Aston Martin DBX Review (2020-present)

What is the Aston Martin DBX?

Aston Martin’s first SUV is also one of the most important new cars it has ever brought to market. A great deal rides on the success of the £158,000 DBX because, once again, Aston Martin finds itself in challenging financial straits, and a very profitable performance SUV could be the only thing to drag it back into the black.

The world’s premium car makers have been tripping over themselves to launch high-end SUVs. Where once there was the Range Rover Sport and not much else, Rolls Royce, Bentley and Lamborghini have all joined the party in recent years. A good deal of Porsche’s current prosperity is down to the enormous success of the Cayenne, which first appeared almost two decades ago.

These cars are tremendously popular with well-heeled buyers and the profit margins are irresistible, all of which should explain why Aston Martin has broken with more than a century of tradition to launch its first four-wheel drive, high-riding vehicle.

How practical is it?

The DBX trumps most of its rivals on boot space, because there’s a hefty 632 litres available with the rear seats upright and an extra 62 litres of underfloor storage. The sloping roof doesn’t impede head room and there’s a decent amount of room for five occupants.

The interior has acres of soft leather, and the full-length panoramic roof is lovely. However, it isn’t quite as luxurious as the cabins of rival top-end SUVs, such as the Bentley Bentayga. Much of the switchgear and the somewhat dated infotainment system in the centre console are too clearly borrowed from Mercedes-Benz, so it lacks exclusivity in this respect.

What's it like to drive?

What distinguishes the DBX from much of its competition is that it doesn’t share a platform with any other model. Aston Martin might have been tempted to rebody and rebadge a Mercedes-AMG 4x4, for instance, but instead chose to reach far higher than that. The advantage of developing an entirely new platform from scratch is that you get to determine for yourself exactly how the final vehicle drives.

By way of example, Aston Martin has been able to dictate the precise length of the DBX’s wheelbase. Bentley, Lamborghini, Audi and Porsche – whose SUVs all share the same basic VW Group architecture – have to make do with what they’re given. That’s why the DBX has a very long wheelbase but is relatively short overall. It’s also why the 4.0-litre engine is mounted so far back in the chassis, which means the car is exceptionally well-balanced. There are, however, disadvantages to developing a platform of your own, primarily the eye-watering upfront investment.

In just about every meaningful sense, the DBX is a true Aston Martin through and through. Despite its tall stance and elongated proportions, it drives the way an SUV with that winged logo in its nose should, and the 542bhp 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 offers a wonderful blend of power and refinement. In fact, no other such car better combines daily comfort, performance, handling response and off-road ability.

For now, there is no hybrid option and in certain markets that’ll inevitably harm sales. The DBX’s towing capacity is also limited to 2,700kg where some rivals will manage 3,500kg.

Technology, equipment & infotainment

Like all very high-end SUVs, the DBX comes loaded as standard, so expect a full suite of electronic driver assistance systems, a 360-degree parking camera and Aston Martin’s 800-watt, 14-speaker Premium Audio System, among many other features.

However, its party trick is very clever powertrain and chassis hardware. The suspension uses three-chamber air springs with various ride heights (the tallest gives good ground clearance off-road, while the lowest one makes the car very agile and more aerodynamically efficient), plus a four-wheel drive system that can shuffle torque to whichever wheel can use it best.

There are also active anti-roll bars, which can either decouple or reattach in real-time depending on what’s preferable – a smooth ride or responsive handling.

Aston Martin DBX running costs

If you have to ask… Keeping a 4.0-litre 542bhp V8 fuelled is one thing, but when that engine lives within a tall SUV that weighs a lot more than two-tonnes, it becomes a different matter altogether. Aston Martin says you’ll record 19.8mpg on the combined cycle, but in reality, you shouldn’t expect much more than 17mpg. Use all of the DBX’s performance regularly and that figure could comfortably drop to the low teens.

It’s a similar matter with tyres. The DBX comes with 22-inch wheels, meaning a full set of rubber will be very expensive. It’s worth remembering that the DBX won’t go anywhere off-road if it’s fitted with high-performance summer tyres, and won’t be at its agile and responsive best when it’s wearing any other sort of rubber (Aston Martin also offers all-season and winter tyres).

As with its chief rivals, the DBX sits in insurance group 50 – the highest there is. You’ll also pay well into four figures for the first year of Vehicle Excise Duty and the premium rate in subsequent years.

However, the DBX currently isn’t available with a plug-in hybrid powertrain and some rivals are. The Bentley Bentayga and the Porsche Cayenne both offer hybrid options that can reduce your fuel bills dramatically (but only if you mostly cover shorter journeys and charge their batteries regularly).

Servicing, finally, is another area of expense to be mindful of. Routine maintenance on V8-powered Aston Martins (such as the Vantage) at an official dealership will cost in the region of £700, and the company recommends servicing every year or 10,000 miles, whichever comes sooner.

Aston Martin DBX reliability

Being such a new car, it’s too early to say for sure if the DBX is likely to develop any commonly occurring faults. What’s more, Aston Martin doesn’t tend to feature in owner satisfaction surveys where more mainstream brands do.

However, the Mercedes-AMG engine is known to be durable, and has been used to great – and dependable – effect in the German company’s own models for several years. Meanwhile, the DBX’s slightly dated infotainment system is a Mercedes unit as well, one that should prove to be more or less glitch-free over time.

We’ll have to wait and see how durable the DBX proves, particularly because it features a good deal of mechanical hardware that’s new to Aston Martin, including that air suspension, but also because it’s Aston’s first car that’s designed to be driven away from sealed road surfaces. Will wading through water, hacking through mud, and rattling across rocky ground reveal fundamental design flaws or durability problems? Time will tell.

The DBX is at least covered by Aston Martin’s three-year/unlimited mileage warranty – pretty standard for a premium brand – and there’s also the option of extending cover beyond the initial term.