Aston Martin DBX: Road Review | Carfection 4K

The DBX is a hugely important car for Aston Martin, but does it meet expectations? Henry Catchpole finds out in this real world review.

The new aston martin dbx has got a very tricky task on its hands why because it has to be an aston martin and represent everything that that stands for while at the same time being quite unlike any aston martin that has gone before it must not dilute the brand yet it must also have a certain amount of mass appeal it mustn’t anger the db5 owner yet it must

Delight those who have never heard of david brown it needs to perform in advantage’s natural habitat but also perform in a shopping trolley’s natural habitat it must have pace and practicality glamour and good luggage space you get the picture this is a tricky but vital car for aston martin which is why they’ve put so much effort into it and developed a whole

New platform today we’re finally going to find out if all that hard work has paid off so does it go like an astonishing well with 542 brake horsepower 516 pounds foot of torque not 60 is dispatched in just over four seconds so yes it does go like an aston martin some of course will say that it goes like a mercedes amg because it’s the german company’s four

Liter twin turbo v8 under the bonnet albeit with a revised firing order to give a smoother delivery more of hitting with this sort of car but to be honest i don’t think i’m ever going to be disappointed to find that m177 engine under a bonnet the only thing that’s slightly disappointing from a drivetrain perspective is the nine-speed automatic gearbox which

Is okay but sometimes it’s just not quite the smoothest especially on downshifts the big rather theatrical aluminium paddles are good though anyway next up does it sound like an aston martin well with this four litre turbocharged v8 you might worry that gas particulate filters might get in the way but nope this sounds absolutely fantastic in fact it’s one of

The very best things about this car i think if you’re going to have a non-hybrid non-ev old-school v8 it has to sound good and this most certainly does does it look like an aston martin well i think it depends on the angle you see it from sometimes it looks absolutely stunning sometimes i’m just not quite so sure there are definite aston cues but some people

Can’t unsee a strong resemblance to a ford cougar others go wow isn’t that gorgeous i can imagine james bond driving man attractiveness aside what’s certainly true is that it disguises its size very well despite being longer and wider than a range rover it more often looks like it’s the size of a much smaller porsche macan it really is big though so big that

Aston had to seriously upscale the size of the badge on its nose of course there’s the look of the interior too the seats were developed from those in the db11 and in fact much of the interior feels familiar the seating position is good not low exactly but you feel you sit in rather than on the car the tech is last generation mercedes which is a shame and i’m

Sure people will expect it to be a touch screen in the center but it’s not i’m not sure i’d spec white in an suv but you can’t fault the materials themselves with things like the glass buttons and metal vents being befitting of a car this expensive cool to the touch because the cold vents but they there is a quality in here which you don’t get in other cars

Does it handle like an aston martin well this is an interesting one because in a straight line when you first get into this car it really does feel like a 4×4 the suspension has a sort of relaxed nature to it a really long limbed almost lugubrious nature it makes you think that this really isn’t going to handle like an aston martin at all and then you turn into

A corner and the incredibly quick steering 14 to 1 comes into play and the electric anti-roll system comes into play as well and for such a big car and it does feel like a big car in a straight line suddenly it just shrinks this hasn’t got rear wheel steer like a lot of suvs have these days but neither does actually feel like it needs it there are various

Driving modes which you access from the two buttons here essentially it’s up to increase the ride height and down to decrease the ride height via the air suspension gt mode is the sort of standard mode and then you come down into well individual you can actually set up how you like and then sport and then sport plus the primary ride is actually very good in

All of them it obviously ties itself down a little more when you get into sport and sport plus in gt mode it’s curious because as i say it it rides very well it’s incredibly comfortable but it is quite sort of busy on the secondary ride you feel the little bumps and it’s almost as though they’ve decided because it’s an aston martin they want you to still feel

The road beneath you that longer-limbed ride means it’s more like a range rover in a straight line but then has a whiff of an alpha stelvio quadrifoglio in the corners as well as the quick steering which can actually have the esp nibbling at the brakes quite easily you can certainly feel the 48 volt anti-roll system working hard the torque distribution is quite

Overt too it is capable of going from a 47-53 front rear split to sending almost 100 to the back with the electronically controlled limited slip diff then apportioning it across that rear axle and it does make it feel very rear-wheel drive much more so than other suvs it’s such a big car actually feels really quite light on its feet so by and large aston

Martin has done a good job in the areas it needs well namely performance handling and design but this aston martin is different you see it can’t just survive on handling straight line pace looks and sound this has to work on a practical level in the real world it has to be child seat friendly with easy access to the isofix aston martin will of course sell you

A branded leather-covered child seat if you wish even more than one of aston’s gt cars the dbx has to provide comfort and practicality on a daily basis or a long journey to this end the engineers paid a lot of attention to nvh right from the basics of the bespoke body structure through to employing something called aero acoustic software to model a potential

Wind noise the result is a very refined costing and quiet experience if you’re only tickling the v8 of course they’ve really thought about the the practical side of this cabin something which you wouldn’t necessarily think about in a sports car lots of cubby holes for cups and bottles and things like that big stowage under here the area under here as well

For keeping things out of the way the dbx should appeal to the outdoorsy sort so you’ve got to know things like well a bicycle will fit in the rear you can of course get a bicycle rack if you want but that wouldn’t be such a good demonstration of the dbx’s boot space even with the seats up it has 632 litres for luggage of course some people like to tow their

Hobbies around behind them and it’s worth pointing out that the dbx can only tow up to 2 700 kilos as opposed to the more usual 3 500 kilos but by and large whatever fills your leisure time aston has gone to great lengths to have you covered for example if you like flinging yourself down mountains in winter there’s a snow pack complete with boot warmers or if you

Have a fleet of pomeranians that like to go on muddy walks then you will want the pet pack complete with portable washer for their dirty little paws oh he’s getting so angry about now for some useful everyday scenario context i thought i’d show you what a dbx looks like in some narrow streets lost me i’ve no idea what you mean of course this sort of situation

Is only stressful if you’re driving and is exactly why some like to be chauffeured to the shops in order to get the weekly supplies of custard creams and tizer bringing me neatly on to my next topic one area that aston martin really has excelled itself with the dbx and which is pretty important for certain markets is the space in the rear it’s got a wheelbase

Of over three meters and the leg room is well extraordinary really i’m sitting behind myself as it were here and we’ve got this lovely panoramic roof as well it feels nice and airy definitely a selling point this being an suv there is of course the small matter of its off-road ability to be honest it only has to not disgrace itself on a muddy field but i have

Tried one on a limited off-road course and it performed perfectly well going up steep slopes and down steep slopes and through lots of mud and water it would probably be rather fun on some fire roads i’d go for the all season tar option though if you do want to off-road ultimately i suspect that even people who despise suvs will want this particular suv to

Be a rampant success because well let’s face it aston martin probably needs the dbx to be a success if the company is going to survive but the dbx can’t rely on philanthropy alone for a bulging order book let’s deal with the negatives first what are the reasons you wouldn’t buy one well at 158 000 pounds in the uk or 190 000 in the us it’s a lot of money some

Might also have been hoping for a hybrid powertrain equally others will be delighted that it doesn’t have such a thing the panel gaps on this car would certainly put some people off but i’m hoping the full production cars will be better and then what are the major selling points essentially all the things that would attract you to a more conventional aston

Martin the badge the way it drives for some people the looks for others the performance the sound certainly that appeals to me and there are some things you wouldn’t usually associate with an aston like its serenity on the motorway then there’s a space in the back which i really do think is class leading in short i think aston has produced a very credible suv

That will really appeal to some people which is good news for those of us that want to see more vantages and vanquishes in the future you

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Aston Martin DBX: Road Review | Carfection 4K By Carfection