hours delayed and have potential luggage issues and who knows what else well we might as well drive right driving is always significantly more fun so we were here at this Museum having a little look around thinking which car has never done a road trip and perhaps which car has never been to this Meandering piece of tarmac somewhere in the Eiffel mountains and well we fell on the DBS since buying the Aston Martin DBS with all of the paint that we've been restoring to be honest I haven't actually driven it all that much only up to this point about 175 Mi so I figured why not depart on a 1,200 Mi nearly 2,000 km road trip with the DBS especially given it's just come back from topaz after the paint at God Lemmons now at topaz having ppf paint protection film over the lovely midnight blue paintwork so that's the plan for today a very spontaneous drive down to the euro tunnel across to France we're actually going to be slogging all the way down through France down to about Strasburg and then only the last maybe 10 miles in Germany but about 530 Mi we'll see if we can find some interesting checkpoints along the way but basically my first proper Drive in the DBS and it's a road trip which is exactly how we like to do it so come along for the journey let's see how it's going to go in the new Aston Martin there are other cars here in the collection that up to this point haven't yet been for a road trip I'm not sure if I would want to chance it in the E500 estate it is a little bit older the cpra is our team car that stays here in the UK obviously the sf90 had an amazing trip just a month or two ago and it will potentially be abroad again very soon I would love to take the Vantage Roadster on a rerun of the Original Adventures in the shim mobile for those of you who remember that more than a decade ago when I drove it over to Paris went to visit Alex smolik we went down to Monaco in the south of France amazing times we've taken the GT Roadster we've taken the C63 the Heritage RS has actually never been to the ring and the two cleos but neither of them are in a state to go anywhere at at the moment all of the others have been and before you wonder as you might have just spotted there's something lurking under a cover over there that's going to be on the museum Channel very soon so stay tuned for that so pretty much with the cars that are absent at the moment and things in all sorts of different places oh and the electric mini is definitely not up for a road trip well it fell on the DBS the perfect car for the occasion we've got some luggage space back here two suitcases slightly awkward boot or trunk space because you can't put two cases next to each other standard carry-on airplane size you have to squeeze them like this you can get some extra bags around the side but it's a granor it's a dynamic sporty granor I have the auto as opposed to the manual which will certainly be very comfortable for many hours on the road you wouldn't be very comfortable if you were squeezed into the back of it well it is technically well I think they call it a 2 plus two the amount of space behind the seats is um negligible to say the least but it's a very very comfortable cabin really nice looking thing we don't have any Bluetooth audio unfortunately that's definitely something I could have prepared for a little bit more in advance but like I say until yesterday this wasn't the plan so let's get the car started let's get out on the road let's make our way towards the first stop at the Euro tunnel the good news is that it is a beautiful day today perfect for a long journey it should be pretty similar weather the whole way through our drive as I said it's about 530 M or so 850 km the Google Maps time is about 10 hours 10 hours in effectively one long SLO but this is a nice way to be doing it and this is why I was so Keen to get the DBS on the road for this journey watching out for the trucks had experience of trucks on the M25 before and we don't want to repeat of that but basically it's a car that was designed for this purpose the DBS remember when it launched back in 2008 I want to say was the slightly more Dynamic version of the DB9 which is Aston Martin's Grand Tor it's exactly for this and I was saying about the seats behind me you can see now the the space is fairly minuscule you'd have to be rather tiny to sit back there and to be honest there are a few things about the car that are just totally weird and make no sense at all but we do have cruise control even if it's very old school the way it's mounted here on the steering wheel and we've got an hour and 20 or so down towards the Euro tunnel hoping the traffic today is going to be smooth and on side and I do have a plan for somewhere I'd like to stop in France but I'm not sure if you can stop there anymore or if Speedy Gonzalez or if they've changed the rules that mean that you can't but I suppose we're kind of going to find out when we get there so for the time being it's just taking it easy really it's just down towards the Euro tunnel I've made my flexi plus booking as usual so we've got some freedom I haven't been on the continent for actually about 2 months now since we came back with the sf90 the stto and the GTC foro after the trip to Denmark with them where we had stopped obviously at the nurburg ring on the way back home but this car I haven't taken on a run and it's a right of passage for every shim mobile as I always talk about we have to do a Euro trip we have to go to Germany and we have to go to the Eiffel mountains at some point in time so that is exactly what we're going to do to surround this trip that I'm heading on already anyway because it's just much more fun and if you think about that Journey door too 10 hours or so so versus flying as soon as you've gone to the airport and we're actually going to somewhere about 2 hours from the airport at the other end as soon as you have gone to the airport had some delays flown picked up a rental car driven a couple of hours at the other end it's actually about the same amount of time anyway and I much prefer having my own car there it's always infinitely more fun so I've planned everything like the French telepage tag so we can drive straight through and all the documents and stuff that you need to have these days to make our way uneventfully I hope although I suppose if it's eventful that makes the video more exciting we'll see how it goes but to cross over under the tunnel to France and onwards for a long old drive down the French auto routes we are arriving the signs for the channel tunnel this is the exit it's been a fairly standard Drive except for one really mad bit of traffic which meant we had to leave the motorway and find a way around and that was all chaotic as you can probably imagine but what I'm super intrigued to find out is how busy is it going to be here here how busy is it going to be at the checkin and the passport control of the Euro tunnel because as I mentioned earlier the airports right now are unbelievably delayed overwhelmed just super super super busy and I'm hoping that this is going to be our fairly smooth plain sailing way to go about this journey I can tell you in this car by the way you just stick it on cruise and let it waft along and it's super chill it's very very very docile when you're just driving like this and that's one of the things I think gets a little bit confused with the DBS it's easy to think that this is like an AMG GT you know quite a dynamic car but it's not even though it's the more Dynamic version it is still very much just chill mode fully engaged and um yeah cruising on so this bit is not busy let's hope it stays like this as we make our way all the way through and get towards checkin in a moment or two it's been a very quick stop cuz we want to get the next train just grab some snacks here at the flexi plus Lounge let's get this rocking and rolling to make our way straight out of here I actually parked next to the motorcycle parking I was thinking oh there'll be nobody who can park right alongside us but that didn't work so well um make our way through this way in the tall vehicle sections as always because who wants to risk the wheels in a car like this but it is a rather magnificent day perfect for a long old drive it does make it so much more pleasant when the skies are blue as opposed to wet and miserable and Grim but we go this way actually think they've changed some things around here a little bit normally spending time at the other end we go straight through to the was going to say it's the large vehicle queue yes that's okay go up here and join this onean High Vehicles crazy thing though is how much more expensive this has got in recent times because pre pandemic the Euro tunnel return the way I was doing it flexi plus would be about 288 this Crossing was 54 so it's up a good 75 80% which is mad but then so is everything these days hey especially fuel but still I think flying's up even more so traveling is changing traveling is changing fast we do have a green light or don't we have a green light I think we did we did have a green light but the front vehicle wasn't here which meant that we've now missed the opportunity to be one of the first to board which is slightly frustrating can't change that anyways at least we will get on the train very shortly and our journey will commence it's busy here but at least it's organized busy kind of everything's happening on time as it should even though every train is going to be packed and yes we have hot ceramic brakes and a very noisy train alongside us sorry for that but at least we're going to be boarding and then it's going to be a long long long old Journey on the other side kind of anxious about setting the nav to see exactly how long it will be but I think about 7 7 and 1 half maybe even 8 hours in effectively one one long pit we'll see how it is and there's a train arriving we've got Victor Hugo and Charles Dickens on the side of it and all the graphics and lots of other names as well Isaac Newton that's quite fun it is time to board on the train we go usual procedure line all the cars up in here then we have a 35-minute crossing under the English Channel until we arrive in Cal on the French side we are offboarding already that was actually very quickly done as if by magic we are now exiting the train onto the other side into France where we touch down on French tarmac we've exited the train we are now in France which means quite a few hours ahead of us I can't for the life of me work out how to pop this car into kilm per hour it did it through the nav system which I was doing while we were on the train but it hasn't done the dashboard so I don't know if that's totally separate setting somewhere anyway I've got ways running and everybody always asks about ways but it's by far the best for a long journey like this just knowing what the traffic is doing Etc and that is going to be in kilometers so all will be well anyway it's a cruise from here so we'll get comfortably onto the auto routes in the right direction and then take it from there I think a 100 things just happened at once we don't need this anymore so I can remove that from the window that's our ticket for the Euro tunnel and we're cruising on the auto route with which will probably be a very smoooth very open Journey always lots of UK cars when you've just come off of course everybody coming overall though I think we saw more European cars on the UK side than normal on this journey what is different though is typically in 2 km I would be going straight across towards Germany or the nurburging well obviously in Germany or anywhere in that direction whereas this time we're going to be heading significantly more south in the direction towards the Alps and Switzerland more in in that direction which is interesting because it will take us very close to the Circuit of re go or rasco I think they say in French which is somewhere that's actually changed the rules around it recently and I don't think you're allowed to stop there for photos anymore I think obviously you can drive past cuz it's on a public road but we probably can't pull in we'll have to see exactly what it looks like when we're there and what the rules are around that now because it's always such a magnificent place to go the legendary old Formula 1 track that makes part of a normal french road now we do have the air conditioning blasting for obvious reasons because on to get the temperature down in here but basically we'll just take it as it comes and try and make some good progress this actually only says 5 hours and 25 minutes which is vastly less than I thought originally it's only 5 and 1/2 hours we are doing very very very well for ourselves so let's join the correct auto route here which is the a26 we'll scan our bip thing and get onto the long leg heading south this is where in theory I'm going to be very smug with this thingy bob which I basically get to use to blip straight through except I think that they actually don't have any specific dedicated Lanes at this first one for the telepage I think you have to join the general queue but at many of them especially down in the south of France in summertime you get to skip straight through there'll be a lane just for t pass Tage uh we need to follow the truck oh it is a dedicated Lane I'm just behind the truck you win some you lose some anyway in theory this just goes up here wait for the beep there we go green light and we can go straight through nice and easy and it all charges my credit card back at home Big Time recommend one of these if you're ever doing a road trip around Europe these for France you can get them for Italy you can get them for other countries as well and they make life so much easier Jump Ahead a fair bit and we are now arriving in the Magnificent French Countryside at the historic circuit up ahead of us now a little bit more reading and basically the rules here have now changed to try and deter car clubs who were causing a little bit too much commotion here so we can drive by and I think maybe if you're on your own you could pull up but effectively there's now a rule which means you can't stop in front of the grand stands which after many years of coming here with so many different shim mobiles where way back on the ring wi Ting came on the Black Series tour I've stopped with so many different cars along the way they kind of want to reduce the trouble that people are causing and that's completely Fair anyway we will just drive through taking it gently taking it easily it's such a cool place to be with the grand stand up on the left you have the pit boxes on the right as you go by restored and very nice oh they've actually got the car Park area at the back so you can park at the car park at the back you just can't stop like out here anyway it's super cool as a place to just drive through and visit and see cuz there's so much history here these roads were a Grand Prix circuit the roads we're driving on right now were fullon race territory which is yeah quite special you can actually arrange as groups I found a link to that if you want to get in touch and come here as a group of cars you can set it up but basically to do that officially rather than just turning up and causing chaos I think that's what they're Keen to avoid but it's always a cool place to be we'll just turn around and go straight back the other way to continue on with our journey this way's make sure we get the right corner um and yeah not getting anybody's way and I've completely given up trying to put this car into kilometers I have no idea I don't remember from my old Advantage if there was a way to do it an easy way to do it so it kind of is what it is any anyway what an amazing place what an amazing thing that this still exists that it's just like this and just in the middle of nowhere just yeah available and only a few minutes from the motorway wow cool really cool every time anyway let us continue with this Voyage our next stop is probably not going to be until we're crossing the border into Germany or we might need some fuel before then actually going to see it it'll be quite interesting to see how efficient this car is oh look 28888 Mi on the dash that's a nice number if you like nerdy accurate numbers that kind of thing is always fun so onwards yeah let's make some progress a few hours further on we're only 1 hour and 120 km now from our destination I think we'll cross the border about 10 km before that it continues to be a very very pleasant drive but obviously this is by far the most time I have spent in the DBS I mean we have now driven to 29,45 Mi so I think that means today we're 3 or 400 mil in already actually obviously cuz we're going 530 Mi we got 0 to go we're 450 mi in so I have spent three times as many miles in the car today as I have in this car in total before today so some thoughts about it and one of the things is like this we're sitting at 130 km an hour which is the speed limit here on the French auto routes it is a grand tour it is so gentle chilled calm easy comfortable soft torky if you need it to be obviously we're in Drive we're in automatic we don't have the sport suspension other the sports um gearbox mode selected it just wafts along now I tend to be a person that likes a car that's a bit more Dynamic than this for example the Ferrari v12s they're a little bit Twitchy they're a little bit Lively and that gives you a bit more excitement from them and this engine is obviously a very lazy V12 it's a very big V12 6 or 5.9 l of naturally aspirated glory and it's a car that very much suits this now one topic of discussion is should I have got one with a manual which would cost in the UK at the moment about 25 £30,000 more they do of course hold the value by they cost more but they're also still worth more in the current market obviously at the time I suspect they were probably cheaper to buy a manual than an auto but the manual for me wouldn't suit this kind of drive you want a manual in a sporty car in a car that for taking for a blast down twisty roads which is not what this car is for the DBS is for just chilling in just totally chilling in in modern terms this is not like you know if you take I'm trying to think there's no specific Aston equivalent right now but let's say with Ferrari this isn't like the DBS isn't like the 812 competency only to the 812 this is softer than the 812 this is a soft soft soft soft car so I'm sitting here thinking I'd like it to be a little bit more poignant I'd like it to be a little bit more responsive I'd like it to be a little bit more lively obviously we've still got the 80 miles to go and then we've got 6 or 700 miles probably coming back again um on the extended route we're going to do to go via one of my favorite places to drive but it's quite interesting to spend so much time at the wheel of it and get to know it a little bit more because obviously this is as I said basically the first drive this is the first time I've spent significant time in this car full stop so really learning what it's all about actually I did drive my friend Freddy to vish's manual DBS about 1,000 mil so I've spent more time in his than I have in mine still even having owned it for 3 months um I'm very pleased that everything's working that's always one of the Delights with a slightly older car there's nothing that's falling apart trims or notable issues there a small squeak from the window from the driver's window when it goes up and down which is a little bit annoying but all that kind of stuff is fixable and pretty minor in the grand scheme of things so overall this has been quite suited to the occasion and a very smooth Journey really we've just got to keep on crunching on this last hour until we shortly before that crossed the border into Germany I believe that Crossing this bridge is going to be the entry into Germany I might be slightly wrong but we're certainly about to be going over some kind of river here and yes is that the sign up there is that the sign or certainly nearly the sign wow the view up here is actually really cool with the the mountains in front of us water alongside and yeah there we go deut land so we're now in Germany this car enters its Third Country I don't think we've got any new auto bar today though that's going to have to wait so stay tuned for the fun and games some kind of factory and Manufacturing immediately as soon as we come over I was going to say stay tuned for the fun and games of the auto bar because I suspect that might be the antics of tomorrow we shall have to wait and see anyway it's actually quite a nice it's a beautiful evening this so we ented deut land and now we enter the bunus Republic deut land I don't really know which is the actual border crossing but anyway all's well the ends well and we have our last 12 kilometers to where we're stopping for tonight we've made it the end of a long drive but to be honest pretty quick considering how that Journey can be we left the museum a little over 9 hours ago about 9 and a/4 hours to drive 530 MI all the way from England to where we are now parked up in Germany on a truly spectacular evening beautiful weather it has to be said and it's good to be back of course today has been a gentle long SLO to be honest there will be some more fun and games while we are here of course a trip up the Auto Barn towards the nurburging probably tomorrow so stay tuned for that but here in time to get the things done that we have come out for and to enjoy a first Euro tour adventure with the car and to be honest in this light the paint looks almost black and as you know from the channel I like bright colors I don't often normally go for something quite as dark as this but midnight blue suits the car so well the DBS is a stunning looking thing and for a drive like today it's such a calm effortless grantour it has so much talk when you get back on the throttle still in sixth gear it's a six-speed automatic gearbox it just pulls away goes with the flow cruises along and it's been a lovely car to drive for such a long SLO to be completely honest feel very calm and ready to grabb a bike to eat before yeah going to chill out for the evening so DBS on the road thank you for joining for the adventure stay tuned for what's still to come with it but glad to have stretched the legs and to have driven over 500 miles or so today across from England through France here to Germany that's it for now though thank you very much for watching as always guys I really appreciate your support stay tuned for plenty more with the DBS on the way back towards home that's it for now I'll see you again very soon cheers for\n"