One is a Ford the other is a Ford, well actually both were made under Ford’s cost conscience watchful eye, or as we call them Sauron, the Necromancer. Both are proudly British and still proud to be in foreign ownership. And both were designed by a Scot with probably separatist tenancies who is proud to work in Britain, get paid by foreigners and be lord of the muck back in wee Scotland. As the Scots say “Whit’s fur ye’ll no go past ye.” and of course we are talking about Sir Ian Callum designer of the Jaguar XK and some say who also contributed to the Aston Martin DB9 design. Although it should be noted that Sir Henrik Fisker is also credited as the designer who completed what Callum had begun as a hazy sketch. The Aston Martin DB9 began life in 2004, the Jaguar XK in its second generation look followed in 2006. Consider the DB9 to be the designer ‘egg’ and the XK to be the ‘chicken’. As you may know the DB9 is powered by a V12 where as the XK was V8 only. This isn’t about the technicalities between the two, it’s about the exterior design. Both the DB9 and XK have always shared a similar design philosophy, purely because both were effectively designed by the same individual. But the DB9 always looked different to the XK, its not just a subconscious thing, its not just subtle differences. The DB9 always was just better looking, end of. However the current, second Aston Martin Vanquish looks more like an XK than the standard DB9 ever did. The Vanquish isn’t a replacement or successor over the DB9, it’a V12 powered 2+2 Grand Tourer Coupe. Which is exactly what the DB9 is. So that’s why we’ve never been able to understand what the Aston Martin Vanquish is all about. Sure the Vanquish looks great-similar-to-a-Jag-XK but what it really is, is a DB9 on styling and performance steroids. A DB9 2.0.1 if you will. The Jaguar XK has been quietly retired by Jaguar, the last model to be released was effectively an XK swansong, the XKR-S GT in 2014. Whereas the DB9 will be succeeded by the DB11 in 2016 the XK’s next gen fate remains unknown. What ever the Vanquish’s purpose in life is we would still take it over both the DB9 and XK any day of the week.