You can, and should, order up your DB11 to your exacting specifications. This one's pretty in frosted glass blue with a black roof for contrast
There are monumental changes on the inside -- or tucked away beneath the classically proportioned, deeply sculpted skin. For one, the chassis is all-new; the DB11’s aluminum platform replaces an architecture that had been around, in one form or another, for over a decade.
Also new is the engine, hidden away under a clamshell hood pressed out of one enormous piece of aluminum. Though a V8 option seems inevitable, for now, the sole powerplant is a 600-hp, 516 lb-ft 5.2-liter V12. The in-house design is twin-turbocharged (the first turbo to be installed on a production Aston) and mounted behind the front wheel hubs, making the DB11 a true front-midengine car. It is paired with an eight-speed automatic transaxle.
There are monumental changes on the inside -- or tucked away beneath the classically proportioned, deeply sculpted skin. For one, the chassis is all-new; the DB11’s aluminum platform replaces an architecture that had been around, in one form or another, for over a decade.
Also new is the engine, hidden away under a clamshell hood pressed out of one enormous piece of aluminum. Though a V8 option seems inevitable, for now, the sole powerplant is a 600-hp, 516 lb-ft 5.2-liter V12. The in-house design is twin-turbocharged (the first turbo to be installed on a production Aston) and mounted behind the front wheel hubs, making the DB11 a true front-midengine car. It is paired with an eight-speed automatic transaxle.
A peek at the DB11's 5.2-liter twin-turbocharged V12, good for 600 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque. It's mounted in a front-midengine configuration for better balance
The V12 can run as a straight-six at cruising speeds to improve fuel economy, cycling the active cylinder bank to maintain catalytic converter temps, but we’ll have to wait until fuel economy figures are out to judge how effective it actually is. For now, and more importantly, know that Aston says it’ll do 0-62 mph in 3.9 seconds on the way to a 200-mph top speed.
To help keep the car planted while you’re up there, Aston has developed a number of tricky aerodynamic-enhancing features that are barely visible on the surface. Intakes, for example, located at the base of the C-pillar -- where the floating roofline meets the body -- channel air to a slot on the top of the decklid, just aft of a small pop-up Gurney flap that extends at 90 mph.
Aston says this system, which it has dubbed “AeroBlade,” acts as a “virtual spoiler” to reduce lift at high speeds (picture a flat sheet of air jetting skyward across the rear edge of the trunk). Another automaker, less concerned with the art of understatement, might have just slapped on a big wing and called it a day.
A cutaway showing the DB11's retractable Gurney flap on the rear decklid and, to the right of that, the exit duct for the AeroBlade "virtual spoiler"
Once you’re done taking in the exquisite leather and rich veneers, punch the starter button smack dab in the center of the dash and the motor will kick to life with a rip and a snarl. Or, you can hold the same button down for a quiet start -- lame but courteous.
There’s enough old-fashioned power and twist here to make a muscle fanatic drool, except with the borderline-sanitized delivery we’ve come to expect from modern turbocharged engines. It growls on cue, and its exhaust note works its way up and down the scales with pitch-perfect precision when you flip up and down the gears with the shifter paddles, but it lacks that unrestrained, animalistic naturally aspirated bellow that intensifies as you approach redline. Ah, progress.
Even so, there’s so much torque on tap over such a wide range or revs that, taking off from a standstill or accelerating hard in a corner, the wide Bridgestone S007 295/35 ZR20 rear tires can barely keep up. Acceleration may not be class-leading, but 3.9 seconds to 62 mph feels mighty quick from behind the helm of this thing, and though we didn’t try it ourselves, you should have no trouble laying rubber if you ever needed to make a point.
The DB11's infotainment and control scheme are borrowed from Mercedes, to put it politely. That doesn't detract from the stunning interior. Note the squared-off steering wheel
The cool thing about Tuscany, which is a great place to be whether or not you have the keys to a DB11, is that you never really know what you’re going to discover once you hit the road. Around any given bend, you’re more or less guaranteed a jaw-dropping view of an ancient castle town or a field of sunflowers straight out of some impressionist’s laudanum-induced fantasy.
Or, to spice things up, there could be a van-driving madman following the racing line through a curve rather than the lane markings and coming straight for you. Or someone just plain stopped in the middle of the road, maybe to gawk at sunflowers or maybe for no particular reason at all.
In situations like these, you’re quickly reminded of just how wide 81 inches (including door mirrors) of Aston Martin DB11 can feel, and also just how good modern brakes are. True, there is an unexpected amount of left-pedal travel before the calipers bite; you get used to it, but we’d prefer a more immediate, linear response. It doesn’t seem to interfere with full-ABS panic stops, though.
It doesn’t take long to learn exactly where the corners are and become comfortable wheeling the car up and down Italian roads, but it never quite shrinks around us -- the DB11 is too relaxed to fool you into thinking it’s a pint-sized sports car no matter which of the three drive and suspension settings you’ve selected. It seems content to be a four-seat GT, emphasis on the G.
The DB11 in repose, no doubt contemplating the splendor of a Tuscan sunset
Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer told us the automaker is a bit like cricket: If you’re British, it’s been in your blood since birth and you understand it implicitly. But good luck ever explaining it to Americans.
The thing to realize is that, at least with this particular car, Aston isn’t trying to win the battle of superlatives. If you want the quickest acceleration or fastest time around a racetrack in Germany, then your choice has, in a sense, already been made: Line up the spec sheets, go with the one bearing the relevant magic number.
But there’s more to a car than performance figures. From the aluminum and mesh coming together to form Aston’s signature grille, to the combination of leather and wood on the door panels, to the understated aerodynamic features, every part of the DB11 feels like it was consciously designed and put together by actual people. Aston is proud of the fact that it spends a lot of effort on things you might not notice.
Justifiably so, when this is the result. With its balance of performance, comfort and nose-to-tail beauty, the DB11 embodies the tough-to-quantify qualities of Aston-ness while launching the marque confidently into its second century.
Those who already understand Aston Martin will get it right off the bat. Those who don’t ought to after experiencing the DB11.
The attention to detail on the DB11 is stunning. Naturally, you can choose from a wide range of leather colors, contrast stitching and trims
ON SALE: Fall 2016
BASE PRICE: $211,995
DRIVETRAIN: 5.2-liter turbocharged V12; 8-speed automatic; rear-wheel drive
OUTPUT: 600 hp @ 6,500 rpm; 516 lb-ft @ 1,500-5,000 rpm
CURB WEIGHT: 4,029 lbs
PROS: A beautifully designed, beautifully crafted modern GT with a gorgeous interior
CONS: Spec-chasers can find quicker, sharper, tech-ier cars for the money
Not for the first time in its 103-year history, Aston Martin is at a crossroads. Privately held and reasonably well-capitalized, Aston is short on fresh product -- and struggling to convince people who aren’t London bankers (read: Americans and Chinese bankers), it remains a marque worth paying attention to.
We’ve been told to expect big, strange, wonderful things in the near future, from a production take on the electric DBX crossover to spacey hypercars. But first, the standard-bearer: The all-new DB11.
Compared to the ambitious lunacy of the recently announced AM-RB 001 -- Aston's headline-grabbing road car developed in collaboration with Red Bull and Formula 1 whiz Adrian Newey -- the DB11 is downright conventional: V12 under the long hood up front, driven wheels under the short deck out back, supremely comfy interior in the middle.
With its swoops and curves, its blades and vents, it packs more concept car flair than its handsome-but-restrained predecessor, the DB9. You can order it up in any number of color combinations, including contrasting paint jobs that highlight the dramatic floating roofline, or go a more conservative monochrome route if you want to keep it subtle. Either way, the DB11 seems like it was designed to age well.
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