Aston Martin DBX review: a luxury SUV with a sports car attitude
Its looks may divide opinion, but the DBX does all the things you’d want a luxury SUV to do, with added Aston Martin magic
The Aston Martin DBX delivers all the practicality and refinement you’d expect from a luxury SUV, with a driver-focused approach that sets it apart from its closest rivals. The British sports car manufacturer has gone with what it knows best — applying its technical wizardry to produce the finest-handling SUV available.
Yes, the DBX is well over two tonnes and will seat five in comfort, but it remains an incredibly deft machine. It will certainly make you smile as it effortlessly deals with a twisty B road, while a seemingly boundless amount of power rockets you out of the tightest of bends. It’s less brash than a Lamborghini, not as bold as a Bentley and not as commonplace as a Porsche. They’re all super-quick, but all ultimately out-handled by the Aston Martin.
About the Aston Martin DBX
As more and more sports car and luxury car brands turn to building SUVs in order to boost sales and help bring in higher profits, the DBX marked Aston Martin’s debut in this area of the market when it first arrived in 2020.
The DBX faced intense competition from day one. Porsche is credited with creating the performance crossover blueprint with the Cayenne, and the latest version continues to be a strong seller for the brand. Porsche’s success also paved the way for similarly luxurious SUVs such as the Bentley Bentayga and Maserati Levante, and even Lamborghini has jumped on the bandwagon with the outlandish Urus.
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While these rivals make up the more salubrious end of the performance SUV market, other brutish competitors such as the Range Rover Sport SV and BMW X5 M60i lower down the price range.
The DBX pitches in from just under £180,000, and going anywhere near the options list will quickly drive this price upwards. What you get for your money is a distinctive five-door SUV with 542bhp and a sizable 700Nm of torque. But, it’s not just the Mercedes-AMG 4.0-litre petrol V8 powerplant that delivers the driving enjoyment, because Aston Martin has worked hard to transfer its sports car know-how into its SUV, and the tech hidden under the skin ensures it’s every bit as capable as the smaller members of its line-up.
Power is delivered via a nine-speed automatic gearbox, which allows the DBX to dispatch the 0-60mph sprint time in 4.3 seconds, before firing on to reach a top speed of 181mph - not bad for a luxurious SUV that’s practical enough for family life.
If those figures are mere child’s play in your eyes, the hotter DBX707 is the car for you. The Mercedes-sourced V8 is tweaked to produce an even crazier 697bhp and 900Nm of torque, plus it’s had numerous adjustments to the car’s aerodynamics and suspension components in a bid to boost handling. The result is a 2.2-tonne SUV that will happily sprint from 0-62mph in a mere 3.3 seconds, and then proceed all the way up to 193mph. Who said supercar performance can’t come with boot space? Just be prepared to part with nearly £200,000.
