Originally introduced in 1993 with a supercharged six cylinder engine, the DB-7 was felt to be under-engined when compared to the cheaper V8 Jaguar XK8, which like the DB-7 was developed from the old Jaguar XJS chassis. The reason for this close relationship between both cars was that Ford now owned both Jaguar and Aston Martin, so money was saved by sharing development costs between the two companies.
To add some spice to the DB-7, Aston Martin decided to offer a "Vantage" version, as it had done with most of it's previous cars before. Apart from some minor styling changes and a new wheel design, the main change for the Vantage is it's new V12 engine, the first time any Aston has ever had such an engine. The engine is basically two Ford V6's joined together, as opposed to a totally new design, but as the current Ford V6 is a nice engine to begin with, this does not mean the V12 is compromised by it's seemingly humble origins.
Naturally, performance is greatly improved over the six cylinder model, and Aston Martin found that in 1999 (the first full year of production of the V12 DB-7), 95% of orders for the car were for the V12 version.
Maisto have done a reasonable job in reproducing the DB-7 Vantage, which they have made available in light blue as well as the green colour seen here. Personally I feel it is a far nicer model than the DB-7 produced by Guiloy, which is a crude model by anyone's standards. As it is a Maisto, and hence built to a budget price, it lacks some details that have resulted in a rating of 40%. The wheels are ok, but the brake discs have no calipers, and the discs themselves are very obviously thickly painted plastic. Also, the inside of the engine lid and boot are not painted, and the interior is crudely done. The "panel gaps" between both the hood and doors and the body are quite large as well.
Nonetheless, if you like the DB-7, and want one in 1:18th scale, then this is definitely the model to get for now (as of 2004 anyway!).
40%
