Driving DB9 - Can it Turn Aston Martin Around? More Car Owners 'Upside Down,' Reports JD Power; Spy Shots of Next Bentley Sedan and Kia Sedona; Drive the Malibu Maxx and Mazda MPV; and a Pontiac GTO Convertible? - that and more on TheCarConnection.com

DETROIT, March 29 -- If image equaled sales, Aston Martin might be one of the most popular cars in the world. Yet the elegant British automaker has spent its entire 90-year history teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. One year, only a bottle of wine saved it from bankruptcy. But are Aston's fortunes about to take a turn for the better?

The new DB9 is expected to generate record sales this year -- and put the automaker in the black for the first time ever. To understand why, check the review in this week's issue of TheCarConnection.com, then go behind the scenes and see how Aston's planning a product campaign designed to make it a serious contender to Porsche and Ferrari.

If you're looking for luxury, you'll also want to it take a spin with TCC in the fold-down rear seat of the massive Maybach 62. Is it worth the $350,000? And if so, why haven't more affluent motorists lined up to buy one?

This week's spy shots capture the next-generation Bentley sedan - and at the other end of the automotive spectrum, the replacement for the Kia Sedona.

  And learn more about the Pontiac GTO convertible.
  Other reviews this week include the Malibu Maxx and Mazda MPV.

Gas prices are at record levels. What does that mean for China, for the United Autoworkers Union, and for presumptive presidential candidate John Kerry, who'd like to see a 50 percent increase in fuel economy by 2015.

Why are so many car owners "upside down," owing more than they'd get for a trade-in? TCC has the story.

In other business news: rising steel costs are befuddling automakers. And the UAW defends 2-tier wages as a way to protect U.S. jobs.

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