Aston Martin DB12 Plays a Game of Sporty Succession

Driving conditions were far from ideal across sections of the Route Napoléon last month. The normally achingly bucolic stretch of winding backroads commencing from the glistening coastline of the Côte d’Azur  retracing the footsteps of the French Emperor’s 1815 flight from Elba to Grenoble was being rudely doused across sections of the carefully curated route plotted to acquaint us with the most recent iteration of an automotive icon with few peers. Downspouts of rain descended from the mountainside at times with such severity it seemed like I was driving through a carwash (albeit at speeds no carwash would ever permit) rather than the storied route often considered one of the best drives across France. But behind the wheel of the newly unveiled Aston Martin DB12, the trying conditions seemed to play out as an opportunity rather than any real reason for concern.

A confident expression of British engineering and styling celebrated as the “the world’s first super tourer,” Aston’s latest version wearing the iconic DB moniker is a glorious head turner – the sort of vehicle that elicits envy without the baggage of judgment that sometimes comes keychained to a vehicle priced securely in the six figure category (perhaps a pass attributed to its historical association with the world’s famous actor of espionage). While appreciatively dashing in all of its various hues, garbed in a lustrous hue of green – Iridescent Emerald – the vehicle mesmerizes like a shimmering river rock just plucked from the water, before drawing a studied appreciation of its entire taut musculature expressed at every angle.

The vehicle’s wide haunched stance borrows heavily from its predecessor, the DB11, with most of the notable changes found under the hood (a new 671 horsepower twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V-8) or behind the GT’s low slung doors. But according to Aston Martin director of design Miles Nurnberger, the sum of the DB12’s exterior changes – the enlarged grille, the addition of matrix-LED headlights, an even more pronounced hindquarter, and wider stance – result in a distinct culmination of 75 years of the DB heritage. The width of the car seems especially pronounced, instilling a degree of confidence this car should have gravity’s aid in keeping it stuck onto the road as intended.

Aston Martin reports the DB12 can burst from a standstill to 60mph in just 3.6 seconds, 0.4 second faster than the DB11. We can attest the power is always ready at beck and call, supposedly available to whip heads back into seats at a top speed of 202 mph for those capable and daring enough to summon the V8’s full guttural might. Noting the aforementioned rain conditions, we never quite threatened that degree of sustained speed, but we did push the car enough to acquaint ourselves with the DB12’s four drive modes, most appreciatively the vehicle’s Wet setting. The drive mode may have politely corrected for a passing moment of overly aggressive steering at one point as this driver cascaded out from a sweeping turn.

Outside the brief escapade, the super tourer’s electronic stability control system proved unobtrusive to the thrill of driving through French switchbacks and on straightaways past peloton racers at speeds in wet, dry, or in-between conditions.

Much was made about the DB12’s redesigned interior, one expressed in a thoughtful layout of physical buttons and switches complementing a pair of digital screens, all encompassed with a lavish amount of stitched leather that gave the impression of sitting in the loose grip of an oversized catcher’s mitt – albeit the most luxuriously appointed mitt you might imagine.

For purists perhaps any addition of even a single screen is one too many, but Aston Martin’s interior team has tread lightly to update the interior to modern standards while retaining a pleasing degree of the tactile dedicated to adjusting temperature, volume, and other creature comforts, alongside access to drive modes. The intuitive layout reduces the chances of risking injury via split-second touchscreen menu windowshopping that a fully touchscreen infotainment system tempts. And we could imagine in a matter of days muscle memory would kick in if you are fortunate (and fortuned) enough to call a DB12 your daily driver.

Both the 10.25” TFT Touch Screen Central Display and the complementing 10.25” TFT driver information display Aston Martin have added into the DB12 are approvingly bright and colorful, with clear and concise graphics realized at 1970×720 resolution. Wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are thankfully both supported, and the GT’s 15-speaker Bowers & Wilkins audio system won’t leave you wanting when desiring an enlivening soundtrack en route.

The only qualms noted during our daytrip with the DB12 were attached to the preproduction vehicle’s definitely work-in-progress navigation system; the map routing had a highly suspect tendency to want to redirect several of us into greener pastures and admittedly picturesque dirt roads leading to parts unknown. Aston Martin assuaged concerns with promises the built-in navigation system was already planned to see several more updates before being released into the wild.

Before releasing us onto the road the morning of our drive, Aston Martin reps would spend a good amount of time to emphasize how the DB12 is intended to inhabit and rule the pinnacle between ultimate luxury and exhilarating performance. Behind the wheel of the new DB12 for an entire day, we concur it does a memorably fine job in delivering on both accounts, and everywhere in-between, making it a model deserving of the newly refreshed Aston Martin badge celebrating the brand’s 110th anniversary alongside 75 years of the iconic DB model line. Or as Marek Reichman, Executive Vice President and Chief Creative Officer of Aston Martin notes, “a new category of performance-design driving experience.”

Disclaimer: Travel and accommodations were provided by Aston Martin for this review.

Source: design-milk