Yahoo Autos The Aston Martin DB12 Feels More Complete than the DB11 Ever Did
The Aston Martin DB12 is not an all-new car. Though it has a new number in the long DB lineage, this is a heavy rework and refresh of the long-serving DB11. The DB11 was an ambitious car, a grand tourer with a new twin-turbo V-12 and the first fruits of a Mercedes partnership that added electronics and infotainment, a way of cost cutting so that Aston could focus on other parts of the car.
The cost cutting thing was the problem. Sharing a Mercedes infotainment system, and one that wasn’t as new or as well integrated as the one in any Mercedes instantly dated the DB11’s cockpit. And while Aston had a lot of talented people involved in the entire process of engineering, designing, and building the car, it didn’t live up to the DB9. Aston tried to do a lot on a limited budget, a new car, new engine, and a number of other projects meant to grow the brand, like the Valkyrie. Something had to give. The DB11 became a car that appealed to hardcore Aston fans, and only hardcore Aston fans.
In the last couple of years, Aston received a large injection of cash from a consortium led by Canadian Lawrence Stroll. The F1 team is now on the podium regularly, and the road car line has been getting a massive refresh, with new trims on both the DBX and Vantage. The DB12 is a major overhaul of the DB11, but it’s not an entirely new car.
It’s still based on the same platform and the styling, while far more aggressive up front, should be considered an evolution of the DB11. The engine is an uprated version of the 4.0 liter twin-turbo Mercedes V-8 that was available in the DB11, with new cams, bigger turbos, and increased cooling. It has 671 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque. For reference, the V-8 in the DB11 had 528 hp and 513 lb ft, so it’s a sizeable jump. It’s even more powerful than the DB11’s twin-turbo V-12, which had 630 hp and 516 lb ft of torque. That’s linked to a ZF eight-speed gearbox with an electronic rear diff and a shorter final drive than the DB11. Aston says all of this should be good for a 3.5 second run to 60. Damn fast.
The DB12 also has revisions to increase chassis stiffness and dampers with a wider breadth of adjustability. This car is also the first to come with the Michelin Pilot Sport 5 S tires, a version of which Aston and Michelin developed together.
The biggest change, though, has to be in the interior. The Mercedes infotainment is gone, replaced by a higher center console that has actual buttons and knobs, along with a new touchscreen interface. This is a big deal, creating a UX is hard work, and it’s a big signal that Aston is serious about stepping out on its own and not relying an older tech from Mercedes to just get cars out the door.
So it looks better and more aggressive, the interior is a massive step up, and it should be a lot faster. How is the DB12 to drive? It’s interesting.
Aston’s drive route took us along the French Riviera to the Route Napoleon, with some much tighter roads at the end. This was supposed to show the breadth of the DB12, but it also showed what it’s best at and what you might not want to use it for. This is a GT car, so it’s not something you’ll be taking to the track or really thrashing on a back road. It’s good for longer highway runs and spirited drives on wider back roads. It’s still a bigger car, and technically a 2+2, so tighter stuff isn’t necessarily its calling card.
On the highway, it did everything right. Comfortable with a ton of power, along with light controls that worked great in traffic. Left on its own, the gearbox was smooth and disappeared into the background. In its least aggressive mode, GT, the DB12 is just easy. I did have a hard time finding a sweet spot in the driving position, though. It wasn’t easy to get comfortable, with a few of us on the route noting some pain in our right legs, and it wasn’t from straining to keep our feet planted on the throttle.
The back roads is where things got interesting. Switched to sport mode and the gearbox swapped to manual, the DB12 transformed from an easy highway car. Route Napoleon is wide and sweeping, with long constant radius corners where you’re able to carry plenty of speed. The DB12 was more composed than the DB11 and even the last Vantage I drove. The steering, while not the most feelsome, was accurate, and brakes had good initial bite. It felt fast and had no problem keeping up with or pulling away from many of the supercars and motorcycles that litter this French road.
The tighter sections were where it felt like it didn’t belong. On some extremely narrow parts with tight turns, like 180 degree hairpins and walls next to the road, it became clear that this car was large. Pavement quality wasn’t great. This is where a number of people in our group reported being car sick, not just one or two, but a half dozen or more. We couldn’t figure out what it was, maybe a distortion in some pre-production glass, maybe a resonance in the chassis, or maybe it was just being in a bigger car on narrow roads with heavy braking zones and undulating pavement. But it became clear that the DB12 is at its best when the road is wide and the corners are long, not when you’re attacking a narrow pass over a mountain lake.
That aside, everything about the DB12 is a step up from the DB11 that always felt like it needed another year or two of gestation before being unleashed. It received constant updates through its life, but none were as comprehensive as this jump to the DB12. Losing out on the V-12 does stink, but this V-8 is so tractable, with so much power, that there isn’t much to complain about other than the loss of theater from four extra cylinders.
Amazingly, the DB12 isn’t finished yet, either. That new infotainment system still has a few revisions to go through before the car goes on sale later this year, but it was easy to navigate. While knobs are better than touch screens, a good touch screen is better than a dated system with a knob, and that’s what we have here.
On the right road, the DB12 is a wonderful GT car. Fast, fun, and comfortable, and it doesn’t have the drawbacks of the DB11. If you want one, DB12s will reach customers in Q3, and should cost somewhere north of $200,000.
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