Is an Aston SUV really credible?
Aston Martin’s DBX achieves the impossible by combining enthusiast dynamics with SUV practicality
Aston Martin has come very late to the premium SUV party and some might say that as a maker of very fine Grand Tourers and supercars, it shouldn’t have come at all. You don’t see any off-roaders in a McLaren showroom now, do you?
Still, it’s a road well travelled by Porsche, Bentley, Lamborghini and those downmarket brands like Audi, BMW and MercedesBenz. More to the point, such a vehicle is a path to profit in markets where super-wealthy buyers love the credibility of an exotic brand blended with the practicality of an SUV. Which is all of them these days.
So the concept is nothing new. But the Aston Martin DBX is very different to top-end SUV rivals like the Porsche Cayenne, Bentley Bentayga, Lamborghini Urus, and the cream of the BMW M and Mercedes-AMG SUV crop. While all of those have shared platforms to draw upon, the Aston Martin DBX is a bespoke creation.
It’s not based on anything and is therefore an incredibly costly and risky exercise for a small company like Aston, which even had to build a new factory for the DBX, in Wales.
The DBX does have MercedesAMG technology to help it along. The German company is set to be the second largest shareholder of Aston and its engines and electronics power many newgeneration models, including the DBX.
But this is next-level SUV stuff. The base price of the DBX is $330,000 and by the time a few choice option boxes had been ticked, our test car crossed the line at $378,115.
It certainly looks the part. Definitely an Aston, from the long bonnet to the pinched rear with a “boomerang” Vantage-style light bar. Not entirely graceful perhaps, but for a super-luxury SUV we reckon purposeful beats pretty any day.
The engine is fruity, strong and very sonorous if you like oldschool V8 noises — although it’s much louder on the outside than in the DBX’s cabin.
The German biturbo V8 certainly suits the edgy character of the DBX and there’s no denying the rest of the dynamic package feels quite unique. You have to admire the audacity of Aston: it would have been quite easy and much more cost-effective to heavily re-engineer a MercedesAMG GLE platform for the DBX, but it’s chosen to go it alone with the platform — and presumably in the process create a basis for future SUV variants.
It’s fast but not crazy-fast, with 0-100km/h in 4.5 seconds. The emphasis is on balance and simply brilliant handling, which the DBX absolutely delivers.
The steering is superb, the chassis astonishingly nimble during quick changes of direction. The wheelbase is long but the overhangs are short, meaning you can place the car with a high degree of accuracy. Some of the handling ability is thanks to high technology like active anti-roll bars. But some is surely just down to virtuoso engineering from Aston Martin, because there’s a very analogue feel to the way it responds to driver inputs.
It’s not at the expense of ride, either, despite the 22-inch wheels. You’re always aware of urban bumps but the DBX is never less than dignified at low speeds, thanks partly to a very clever adaptive triple-chamber air suspension system.
The DBX interior is exactly as you’d expect: swathed in leather, to the point where the aroma can be overpowering. This is the redolence that posh people need, apparently.
We could dwell on the in-yourface Oxford tan leather colour scheme of our test car, but that’s a matter of taste and in fact you can have pretty much any interior look you want within reason.
That long wheelbase means the DBX is a genuinely capable family machine if you want it to be. It’s comfortable, with good legroom and a good view out for Tarquin and Felicity.
And, of course, Aston has famously pulled a bit of a Land Rover by creating a series of very specific options, including the Pet Pack (partitions, paint protection for the bumper), Event Pack (picnic hamper, seating), Touring Pack (cabin saddle bags, lockable stowage) and an Essentials Pack aimed more at the school run. The boot is genuinely useful at 632 litres.
This core V8 model is epic, but that’s only the start of the DBX story. Aston has already created a truly hardcore version, the DBX 707. More importantly, Mercedes-AMG will also provide the hybrid connection the DBX needs to properly move forward. There’s already a six-cylinder mild hybrid (MHEV) for China and the company has been spotted testing a plug-in variant. That might be the real X-factor Aston needs to flourish.