First drive review: Aston Martin DBX

Monday, 10 August 2020

Watch as Alex Goy puts Aston Martin first-ever SUV, the DBX, through its paces off the road and on the track. (Video first published August 2020.)

ASTON MARTIN DBX
Price range: $330,000
Powertrains: 4.0-litre petrol V8 with 405kW/700Nm, 14.3L/100km, nine-speed automatic transmission, AWD.

It’s an Aston Martin, but not as we know it – the DBX can play in the mud.

Body style: Five-door SUV.
On sale: Now.

The rear doesn’t work from all angles, but those Vantage-style taillights do look good.

Because it couldn’t fly us to the UK to try out its new DBX SUV, Aston Martin got freelance journalist Alex Goy to check it out for us.

It wouldn’t be unfair to say Aston Martin has taken its sweet time to catch up with some of its contemporaries. The arrival of the DBX SUV could well be seen as a turning point for the company – the moment it caught up with the crowd.

Lashing of leather and luxury for the DBX’s interior. Loads of space too.

Porsche’s Cayenne proved that a pivot from sports cars alone to SUVs could work, Lamborghini’s Urus has shown that pointy design language can work six feet off the ground, and Rolls-Royce can’t build its Cullinan off roader fast enough for current and new customers alike. The high-end luxury space Aston occupies is full of people wanting to bring the whole family along for a day out.

**READ MORE:

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Just because it weighs two tonnes and can go off-road, doesn’t mean it can’t be fun on a race track. It is an Aston, after all.

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Just the single engine option for now, but the AMG-supplied 4.0-litre turbo V8 is a hell of an engine.

Giving people the option of an SUV isn’t a simple endeavour. Aston Martin can’t just slap a badge on a big thing and go to lunch. It needs to look, and go like an Aston. On the looks front, the design team has done a pretty bang up job.

The traditional Aston Martin grille sits up front wonderfully, as do hallmark side strakes. The 1:2 glass:body ratio we expect from Aston Martin is present as well, and although DBX is a physically massive car, it doesn’t carry huge visual weight side on. The rear, with its Vantage-esque rear light cluster looks a little awkward.

Inside is as you’d expect from Aston Martin is leather and lots of it. As well as smelling like freshly peeled cow, there’s little in the cabin that isn’t a delight to touch. A hard plastic button or stalk here or there are the only flies in the ointment.

A digital info screen gives the driver all the information they could want, while a pleasingly large central screen provides the infotainment. Infotainment is controlled with the familiar Mercedes-AMG wheel/touchpad combo, and it works well. Apple fans will be pleased to see CarPlay is on board, so they can use their own music/nav apps.

Cubby holes and storage space is plentiful, meaning you don’t need to worry about where to put wallets and the like. People are, as you’d expect, perfectly catered for as well. You can fit full size adults comfortably in every seat with room to spare.

What about power? It’s packing a 4.0-litre turbocharged V8 kicking out 405kW and 700Nm, which is… big. On paper, it’ll crack 0-100kmh in 4.5 seconds and fly up to 292kmh. Power is delivered to all four wheels (albeit with a rear bias) via a nine-speed automatic gearbox. It feels as quick as the numbers suggest.

Despite its high centre of gravity, the sensation of launching it down the road is staggering. You’re forced back in your seat after giving the noise pedal a decent stab, and it doesn’t feel as though it’ll run out of puff any time soon.

On the road it can be a smooth and quiet as you want it to be. A gentle waft around town, its double glazed windows blocking any aural unpleasantness out, is a joy. Its engine delivers easy, low rev power to glide you from a-b, and if you need to get yourself out of trouble you can fire yourself forward with serene urgency no problems.

In fact, the DBX has a neat party trick for dealing with tight city roads – it feels narrow. There’s a bow around the front of the cabin that bring visual width in, and the sides of the car draw in, so even though it’s huge, it feels slim and easy to manage. A rare thing. The steering is light, and doesn’t give pin sharp feedback, but it’s a large SUV so it can forgiven for not being race car sharp.

On the highway, once again it’s a serene place to be. A little road noise creeps in, but nothing disastrous. You could quite happily crush a continent and feel decent at the other end of your journey. It’s all very luxury GT… very Aston Martin.

To prove its Aston cred, though, there are switchable driving modes. GT for the everyday, Sport and Sport+ for more urgent driving, and Terrain and Terrain+ for when you encounter anything other than tarmac. Of course, there’s also a programmable Individual mode to tailor the car to your own preferences.

Sport does what you’d expect it to – turns up the wick and makes everything a little more exciting. While setting the motor and gearbox to angry is entertaining, stiffening up the air suspension for some corner hoonery is a giggle. You can hustle this thing as hard as you’d like and it just shakes it off.

Ok, it won’t be as balanced as a Vantage, and the steering is still a little woolly, but it does a damn fine impression. Sport+ loosens the traction control’s grip a little, allowing the car to move around in the corners. On track, where it’s safe to, you can make it slide around to your heart’s content. It’s a bizarre feeling, but a good one.

Terrain and Terrain+ don’t muck about either. If you do decide to try and climb a mountain in your DBX, simply pop it in either mode, let the car raise its ride height, point it ‘up’ and give it come gas. At that point DBX’s electronic brain will figure out what needs to be done and you’ll find yourself tackling rough stuff with ease. The strange thing is the lack of noise – that double glazing really does isolate you.

Light steering aside, there’s only one real quibble – its nine-speed gearbox. It can lurch you a touch when you’re moving off, and it can take a little time to figure out what it’s doing. Otherwise, the DBX is a solid motor.

When you see how well its competitors SUVs are doing, the DBX is a no brainer for Aston Martin. What the team and Gaydon has made, however, isn’t a rush job with some wings thrown on the front. It’s an Aston through and through, but one you can share with three mates at the same time.

This article was written by independent British motoring writer Alex Goy, under a paid commission from Aston Martin.