Aston Martin DB11 AMR
New 208mph version of Gaydon’s GT comes with a graceful potency, but a split personality, too
THE ASTON MARTIN DB11 AMR IS slightly troubling. On one level the product of a car maker that has avowed to pursue sharper distinctions between its models, it also looks remarkably like an exercise in blurring the lines. ‘New Aston’ could hardly have been clearer when the DB11 arrived in 2016. This was a GT specialist, its skill set informed by speed with suavity and comfort; hardcore ‘super sports car’ sensibilities were at that time left to a madeover version of the old-gen Vanquish S.
The subsequent DB11 V8, with a biturbo Mercedes motor instead of the ancient, Fordbased V12, arguably made an even finer fist of the GT remit, trading a little straight-line pace for greater powertrain refinement, chassis balance and comfort. And there’s the rub.
If Aston’s peachiest and purest GT is perceived to be the DB11 V8, that leaves the V12 at a bit of a loose end. Unless you pump it up. Which is where Aston Martin Racing comes in, and why, if you order one of the 100 initial-run DB11 AMRS, with its full set of go-faster stripes, it looks like a car pushed firmly out of the nowretired original V12 model’s comfort zone.
Of course, it doesn’t need the stripes. Spec for subtlety and stealth and not only will you have the best looking DB11 (the new forged alloy wheels hit the spot aesthetically as well as reducing unsprung weight), but also one that disguises a set of stats astutely calculated to put Bentley’s new Continental GT back in its box: 630bhp, 208mph, 0-62mph in 3.7sec. Harder to hide, should you wish to keep the AMR’S extra 30bhp under wraps, is the more bombastic exhaust note, which chimes with the overarching initiative to give the DB11 a racier mien, or as Aston puts it, ‘a more vivid driving experience that preserves the maturity and effortless continent-crushing GT performance for which the original DB11 is rightly renowned’.
Like Mercedes’ AMG and BMW’S M, AMR gives Aston the space to sportify, via an evolving suite of performance metrics, many chosen and expertly calibrated by dynamics chief Matt Becker, any model it fancies – next up, the four-door Rapide.
As for this £174,995 DB11 flagship, it’s now
much closer to the V12-engined car Becker would have liked to have seen from the start, though he admits that the development of the V8 DB11 had to happen first so that elements of its sharper, sweeter-handling chassis could be carried over to the AMR. The headline power hike isn’t as dramatic as it could have been – apparently the twin-turbo 5.2-litre V12 still has a good few gee-gees in reserve – but 630bhp at 6500rpm still shades the 626bhp of the W12 Conti GT and the 621bhp of the V12 Mercedes-amg S65 Coupe, as well as opening up a 127bhp gap back to the entry-level DB11. For the AMR, the eight-speed ZF auto ’box remains in situ, but with faster-shifting, more aggressive Sport and Sport+ settings.
The Stirling Green and lime-striped racing livery of those first 100 cars aside, visual signifiers are subtle and include exposed carbonfibre trim, glossy black detailing, dark surrounds for the headlights and smoked skins for the tail lights. The monochrome theme continues with a dark front grille and tailpipes, and a gloss black roof and roof strakes, while the exposed carbon weave of the side sills and splitter lend the exterior aesthetic some subtle contrasts. Inside, dark chrome is matched by an extra helping of Alcantara, including on the important sides of the curiously four-cornered steering wheel.
After previous encounters with the V12engined DB11, I’ve described it as ‘a necessarily broad bandwidth proposition: a bolide with the “ballistic” subtly concealed until required’. So, on the face of it, the AMR’S job seems simple: more ‘ballistic’ when required. But, to begin, heading out from Aston’s new AMR facility just a mile from the Nürburgring, I settle for the softest GT powertrain and chassis modes and let the ZF auto do its thing. It all gels rather well. The ride is impressively supple, the transmission’s activities silky and welltimed, the big motor’s so-far muted exertions a mixture of effortless thrust from a handful of revs and a sophisticated, multi-cylinder soundtrack more fascinating than feral.
All much as before, then? No, better. The extra power, lighter wheels and chassis tweaks are easy to appreciate in this ostensibly ‘default’ mode. So much so I feel no great compunction to switch up to Sport or Sport+ and take control of the steering-wheel paddles for many miles. There is such a thing as ‘ample’ for the road and the way the DB11 AMR delivers ‘more than’ without breaking sweat or calling on the exhaust-pipe histrionics of its enhanced modes is deeply satisfying. Like this – and later, on a few miles of unrestricted autobahn – the DB11 AMR truly feels like a car of immense performance and ability that’s completely comfortable in its own skin; a car able to travel at an eye-watering lick anywhere that can accommodate its rather portly width without looking or sounding as if it’s trying that hard.
Thing is, if I owned one, I seriously question how much I’d use Sport on the road, never mind Sport+. It was different with the original V12. That could feel a little sleepy and unresolved in its standard settings, gaining a palpable sense of purpose, focus and sonic presence (a little louder, just right) in Sport and Sport+. The same template fits with the AMR, but this time the results seem a little more contrived and, if anything, detract from the uprated DB11’S now more gracefully potent core character. The multi-layered yowl of the V12 in full flight is still a joy, but I’m not sure the increased volume of pops and bangs on the overrun adds a great deal to the canon of great exhaust notes past and present.
Don’t get me wrong. Few senior GTS can hustle like this one. It’s a seriously quick and extremely secure bit of kit that doesn’t require hero-level chops behind the wheel to go stunningly fast. If you really want to exploit the motive potential of every last bhp and wring the final scintilla of grip from the vast stash supplied by Becker’s handiwork and the broad swathe of Bridgestone rubber, Sport or Sport+ seems the place to be. You’ll be amazed what the big car can do: the meaty precision of its steering, the perfect body control, the tireless braking, the relentlessly barking exhaust and, not least, the speed of the gearshifts. That last one will give you a bit of a neck wrench. And that lovely effortless fluency and dynamic coherence present in GT mode will be but a distant memory.
The DB11 AMR is a great GT at heart, with an alternate, bolt-on hardcore persona. It delivers in raw terms, but the segue doesn’t feel quite right.
Engine V12, 5204cc, twin-turbo Power 630bhp @ 6500rpm Torque 516lb ft @ 1500rpm Weight 1870kg (342bhp/ton) 0- 62mph 3.7sec Top speed 208mph Basic price £174,995 + Huge performance, great looks, GT act truly nailed - At its best when it isn’t trying too hard evo rating
‘Few senior GTS can hustle like this one. You’ll be amazed what the big car can do’