The Aston Martin DB11 turns the DB9’s flab into muscle.
WORDS BRIAN M. AFUANG
In coming out with its new model, the clean-sheet design DB11, Aston Martin announces that it isn’t embracing trendy tech — hybridization, for example — just yet.
While some car makers of the British marque’s ilk have taken this route, like BMW did with its three-pot engine/electric-motor-driven i8 sports car, Aston Martin thinks electricity is better suited at powering up its banging Bang & Olufsen audio units instead. Where Porsche opted for a pair of electric motors to amp up the already heady output of the 4.6-liter V8 planted in its 918 Spyder hyper car, Aston Martin, teasing a concept model, also went for electric power. But it did so in the manner F1 race cars do, which is to use battery juice only to boost the special Aston into warp-drive speeds for brief periods. And what of Tesla’s full-on all-electric tact? By most indications, not for Aston.
The other thing Aston Martin is apparently not too keen on is making a small engine. In replacing the DB9 with the DB11, the car maker stuck it out with a V12. And it also did not merely stuff the DB9’s 5.9-liter 12-banger into the DB11, it built a new one. The DB11’s new engine is not as massive, displacing 700cc less than the old V12 (ostensibly a means to cut emissions). But Aston Martin did hook a pair of turbochargers to it, substantially increasing its oomph. So with 600 horsepower and 700 Newton-meter of torque on tap, the new V12 tops the old engine’s output by around 100 horsepower and 80 Newton-meter.
Where the car maker went all trendy is in materials. Despite being longer and wider than its predecessor, the DB11 hasn’t gained much weight thanks to its bonded aluminum structure, which is some 40 kilograms lighter than the DB9’s. The DB9, which debuted in distant 2003, was a product of turn-of-the-century tech, developed at a time when the techniques necessary for bonding aluminum to form a car’s structure were hit-and-miss. The DB11, in turn, has benefitted from the aluminum-bonding geekery of the intervening years. That the new car still put on a bit of weight is largely attributed to the hardware that comes with its two turbochargers, not because of its larger size.
Simply, the DB11 turned the DB9’s flab into muscle. This shows in the car’s bodywork. Wearing a suit that’s sharper and edgier than that donned by any model in the DB bloodline, the DB11 evokes the design cues that defined its ancestors back from the time when James Bond rolled around town in a DB5.
The latest car is no cheesy retro job too as it brings a lot of new elements to the Aston Martin brand’s design language. The DB11 introduces contours on its front and rear fenders to suggest bulk; those found on previous DBs were flat, timid. Just as novel are the scalloped panels over the car’s front wheels, with the elements linked to the nearly vertical shelf straddling the rear quarter windows by means of crisp creases (Aston Martin’s literature explains this treatment is not merely aesthetic as it actually helps keep the car on its shiny side up by aiding aerodynamics). The shape of the rear deck and tail lamps owe nothing to previous Astons, while panels with a contrasting finish that arc over either side of the roof are just as fresh a styling cue.
Retained in the DB11 is the cab-backward stance of the previous DBs — and most Aston Martins, for that matter. This classical coupe proportion, which dictates that an expansive hood be mated to a short rear deck and a fastback greenhouse, visually drives home the point that a huge engine resides in front of the car. This silhouette is even more convincing when seen on a scale in which the DB11 is rendered; the car is big both in statement and acreage, befitting its Grand Touring, or GT, billing. The laws of physics mandate that proper sports cars need to be light and small — not always powerful — for these to be lithe and fun to fling around. That they may become torturous to ride in as a result is simply accepted as a part of the deal. In contrast, GT cars have to operate on a different premise. The best of them, and all indications suggest the DB11 is poised to take its place among these exalted few, have to be lithe and fun to fling around, must pack enough grunt to knock the Earth off its orbit, but also be as posh as the priciest luxury sedans are. Tall order? Consider that GTs have to look sensuous, too.
The DB11 promises to live up to its GT status. It has the haute couture wardrobe requirement all sewn up, for starters. And, no question, its cabin is posh. Like the car’s bodywork, the DB11’s cabin marries styling cues that marked Aston Martins past and those of more recent vintage. The car’s cabin pays homage to the uncluttered elegance of the DB5’s dashboard, as well as the console of the DB9, which seems to cascade from the base of the windshield and flows between both set of seats (The DB11, as a GT, has back seats, but true to tradition these are more like leather-lined cubbyholes than perches). And while the cabin of the DB11 may come across as more Old World in flavor than that of the DB9 — the oval cluster of controls in the console looks more traditional — it is actually more tech-laden. Directly ahead of the driver lies a 12-inch TFT LCD screen, on which the star is a huge virtual rev counter. Other pertinent info regarding the car’s technical work can be summoned here as well. Fitted to the steering wheel are the usual infotainment buttons and other controls, plus a pair of gearshift paddles.
On top of the dashboard is another LCD screen that’s reserved for infotainment duties. Below this and the cold-air vents sits an array of buttons, in the middle of which is the one that switches the ignition on or off. This button replaces the Aston Martin-signature ignition slot into which the key is inserted, then pushed like a button. But in these days of smart entry systems, using a key to fire up the engine is considered as quaint as the term “Y2K,” and so Aston Martin has discarded this piece of James Bond theatricality. Flanking the ignition button are four others, each marked with P, R, N, D. Yes, these buttons are for the gearbox — an eight-speed automatic, by the way. The entire layout is less cluttered.
Keeping to Aston Martin practice, if not British premium-car making tradition altogether, is the quality of materials used and the craftsmanship lavished on the DB11’s cabin furniture. The brushed metal trim pieces emit a subtle gleam rather than dazzle. The sundry controls, which have uniformly rendered icons and labels, are set off by ever-so-slightly glossy piano-black panels. Leather lines virtually everything, the material fused together by means of stitching that appears to be the handiwork of Savile Row tailors. Bling is definitely not the DB11’s thing.
Considering its executive-class cabin, chic styling and what promises to be aristocratic manners on the road, what the DB11 is best at is covering great distances. Its cabin has grown in dimensions compared to the DB9, which, in the first place, wasn’t cramped in any way. It has all the modern gizmos meant to keep one entertained, if not distracted, for hours. Its twin-turbo power plant can hurl the car from a standstill to 100kph in under four seconds, and onto a top speed north of 300kph. Its styling is the most striking of all new GT coupes out there. Best, it has a V12: traveling by road doesn’t get any more privileged than this.
The Aston Martin DB11, which starts arriving in showrooms worldwide during the last quarter of 2016, is set to make its Manila debut in January 2017.
