Test-Driving The Aston Martin DBX707, A 697-Horsepower Ferocious Beast Of Cool Britannia

Aston Martin’s DBX707 is one of the most ferocious beasts in the Supercar Jungle, and for this moment in time is the wildest and rarest of all Super-SUVs. Working “in the tube,” Aston scaled up chassis and body architecture drawn from its excellent 2-seat sports cars to create this Highboy 4-door. The robust bonded aluminum structure is unique to DBX, and neatly packages the on-demand all-wheel drive system.

Thanks to its Aston Martin source DNA, DBX707 is wieldy, a joy to place in mountain corners, which is no mean feat for a tallish vehicle that with driver and a full tank weighs just over 5000 pounds. Institutional knowledge of the physics of motion and sports car architecture shows in the excellent view out the windshield, exceptional man-machine connection, the aluminum suspension feeling like extensions of the driver’s limbs, and that miraculous sensation that DBX707 shrinks, growing smaller and tidier with every mile logged behind the wheel, settling on the driver’s body like a fine suit. In all ways, DBX707 embodies Cool Britannia.

Yet DBX707 is the product of a collaboration that extends to Aston Martin’s Formula One racing team, a collaboration that supports the decades-old notion that niche specialty carmakers need an OEM big brother. Aston has likely negotiated as fine a deal as any low-volume player ever has had, remaining fully independent but extending its technical partnership with Mercedes-AMG into road car engineering.

It’s a classic win-win, with AMG delivering hand-assembled powertrains and related electronics to Aston’s specifications. Mercedes-AMG gains revenue and greater production through-put for its engine hand assembly process, and Aston Martin remains an independent client. In this Lead/Sign-Off relationship, AMG must meet Aston’s demands at every gate, and Aston provides input and expertise.

To satisfy Aston’s ambitions, AMG adopted larger turbochargers with turbines that spin on ball bearings, bringing both durability and effortless spool-up. You’ll experience no lag here. The 4-liter V8 produces 697 horsepower, nearly equaling the AMG Black Series variant, but with considerably more torque: 663 lb. ft. (900 Newton-Meters) that’s 100 percent available between 2600 and 4500 rpm.

Power feeds through a specially tailored AMG-sourced 9-speed automatic, with AMG differentials front and rear. Power is biased to the rear, shooting to the front wheels through a transfer when conditions demand.

For those who raise an eyebrow and don’t understand the intimate nature of 21st Century partnerships, remember that Aston Martin’s post-Word War II owner David Brown bought up Lagonda in the late 1940s to secure rights to that firm’s little 2.6-liter inline 6-cylinder, which had been engineered under direction of no less than W.O. Bentley. In-house Aston engineer Tadek Marek evolved it to create the lusty six that powered Aston Martins throughout the 1960s, including James Bond’s DB5 in Goldfinger. In the age of Solidworks and advanced low-volume manufacturing, why not take advantage of a “bespoke” powertrain partnership with the Long-Legged Mac Daddy of car companies, the firm that started the auto industry? Exactly, there’s no reason not to partner with AMG.

Put it all together and you have the finest Super-SUV…of the moment. The Lamborghini Urus Performante is on the way, and Urus’s VW Group brother, the Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT Coupé, matches DBX707 in most performance measures.

Resulting acceleration will never fail to impress: 0-60 in 3.1 seconds, 0-100 in 7.4. More than a dozen heavy-footed launches proved the veracity of Aston’s claims. In Sport+ hammer down, eyes are pushed back in their sockets, yet the drivetrain and summer-weight Pirellis ably put every bit of power onto the pavement. Any vehicle, particularly a 5000-pound 4-door, that gets into the low threes is worthy of respect. Just a few years ago, a 3.1-second sprint was only possible with purist 2-seat supercars.

More impressive than balls-out sprinting to triple digits is DBX707’s roll-on acceleration. When a pocket opens in thick Los Angeles traffic, DBX707 bursts through, going from 30 or 40 mph in traffic to entirely illegal speeds.

SUVs, even the Super-SUV sub-species, are practical in nature, meant to serve every day or at the least most days. They must perform in urban traffic. According to Aston’s own measures, DBX707 can leap from 50 to 75 mph in 1.9 seconds. Keep your foot in it and triple digits don’t take more than another heartbeat or two.

In Sport+, the shift from first to second is felt deep down in the intestines., a satisfying punch. In Sport+ shifts into third and fourth are crisp and quick. Large paddles are stationary behind the steering wheel, allowing for hand positioning at ten and two, at three and nine or driving on the bottom edge of the wheel like a bus driver.

Thanks to a broad range of adjustment in suspension damping, from the supple GT setting to Sport and Sport+, DBX707 handled the rough and downright horrible pavement of Greater Los Angeles just as well as the tabletop-perfect asphalt of nearby mountain 2-lanes. Even with the considerable heft of the 23-inch optional forged wheels and custom-blended Pirellis—that’s a lot of weight to keep in compliance, firmly and smoothly connected to terra firma—DBX707 swallowed up the worst of LA.

Limited overhangs and resulting good break angles mean steep driveway entrances pose no problem. DBX707 is not like mid-engine supercars that require a front-end lift to enter even modest driveway entrances. DBX707 is happy just bashing in, no worries about the aerodynamic chin whiskers that sit below the gaping maw.

Any negatives? Depends on how you view the world. DBX707 has a smaller flatscreen in its waterfall central dash than it’s the current fashion, with no touch function. Menus are navigated via a touchpad on the center console. The system is typical of Mercedes and other German high-end vehicles of the past six or seven years, before the revolution of huge panoramic flat touchscreens arrived. The system will do everything needed, and do it well. Aston’s emphasis is on logical, sensible switchgear, on driving and not infotainment. The rear seat is not quite as roomy as in the long wheelbase Urus, but is comparable to a Cayenne.

Super-SUVs are our decade’s interpretation of classic Gran Turismo 2-doors of the 1950s and ‘60s: big, comfortable, and powerful with dynamics to nearly match purist sports cars. Super-SUVs are satisfying for a weeklong tour or daily duties. At the moment, Aston Martin’s DBX707 is the very finest of the Super-SUV breed.