Drifting? James Bond? The Stig? Aston Martin? No, I’m not just making a list of things I think are cool (well, I sort of am). These are all the things going on in the coolest and classiest car video I’ve ever seen. The Aston Martin DB5 is the coolest thing on four wheels. I’m sorry, internet, but this isn’t up for debate. It is simply a scientific fact. And watching one get slung around a tree-lined track somewhere in England proves it. 

Who would be brave enough to slide an Aston Martin DB5 around?

Well, the Stig, of course. In case you don’t know who this magnanimous driving character is, it was the fiendish and feral creature that test drove everything for Top Gear. He (or it) is a living monument to driving talent and is more than qualified to tear up a race track with a DB5. However, the DB5 we see ripping sideways isn’t really a DB5. The Drive reports that this is, in fact, a replica made as a stunt car for the latest James Bond film, No Time to Die. 

Although it’s not a “real” Aston Martin, It is a “real” James Bond car, and for that, it is cooler than anything ever made by Aston. Most importantly, its lack of factory authenticity is totally buried in the amount of foolishness it can act.

The stunt Aston slung around by The Stig is made of a purpose-built space frame wearing a custom-made DB5 body made of carbon fiber. This little ripper has a double-wishbone suspension and Ohlins dampers set to rally spec. The motor isn’t from Aston, but it is still a naturally-aspirated straight-six to keep the sound close to right. 

The stunt DB5 has a mystery engine 

Some folks at The Drive actually got to drive a few years ago, and their questions about the engine got no response from Aston Martin. The Drive says that someone on staff who drove it believed it was a manual E46 BMW M3 drivetrain. Top Gear seemingly concurred when they called it a 3.2-liter straight-six that makes 340 hp and 262 lb-feet of torque. Clearly, this stunt car is no slouch. 

The ultimate driver’s car spec list isn’t over yet; the stunt DB5 also has a limited-slip differential, hydraulic handbrake, and a curb weight of just 2,200 pounds. As if the video needed any more information to highlight the driving skill involved, this car has no driver aids or electronic stabilizing doodads. This is simply power going to the wheels. I dare say nothing, and I mean nothing, has ever looked so good going sideways. 

How does the stunt car stack up to an original 1964 Aston Martin DB5?

The original DB5 featured a 4.0-liter straight-six making 282 hp topping out at 143 mph, according to Hagerty. For comparison, the original weighs 3,236 lbs and the stunt version at 2,200 lbs. The weight difference, along with the added nearly 60 horsepower, clearly shows a much gnarlier car. 

To further show the two cars’ disparity, the original has independent front suspension and a solid beam rear axle. Aston Martin also saw fit to give the DB5 disc brakes all the way around, which in 1963 was not all that common. The ‘63 had two transmission choices the four-speed, a five-speed, and even a three-speed automatic option.

Let’s face it sometimes the stunt car is better than the real one

I don’t think many avid drivers would disagree here. I mean, sure, the OG Aston Martin DB5 is incredible, and owning one would be deeply satisfying, but driving it, might be less fun than looking at it. An original can cost somewhere around the half-million-dollar mark and even more so than that if you wreck it, they ain’t making any more. I am a huge old car nerd and romantic, but I’ll take the rally-spec replica, please.