Aston Martin is relatively new to the world of SUVs, but it's swinging for the fences with its latest: a juiced-up, 697-horsepower DBX 707 designed to be the "fastest, most powerful, best handling and most engaging" SUV in the luxury segment.
To be clear, that luxury segment doesn't include things like the 1,020-horsepower Tesla Model X, the 710-horsepower Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat, or the 707-horsepower Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk. I guess those guys must serve sparkling white instead of champagne in their showrooms, or use leather from cows that aren't hairy enough to avoid mosquito bites.
Still, the new DBX 707 comfortably hands a spec-sheet smackdown to the beefiest family chariots from Porsche, Lamborghini, Bentley, Maserati, Rolls-Royce and Mercedes-AMG, which are presumably luxurious enough to qualify.
The same 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 that made 542 horsepower and 700 Nm (516 lb-ft) of torque in the original 2019 DBX has been juiced up with a fresh tune and ball bearings in its turbos to achieve the 697 hp and 900 Nm (664 lb-ft) we'll see in the DBX 707 – which is named for the 707 pferdestärke, or metric horsepower, it'll make on paper.
I know, it's confusing. Why would the metric system go bringing farm animals into the discussion? Europe made a big mistake when it went to the pferdestärke (the power required to raise 75 kg at 1m/sec against the Earth's gravity) instead of the Poncelet (the power required to raise 100 kg at 1 m/sec against the Earth's gravity). Round numbers you can count on your fingers or toes, that's what this metric business is supposed to be all about. I'd love to be telling you the new Aston will pump out 530 Poncelets, but sadly I don't run the world yet.
The DBX 707 will get a new, more responsive nine-speed wet-clutch auto transmission capable of dealing with the motor's fatter torque curve. Aston says it's also tossed in a beefier electronic limited slip differential for better low-speed acceleration, contributing to a 3.3-second sprint from 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h).
That would wallop the standard DBX by an impressive 1.2 seconds, so feel free to whack it into the new "race start" mode and entertain your children by dragging one of those off at the lights. Keep your head down and try not to make eye contact with Model X Plaid drivers, though – indeed, that's good advice no matter what combustion-powered car you're driving. The acceleration wars are over, and gasoline has lost.
New carbon-ceramic brakes will help the 707 pull up quicker, and they also rip an impressive 40 kg (88 lb) out of the car's unsprung weight. That'll help out the revised air suspension system, too, which is designed to reduce heave over crests, pitch on the gas or brakes, and roll in the corners. The steering has been adjusted for better feel, too.
If the original DBX was already pulling sub-eight-minute Nurburgring laps in regular testing sessions, perhaps this one's got the Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT and its record (for an SUV) 7:39 lap time in its sights. It's certainly got every chance of beating the Class concept tractor's record lap for farm equipment.
Visually, you can tell it's the fanciest DBX from the carbon splitters and skirts, the whopping big diffuser section at the rear, the sharper upturned tail, the optional 23-inch rims, that sort of thing. Oh, and a bigger "satin chrome" grille, a mighty mustache that nearly pushes things into the grille-o-rama territory that's rumored to tickle the fancy of the Chinese market.
It looks beaut, and time will tell if it's genuinely the raciest SUV the world has ever seen. There was once a time when luxury performance brands wouldn't be caught dead making a family wagon, but these days they certainly know which side their bread's buttered on, and the segment is exploding.
Aston says production is due to start soon, with prices reportedly starting at US$235,086, and the company genuinely hopes everyone that buys one will customize it to billy-o with the "Q by Aston Martin" bespoke service.
Check out the launch video below.
Source: Aston Martin
