2017 Aston Martin DB11: A Fully Modern Aston for the Modern World

The war is over and turbocharging won. Until recently, Aston Martin regarded natu­ral aspiration as one of the brand’s core values, the ripping soundtracks of its high-revving V-8 and V-12 engines presented as fundamental tenets of its faith. No longer. Within a few years, all of the company’s sports cars will have turbos, with the new DB11 leading the way.

But it won’t come bearing the Mercedes-AMG V-8 that Aston has the ability to use as part of its technical partnership with Daimler. That mill will power the replacement for the smaller Vantage. Instead, Aston has gone to the considerable expense of developing a new twin-turbocharged V-12 displacing 5.2 liters and producing 600 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque. Fuel economy is said to improve ­dramatically thanks to both turbocharging and selective cylinder shutdown, and we’re told the new engine will be tuned to deliver the least possible lag. Color us surprised that it sounds half as good as the sultry old 5.9-liter V-12.

Beyond turbocharging, the DB11 is reassuringly predictable. Aston is keen to emphasize that this car marks a clean break from the aged DB9 it replaces, with the two cars sharing no parts. While the components are all-new, the DB11 sticks to the modern Aston recipe with a bonded aluminum structure, ­aluminum exterior panels, and a design that pays reverence to its handsome forebears without turning obsequious. The standout “roof strake” is available in bright aluminum, body color, or black. The dimensions are very simi­lar to the DB9’s, and it will weigh almost exactly the same, but there is far more in­teri­or space and nearly usable rear seats.

Innovation is present—but well ­disguised. The DB11 gets a new multilink rear suspension and electrically assisted power steering, plus a clever “AeroBlade” system that channels airflow from the rear quarter-windows and out the top of the decklid to remove the need for a pop-up spoiler below roughly 90 mph. The biggest changes come courtesy of Daimler’s electronic architecture, with a modern-looking display screen, TFT instruments, and the familiar Mercedes-style rotary controller and touchpad in the center of the cockpit. The closeness of the alliance is also evident in the DB11’s single control stalk for the wipers and the turn signals, taken straight from the Benz parts bin.

Aston promises us that the DB11 will have a sub-four-second zero-to-60-mph time and a 200-mph top speed, and it will go on sale toward the end of this year. Pricing, in-cluding a gas-guzzler tax, starts just shy of $215,000.

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