XK8 vs DB7
THERE’S AN INTERLOPER currently in my garage. But it’s not a neighbour’s cat or the chest freezer my wife has wanted in there for some time but rather an Aston Martin. As the new editor of Aston Martin Driver, I’ve been given the keys to Kelsey Publishing’s DB7 3.2 and since it’s parked next to my 2000 XK8 4.0, I can’t help but compare the two. The pair are actually closely related with the Aston starting life as the Keith Helfet-designed XJ41 which he worked on throughout the Eighties. When the project was canned by parent company Ford in 1989 due to rising costs, Keith, disappointed the design wouldn’t reach production, discovered the body would fit onto the XJS platform, resulting in a cheaperto-produce car. After being told this by Jaguar’s engineering director, Jim Randle, TWR agreed to develop the reborn car.
Ever the canny operator, TWR’s Tom Walkinshaw quickly realised the new car would have higher list price if badged as another of Ford’s recent purchases, Aston Martin. So when the finished coupe went on sale in 1994, it had been given the Aston grille by TWR’s chief designer, a certain Ian Callum, and christened the DB7.
DUE TO THEIR SHARED DESIGN PARENTAGE, THE TWO COUPES HAVE ALMOST IDENTICAL LINES
The XK8 was also initially designed by Keith and was then finished for production by his Jaguar design colleague, Fergus Pollock.
Due to their shared design parentage, the two coupes have almost identical lines, both having the sort of soft, flowing curves that define Keith’s long Jaguar career. I think the DB7 is slightly prettier, the beautiful Coke-bottle shaped rear haunches and the better profiled boot lid especially.
Despite these similarities, the Aston was always the more expensive of the two. When new, this 1997 3.2 example would have been £82,500, or £34,550 more than an XK8 4.0 at the time, making it easy to understand why Walkinshaw persuaded Ford to swap brands.
I’ve driven a DB7 several times over the years, the first being in 1998 for a magazine photoshoot and more recently for a twin test with an XKR in the June 2019 issue of JW. But these were brief dalliances; to have access to one over a longer period has revealed much, mainly that the car wasn’t as well-built as the Jaguar. The interior features too much switchgear swiped from Ford’s parts bins for an £80k coupe while the panel of cheap-looking veneer that’s been crudely tacked onto the fascia belongs in a motorhome. The overall fit and finish can’t compete with the Jaguar’s interior either, which looks and feels more coherent and less of a cost-saving exer
