► Upgraded Aston Martin DBX driven in Spain
► Power is up by 20bhp…
► …but it’s the same money as the ‘base’ 707
The Aston Martin DBX S is, at 717bhp, the most powerful ICE SUV you can buy, with a fraction more oomph than the Ferrari Purosangue. Two bhp, to be precise.
‘But wait!’ I hear you cry. What about the Lamborghini Urus? Ah, well, it’s a hybrid so doesn’t count. Sorry.
The headlines for the DBX S are thus: 717bhp (up 20bhp on the DBX 707), new design elements, Apple CarPlay Ultra (admittedly also available on the 707), a 47kg diet and the same price as the ‘lesser’ 707.
At a glance
Pros: Still the best-looking performance SUV; same money as less powerful 707; balance of ride and handling as good as ever
Cons: Gear changes can occasionally lurch; expensive options
What’s new?
The engine remains the same as you’ll find in the 707 (and other Astons), only this time with a larger compressor wheel and more free-breathing exhaust to reduce the back pressure.
The torque curve is also flatter above 4000rpm so gives a bit more drama in the upper echelons but the total torque output remains the same as the 707 (664lb ft). So despite the extra power, the 0-62mph time is still 3.3 seconds. Get on the autobahn, though, and the additional power makes more of a difference, reducing the 0-124mph time by 0.3 seconds.
Elsewhere, there are more aggressive downshifts from the nine-speed automatic in Sport and Sport+ modes (the S retains the 707’s auto ‘box), while the steering has been made five per cent faster. Handily, this also shrinks the car’s turning circle by half a metre without having to resort to four-wheel steer. Aston isn’t against that technology in principle but chief engineer Andy Tokley explained that it’s not something he favours in heavier cars like the DBX. Because you have to insert bushing in the toe links at the rear, ‘it introduces too much flex. It leads to a double response [from the chassis] and we didn’t want that’.
The design hasn’t changed much and that’s no bad thing – why change what remains one of the best-looking SUVs. Detail buffs will need to note the twin-stacked exhaust pipes, now arranged vertically, as one of the bigger clues that this is the S, along with the new black vaned grille. This is also available in lightweight polycarbonate, which is a marketeer’s way of saying plastic.
Speaking of which, the other dieting items are the magnesium wheels (saving 5kg a corner and costing £15,000), the carbon fibre roof (saving 20kg with a price of £5000) and carbon on bits like the sills and diffuser.
What are the specs?
From the AMG-sourced, bi-turbo V8, you’ll get 717bhp and 664lb ft pushing along a car that weighs 2245kg.
Top speed is 193mph and 0-62mph takes just 3.3 seconds. The fuel economy figures weren’t available at the time of writing but we can’t imagine you’d get much more than 20mpg on a cruise.
How does it drive?
At the risk of sounding overly effusive, the lightweight alterations are immediately obvious and brilliant. Because the magnesium wheels shed so much unsprung mass, it took all of 30 yards driving out of a car park to notice the purity to the steering – not since the McLaren Artura have I felt a system that brings the car to you in such an instantaneous and visceral way. There’s zero corruption through the wheel and it flows around corners beautifully, staying flat and true and giving the driver a superb sense of confidence.
That’s helped by the grip levels, which are mighty and almost never-ending, only vaguely starting to give up on tight, downhill corners where the outer front is really loaded up. Like the 707, the S uses the same triple chamber air springs that yield multiple spring rates and combine with Bilstein dampers, where Aston’s engineers can separate rebound and compression. There are also active anti-rolls bars front and rear.
None of this is new – in fact, Porsche has ditched triple chamber air in favour of twin because it argues damper tech has moved on to such an extent it can achieve the same with less. But you can’t argue with the results that Aston is achieving.
What it leads to is a car that blends comfort and handling as well as any. I was in the Bentley Bentayga Speed recently and it’s quite clearly trying to match the Aston’s breadth of ability but falls short – in trying to match the way the DBX twists and turns, Bentley has ended up making the Bentayga less comfortable. The Aston has a wider window.
Married to this chassis is an engine that will obliterate any horizon, riding on a wave of torque and power that defies the 2.2 tonne kerbweight. Rivals like the Lamborghini Urus might push out more power thanks to the plug-in hybrid it runs, but honestly, no DBX owner is going to be disappointed. The exhaust in Sport+ belches and pops in all the right places – although is weirdly tamer than the optional Akrapovič pipe in the Bentayga Speed – and settles back in GT when you need to pick your gran up.
Any criticisms? There was an occasional lurch from the gearbox where it dropped into the next cog with too much of a bump, upsetting what is otherwise a smooth transmission. And I didn’t like the way it seemed to float a bit at the rear over a mid-corner bump, giving the sense that the rear wheels weren’t exactly tracking the fronts. Tokley told me that it’s as a result of trying to reach a compromise with handling versus comfort, never easy in a car of this size and with this breadth of use cases.
What’s it like inside?
Lovely but largely the same as the 707. Lots of leather, nice carbon finish to the door cards but still the same glare off all the piano black in the middle of the dash.
Two things to note.
One is that it, like the 707, now gets the new Apple CarPlay Ultra and it works well by marrying your instrument display much more closely with what’s being shown in the central touchscreen and the settings on your phone.
The second is that all Astons now have a single switch on the central dash that is configurable to turn off the speed limit bong and lane assist, with a double press.
Before you buy
Be careful on the optional extras. As you’d expect, the car comes with plenty of standard kit like 360-degree camera, three-zone climate control and Apple CarPlay Ultra, but the options list soon adds up. We specced a car up and without going mad it came to nearly £300k – not that this is any different to how Lamborghini or Ferrari operate.
Verdict
It is a mighty impressive machine and makes the 707 feel like the poorer sibling. With no other Aston badged as 707, surely that name needs quietly retiring and the DBX range simplifying to match with Vantage, DB12 et al. Apart from anything else, I can’t see anyone buying the lesser car now – customers at this end of the market want the top one, a desire that will be helped by the fact that it’s the better car. The matching sticker price is the easiest kicker ever for the salesman.