Written by Murray Scullion Published: 24 July 2023 Updated: 26 July 2023

Overview

Aston Martin‘s first SUV – the DBX – adds to a growing class of upmarket performance cars with off-road image and often, capability. For a brand that has demonstrated unwavering focus, it’s a bold step – the first time that the marque has ventured out of its more natural home on the road and race track.

Aston Martin’s new baby isn’t free of competition, even with a price tag that gets close to £200,000. The DBX ventures out into an expanding and highly lucrative global market that’s attracting more and more high-end manufacturers – the luxury performance SUV.

It challenges three established models from Volkswagen Group – the Lamborghini Urus, Bentley Bentayga and Porsche Cayenne, plus the Rolls-Royce Cullinan, Maserati Levante and top-end Range Rovers. All appeal to different types of buyers, and Aston Martin clearly thinks its customers are asking for a high-riding, practical model such as the DBX.

Easier on the eye than either the Bentley or the Rolls-Royce, the DBX – as befits the badge on its nose – also promises an altogether keener driving experience, even as it also offers more practical transport (all-wheel drive, cossetting air springs, an embarrassment of interior space) than any Aston before it.

What’s it like inside?

Interior space is generous in the extreme. Six-foot-tall second-rowers can sit comfortably behind six-foot-tall front-seat occupants. The quality of finish, too, is a cut or two above older Aston Martin products.

The Mercedes-Benz electronics deployed here give the DBX tech such as adaptive cruise, autonomous emergency brake assist. But sadly it also inherits Mercedes’ old tech. The most frustrating part of this is the infotainment screen. It is not a touchscreen. This means you need to utilise the fiddly control wheel or touch pad. Not a premium experience at all.

17

You do at least get Apple CarPlay connectivity and the two little DB5 icons that flash up when you adjust the adaptive cruise control is a lovely touch.

The DBX’s boot is cavernous too and is usefully larger than those found in a Bentley Bentayga or Lamborghini Urus.

Comfort

The seats and driving position are supremely comfortable and visibility is excellent, Aston having used the open space of its St Athan site in Wales (where the DBX factory now stands) to mock up a toy town of junctions, roundabouts and crossings, around which early DBX prototypes tootled to evaluate such things as sight lines and unobtrusive pillars.

17

On the move, road noise is well suppressed, the cabin eerily quiet apart from the whisper of wind around the door mirrors and, under acceleration, the baritone efforts of the V8.

What’s it like to drive?

The big question is have they made it handle like an Aston Martin? More than any big SUV has any right to, believe it or not. Aston Martin has managed to create a kind of plus-sized Porsche Macan.

We drove it first on a track, which feels ridiculous right up until the point – halfway around the first corner – when you realise that the DBX grips, rotates and communicates like no SUV before it. 

And on the road? Tighter corners aren’t the DBS’s forte – the laws of physics are not entirely immutable – but there’s grip to spare and impressive body control, particularly in the feistier drive modes (you cycle through these via up and down arrows on the centre console, the DBX rising and falling on its air springs as you do so).

17

Find some quicker corners, work the column-mounted shift paddles manually, and you’ll only need third and fourth to see you convincingly through almost every kind of corner. The Aston Martin is simply breathtaking – impossibly agile, able to carry scarcely believable speeds through corners thanks to its excellent steering and drive-shuffling active rear e-differential

It’s capable of gliding through corners hard and fast and with an entirely unexpected level of feedback, allowing you to have unseemly amounts of fun in this SUV. Is it convincing as an Aston? More so than some of its predecessors, assisted of course by hardware they could only dream of.

Few will take it off road, but don’t think the car can’t do it. On loose, slippery surfaces the DBX’s intrinsic rightness – the high driving position and slim pillars make for excellent visibility, while the keen, direct steering (2.6 turns lock to lock) and rear-biased powertrain build driver confidence – make it as engaging off tarmac as it is on it.

17

It would be remiss not to mention miles per gallon. Officially it’ll do around 20mpg, but you can expect figures as low as 10-15mpg in day-to-day driving. With a bit of motorway work you might get 350-400 miles on a tank. If you are at all taken by surprise at these figures a DBX probably isn’t for you.

What models and trims are available?

The standard DBX, and we use that term loosely, comes with a 4.0-litre V8 engine, making 550 horsepower. 

The customisation options are near endless. There are more than 50 paint colours to choose from, nearly all aspects, including the carpets, can be customised and the accessories list ranges from bike racks to golf bags.

The DBX 707 has most of the same customisation options, while upping power to 707hp.