NEW DB12 Review: The Greatest Aston Martin EVER? | 4K

thank you this is the Aston Martin db12 the follow-up to the db11 according to Aston Martin it’s not a Supercar and not a grand tourer with this they claim to have invented an entirely new category the super tourer generally it’s best to rise above all of that marketing nonsense but let’s give Aston Martin the benefit of the doubt shall we and look at some definitions now according to the dictionary a Supercar is a car that’s very fast and unusual or rare and I guess the db12 does tick that box a grand tourer meanwhile is a car that’s designed for high speed and long distances and one that provides performance and luxury so I guess it ticks that box as well the question is though does it tick those boxes well enough to answer that we need to see how the db12 fares in different environments assessing its credentials as a Supercar but not before taking it to a place befitting a grand tourer issela on the franco-italian border is the ideal place to finish any Journey but it’s also not a bad place to begin with [Music] 

wow what a place to drive any car let alone the brand new Aston Martin db12 this is stunning what makes it so special well the powertrain has a lot to say for that it is the tried and trusted four liter by Turbo V8 it’s not a V12 despite what’s in the name and it makes extraordinary power 680 PS and 800 newton meters of torque so it’s got a lot more grunt than a lot of its direct rivals those numbers equate to a 3.5 second note to 62 time a top speed of 202 miles an hour and the 1 685 kilogram dry weight very good numbers for any GT what are my first impressions well whenever you get into any new car especially an expensive one it’s natural instinct to try and work out whether the thing’s worth all the money that it costs especially one that costs damn near 200 000 pounds sometimes it can take quite a while before you reach that conclusion but in this car I’ve reached it pretty quickly yeah it’s working this car makes you feel very special from the moment you get inside I love the way this thing goes 

down the road credit to the db12’s new suspension which allows for a 500 increase in bandwidth over the db11 meaning the difference between the softest and hardest modes is wider than ever turn this Central knob and you have access to wet GT Sport and Sport Plus Drive modes with each one feeling different to the last very firm in Sport Plus yet on par with a lot of family cars in the GT setting in terms of seats well you get a choice of three in the db12 first of all there are carbon buckets which are the most extreme there are also Comfort Seats may be best suited for people with dodgy backs and then there are the seats that I would call the Goldilocks option the sport seats which are fitted to this car and they are very very nice they strike a really good balance between support and comfort it’s also pretty quiet in here part of that is down to insulation obviously the stuff you can’t see and also the stuff you 

can including the double glazed windows but some of it is also down to the tires this is the first car I’ve ever driven that uses Michelin Pilot Sport 5S tires now I’ll talk a little bit more about the grip and the handling characteristics of the tire a bit later on but one of the cool things about it is the sound deadening inside these tires you have a polyurethane interior lining which works as a sound bending material to absorb about 20 percent of the road noise that would otherwise be entering the car and I’ve got to say it really works the roads I’m on right now are pretty narrow in places and they’re perhaps not best suited for a car that’s as big and as wide as this but the db12 is surprisingly easy to thread down the road the steering is nice and light and I’ve got fantastic visibility all around both on the side mirrors and also the rear view mirror I’ve also got to give massive credit to the stereo system in this car it’s the first 

NEW DB12 Review: The Greatest Aston Martin EVER? | 4K

Aston Martin to use the Bowers and Wilkins stereo and it sounds tremendous 1170 Watts 15 speakers and what a sound this I think is better than the stereos you get in the Ferrari Roma and the Bentley Continental GT so it passes the test as a grand tourer but high on the agenda for any Aston Martin is appearance and importantly it looks like they’ve improved on the slightly divisive db11 bold and assertive were the keywords here with a larger Grille allowing 56 more cold air into its radiators the centrally mounted Bonnet vents placed above the twin turbos allow hot air to escape the car has a wider stance than before five millimeters at the front and 22 millimeters at the rear with more rounded muscular surfacing it rides on a choice of three 21-inch forged machined Alloys including these bronze items the side strikes are now bigger and deeper sucking air out of the wheel arches to allow for Less pitch under braking while the side mirrors are smaller but appear larger thanks to frameless glass the whole thing rides on an updated chassis with an aluminum structure that received a seven percent increase in torsional stiffness thanks to an engine cross brace and new front and rear undertrace giving improvements in suspension performance and refinement but as the Martin didn’t spare the biggest improvements can be found on the inside of the db12 historically Aston Martin build cars with interiors 

that don’t quite match the price tag but finally they’ve got it right they’ve absolutely nailed it I love the look of this the materials in this car have taken a big step up over previous generation astons this incredible looking tan leather contrasts so nicely with this darker leather the stitching and the bright work that runs horizontally across the dashboard before bleeding into these doors which also have carbon fiber and yet more leather fantastic job also the steering wheel is an actual wheel it wasn’t on a db11 it was a very strange shape but finally it’s a circle which is very very welcome they’ve also moved the position of the shifter paddles previously they were mounted on the steering column but they now live on the steering wheel itself that might help usability somewhat but to me if you’re in an exotic car you want to have your shifter pedals on the column because that just feels a little bit more classy other 

cool little touches they’ve gotten rid of that silly motorized center console now you just lift the thing to access your phone and the two usb chargers and they’ve also added a glove box which wasn’t actually the case on the zb11 thanks Aston now technology this is where they’ve stepped the game up massively the car uses two 10-inch touchscreens one for the driver and one for the infotainment Aspen wanted to move away from what they describe as having a dashboard that looked like a toaster with a piece of bread sticking out for an infotainment system and they’ve integrated it quite neatly into what they call the waterfall area of the center console and it looks really really nice it isn’t quite as flashy as the screen you get in the Bentley Continental GT but it looks great it’s very responsive and also high resolution 

and also easy to use as well so congratulations again to Aston Martin for stepping their game up in an area where they really needed to I’m going to stop kissing their backside for a second now and point out some things that I don’t like with the interior first of all they’ve got these lovely physical controls for the volume and for the aircon which is all well and good but they’ve still got these two little capacitive buttons for adjusting the heated and cooled seats and they’re right in a place where you naturally rest your palm to access the screen so you accidentally always turn on the heated seat when you use the touchscreen and you only realize until five minutes into your journey when your backside’s on fire that is a bit of a No-No also these vents they look pretty good and they’re easy to move around but what I found is that in my driving position it doesn’t blow air towards my face neither in the center or on the left hand side instead it blows the air over my shoulders which to me is next to useless that to me should be adjusted come on ask them so it’s a good GT has great looks and finally technology that seems to Warrant the price tag but what about the Supercar side of this so-called super tourer the reality is that most grand tourers aren’t very good sports cars they look the part they sound the part but they’re just not optimized for performance driving but Aston Martin say this is the most dynamic DB they’ve ever built 

you know what it might have a point it’s a lot of fun when you’re pushing on first of all the steering which is actually quite light and easy to use when driving slowly is really engaging when you’re going quicker it’s not quite as fast and as sharp as say a Ferrari Roma but equally it’s not quite as slow and maybe ponderous is the wrong word as a Continental GT it’s kind of somewhere in the middle they also use a non-isolated steering column in order to channel some of that feedback from the wheel into the rim so the driver feels more engaged and it does actually work you can really feel when the front wheels start to lose traction and the car itself feels surprisingly involving as a whole stuck it into a Bend see how playful it is wow you know what it’s not inherently a tail happy car you have to commit to it but once you do it really does like to play yes in terms of brakes you get cast iron discs as standard 400 

millimeters up front 360 at the rear with a set of optional carbon Ceramics which are actually fitted to this car and they do a great job I always say the sign of great brakes is when you panic slightly going into a braking Zone thinking uh oh I’m not going to make it here you press a bit harder and they give you more stopping power and that’s what these do the power is obviously front and center still a four liter twin turbo V8 but with modified cam profiles and bigger turbos and of course more air in the system to give it more power and it really does go North to 62 in 3.5 seconds and so much torque in the middle great sound too one slight problem though is the turbo lag watch this I’ll slow it right down first gear floor it nothing nothing nothing nothing bang 4 000 RPM is where the car comes alive slightly frustrating but you can drive around it it’s got to keep it lit [Music] it’s very agile the db12 reacts to 

Direction change as well and is easy to settle into a rhythm with this car as it flows along the road being front mid engine there’s good weight distribution 48 front 51 rear and good overall weight 1800 kilograms or so with people and fluids less than a Bentley more than Aroma in the corners grip and traction is mighty these Michelin Pilot Sport 5S tires feeling impressive under all circumstances the car also has an electronic rear differential linked to the electronic stability control system which can go from 100 Locked to fully open in a matter of milliseconds the db12 delivers exactly where we’d expect it to deliver in terms of the looks and that raw emotional connection that these cars can give to a driver where Aston Martin maybe haven’t delivered over the years is with that final few percent that really makes a driver think this is the car I want to own but with the db12 they’ve finally done it they’ve delivered the gorgeous looks the amazing driving Dynamics and that extra layer of gloss that separates the grate from the good the db12 it’s fantastic [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]