The Aston Martin DBX S is Next Level!

Hi there, welcome to Driving with Johnny. I'm Johnny and I'm standing next to this gorgeous Podium Green Aston Martin DBX-S. What does the S stand for? You might think it stands for sport, but remember it's an SUV, it's already got sport right there in the title. No, in this case, the S stands for special. It drives better, it's got more power, it's lighter, and it's limited. But it also costs more, and the question is, is it worth the extra money? That's what we're going to find out. So what's different? What makes this thing an S? Well, it's really similar to what they did going from the Vantage to the Vantage S. It's not anything big, it's just a lot of little tiny changes that overall just kind of sharpen and tighten and improve the whole vehicle. Visually speaking, up front they changed the grille, and we'll get to that in the design section, but I think it looks great. There's 10 more horsepower, okay, it's not a lot, but again, 717 horsepower, I'll take it. I think the biggest thing really is the roof. It's a single piece of carbon fiber, it's no longer a glass sunroof, which does a couple things. One is that it removes about 100 pounds, and it takes weight away from the worst place you can have weight. If EVs have shown us anything, it's that a lot of weight down low isn't that bad. Weight up high is always bad. Plus though, when you get rid of the glass and put in the carbon, you're actually strengthening the whole body. And I always find that carbon roof vehicles, like a GR Corolla let's say, they steer better because it's a stiffer structure. Add that to these 23-inch 10-spoke wheels, which drop 10 pounds per corner, you have a weight savings of about 140 pounds, which is significant. I mean, it's like having one less European in the car with you. It's also limited. They're only making 3,000 DBX-S's, and only 1,000 are coming to North America, and yes, I'm saying North America because those greedy Canadians are going to get some. So there's going to be less than 1,000 on sale here in the States. What does all this add up to? Well, we will find out when we drive, but before that, let's take a look at just how gorgeous an SUV can be. Aston Martin design is peaking right now. They can sort of do no wrong, and the DBX-S is just another example of how good that design department is. I mean, they're just the best in the business. Yeah, I'm just going to go ahead and say they're the best in the business. Everything just works so well, like even the badge, you just see how the badge sits. They've just perfected it. The new grille, and this has an optional kind of mesh baleen mouth to it. I think it's great. I love me an Aston grille. This one is giving me DB4 Zagato vibes, and that's one of the best-looking cars ever made. Interestingly, the shape of the actual projector on the headlight there, that actually goes back to the Aston Martin Vulcan, and they stuck that in when they redid the Vantage, but it was a smaller opening. There's this big eye here, and people are like, oh, it looks like a Miata, which kind of they had this little squinty eye like a Miata, but I'm glad they're sticking with that. It looks cool. They've even got eyelashes, kind of like a mirror. Just incredible. Coming down the side, humongo dash to axle ratio. You got to have that. It makes it look sporty, and what's the problem with SUVs? We've all seen the meme. Here's a Ferrari Puro Sangue, and here's a Mazda CX-5, and from the hard side, they look the same, so Aston did everything they could to break that up. This lets you know it's front-engine, rear-wheel-drive biased, even though it's all-wheel drive. This line here, these hips, I mean, it's just so wonderful, and then they do smart things like right here off the taillight, you have this line that almost drops down. It's just a small thing, but it just plays with the way you're looking at it. It transforms the mass of the vehicle. It looks great. Then, of course, how do you make something not look like a jelly bean? Give it a ducktail, and again, nothing really too crazy difference between the S and a regular DBX. It's just as good as SUVs are going to look. I already mentioned that it has 23-inch wheels. It's amazing that we live in this day and age where these are kind of becoming almost normal. It used to be like 22s were insane, but look how good it sits on them. Just looks perfect. Love these wheels. Somehow, Aston is able to make this insane highlighter yellow color work. Also cool, the S badge here, it's actually not a piece of plastic. It's a piece of metal. It's actually handmade and hand-painted. Very cool little touch that you get on the DBX-S. There's a lot going on in this interior. It's a bit like sitting inside of a Nike. It's just so much leather and stitching, but again, Aston makes it work. Also, they've sort of moved on from this design. The DBX is an older model. I kind of like it. Now, it's a bit more formal. All the Astons have two pieces of leather that stretch across the dash, and they bookend like that. I sort of like this. I like how the aluminum's coming out and the crazy speaker vents and all that. It's cool. Lots of buttons if you're into buttons. I think, though, for a car like this, I think the screen is too small. I'd like a slightly bigger screen just because if you're older and your eyes are getting old, it's just the font's a little small and you can't really make the font bigger without changing the ... It also relies on that CarPlay Ultra, which I've been having some problems with it. I got it to work once, and then this morning, I had to reconnect my phone, and it takes a while. Then it wouldn't turn on. I'm not the biggest CarPlay fan, but overall, the material quality here, the comfort, the feel of everything, it's just really good. I have one little tiny complaint, and again, it's because of the color contrast, but this is a piece of yellow leather, which to me just looks like painter's tape. I just would have done that in a different color. Other than that, yeah, Asus. I'm just going to come out and say it, AMG makes one hell of a motor. I'm just like, wow, and look, yes, Aston, this is not an Aston Martin V8, AMG makes it. It's a four liter twin turbo, 717 horsepower, 664 pound feet of torque, completely awesome, makes great noises. One of the rare vehicles these days where it sounds 10 times better outside the car than it does from where I'm sitting, which I'm fine with. I don't need it that loud. I'm old. I'm too old. It's too loud, all that stuff. Oh, but they don't make their own engine. Well, you know what, AMG, they supply pretty good engines, like Pagani, look at Pagani, and I'm telling you, go drive an Aston Martin Vantage S, go drive a DB12 or DB12S. Those V8s are awesome. I don't know if Aston would be able to engineer a better one, and you know, look, the Lotus Amir is running around with a Camry V6 and a manual transmission out of, you know, like an old diesel Lexus, and everyone gives that a pass, you know, so like, is there any reason to like be upset with Aston Martin for using an AMG V8, no, and hey, good for us, at least all the Astons have AMG V8s, none of the AMGs do, you know, so yeah, totally, totally fantastic powertrain here. In fact, the transmission, it's not the ZF8 speed. It's actually a Mercedes AMG, I think they call it the speed shift, nine-speed wet clutch automatic. Now, wet clutch means there's no lock-up torque converter, somehow it, I don't know, it slips first gear because it's wet. I have no idea what I'm talking about, but I've read enough press releases to be dangerous, and the point is, all of that, the V8, this transmission, the all-wheel drive system, it combines to make this thing into an actual road rocket. It is wicked fast, and just terrific to drive, and the transmission is great. It does a better job of imitating a dual-clutch than, well, than the last ZF8 speed I drove. This is just great. Up shifts are bang-bang quick, down shifts are even very quick. This is a good, solid transmission, and tuned well, so yeah, just terrific powertrain. Then there's the handling, and I think it's really down to the body control, because again, this is a big, heavy SUV, although in the S here, they've taken out some weight, carbon roof, and it's kind of hysterical. Like, they actually left the hole where the glass roof would have been, and so it's a carbon roof, and they just put this gigantic piece of leather on it, which is ridiculously funny, in a, you know, just like, more leather type way. Like, they really wanted to save weight, just leave it exposed carbon, but, you know. Anyhow, this is supposedly 100 pounds-ish lighter than the old DBX707, and I think with these special wheels, that takes off another 40 pounds. It feels light, and again, the handling is great, the braking is great. You begin to start thinking, like, okay, well, what's a better SUV? And, you know, they're a size down, you know, maybe like the Alfa Stelvio Quadrifoglio, maybe at the limit, a little bit more fun, maybe the Maserati Grecale Trofeo, which is, you know, basically the same as the Quadrifoglio. Okay, that might be a touch better, but at this size, at this price point, what's better? Two, you know, the Lamborghini Urus, the non-plug-in hybrid, and the Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT. And, you know, this head up against the Urus, that's tough. I might go Lamborghini, I don't know, I need to drive them both on the same day. But let's say, with the Porsche, let's say it is a better driving vehicle. Let's say it's like, you know, 5% better, although I can't imagine anything better than this right now, but let's just say it is. And you own both, and it's Sunday morning, both keys are sitting on the kitchen table, and you got to do a bagel run, you know, which one are you grabbing? I will tell you right now, you're not grabbing the Porsche. You are taking the Aston Martin key each and every time. It's just that kind of vehicle. Aside from how it handles, there's the looks, there's like the comfort of the interior, and how special the interior feels. You know, what's the difference between a Cayenne Turbo GT and a base Cayenne, in terms of the interior? Nothing. This is an occasion. Yeah, this is just the one you're taking. What else are you doing with it? You know, you can do some SUVs things with it, you know, the seats fold flat, the air suspension, right now I'm in Sport Plus and I'm dropped down. You know, I guess you could raise it up and take this thing off-road, although you'd have to be a special variety of mental patient to do that. You really would. One of my favorite things in the world is to, like, take G-wagons off-road. I think it's hysterical, and I love watching people's reactions. This is just too nice. You and I wouldn't do it. It's hard for me to overstate how impressed I am with this thing. And again, it's an SUV, and it's just attacking the Canyon. Awesome. So I went on the launch of the Aston DBX 707. That's really when this thing came into its own. Power had gone up from, like, 565 horsepower to 707, you know, horsepower, which is ridiculous. And it was a funny time for the company because Tobias Moore was the CEO. Now, he had previously been the CEO of AMG. So you think if they're using AMG engines, perfect guy to bring in. They didn't get along, and he didn't last very long. And I have a nice relationship with Tobias. I like him. But there were storm clouds brewing at the company, and he wasn't long for Aston Martin. However, I remember he pulled me aside, and in his very Swabian way, was like, yeah, you know, the DBX, it was, you know, he didn't say ----, but he was like, all right, it was what it was. I can't remember exactly what he said, but he was like, this one, we've done everything, you know, and it's so much better. And, you know, okay, good. I'm glad when CEOs say stuff like that. But I asked an Aston engineer, I said, look, how much better did Tobias make the DBX 707 from what you had planned? And he looked at me and, you know, he said, honestly, he pushed us from like a 9 to an 11. And he really did push, and I remember, like, after that, you know, again, we were driving the launch, they were quite production, production vehicles. And, you know, I'm sitting there at dinner with Tobias. He goes, what'd you think? And I go, you know, dude, I liked everything about it, except for the initial brake bite. And he looks at me smiling. He goes, yesterday I was working on a new, you know, brake master cylinder or something like that. And, yeah, they did a great job. And so the S here, which, again, expensive, limited to 3,000 units, but all that hard work that Aston did on the 707, it just polishes it. It just makes it that much better. And, like, look, if you're going to buy a performance SUV, you got to consider this one. It's just that good. It really is. And it actually, this is going to sound strange, but it kind of just makes me happy for Aston, that they're just doing hit after hit. The DB12 was awesome. The Vantage Refresh is amazing. The Vanquish, oh, ah, you know, the greatest. And then you have this. And I guess what I'm saying is, like, you know, that Valhalla better be awesome. But driving the last four products of theirs that I've driven, I have no reason to doubt that it won't be. Anyways, Aston, killer job. Like, you just kind of nailed it. You really did. Anyhow, thank you for watching this episode about the Aston Martin DBX-S. If you liked it, hit Like. If you got a comment, you agree or disagree with what I said, go ahead and drop it down below. Want to share the video with somebody? Feel free. And most importantly, if you could, subscribe to our channel because it really does help a lot. Anyhow, we'll catch you on the next episode of Driving with Johnny.