Mandated to better represent a brand that now owns an F1 team, is the DB12 Aston Martin’s best GT to date?
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Aston Martin DB12 Coupé
- Price: from R5 950 000
- Engine: 4.0-litre, turbocharged V8
- Transmission: eight-speed automatic
- Power: 494 kW
- Torque: 800 N.m
- 0-100 km/h (tested): 3.76 sec
- Top speed: 325 km/h*
- Fuel consumption: 12.2 L/100 km*
- Emissions: 278 g/km*
- Rivals: Ferrari Roma; Bentley Continental GT
A quintessentially British automotive brand, the staff cafeteria at Aston Martin’s Gaydon headquarters would have been agonising over the past few years over what to add to its increasingly cosmopolitan weekly menu. Owned since 2020 by Canadian Billionaire Lawrence Stroll, while this company’s ongoing Formula One outfit is naturally multi-national, efforts to match its nevertheless prestigious car division’s creations with the level of under-the-skin engineering required at the pinnacle of motor racing has seen expertise from around the globe relocate to this small town in Warwickshire, England. Names like ex-Mercedes-AMG boss Tobias Moers and ex-Ferrari men Amedeo Felisa and Roberto Fedeli (CTO), together with established working relationships with the likes of German brands Bilstein and AMG, as well as French tyre specialists Michelin, have played a role in creating a car that represents a new era for the automaker.
The successor to the head-turning DB11, while the latest product to wear the initials of renowned previous owner David Brown was destined to be yet another spectacular-looking creation from Aston Martin, once viewed in the metal – and notably while finished in signature Iridescent Emerald – those plans to make it one of the most capable GT cars ever produced quickly become evident. Compared with the 11, this includes an altogether more muscular stance (with a 22 mm broader rear end), an enlarged take on the familial grille for improved cooling – along with a corresponding sense of presence – and a set of forged 21-inch alloy wheels wrapped in bespoke Michelin Pilot Sport tyres measuring a significant 325/30 ZR21 at the rear.
Related: Vanquished No More – Aston Martin Vanquish Returns with V12!
Stare at the 12 a little longer, and the attention to detail is remarkable, including subtle winglets and aero around the bonnet and front bumper, a new larger company badge on the nose, heritage-inspired (though functional) side strakes behind the front wheelarches, frameless side mirrors and a wind-tunnel-designed duct that channels air from the B-pillar into piping housed within the boot lid and out via what’s known as an aero blade. Aerodynamics aside, the benefit of this latter item is that the car’s rear is kept suitably uncluttered – the focus remaining on those substantial rear wheelarches.
If the DB12’s exterior is an exercise in letting the world know there’s more at play here than simply boulevard appeal, a glance at the car’s interior showcases the lengths (and costs) Aston Martin has gone to gain a seat at the main table of this exclusive car club. Where too often Aston’s creations have relied on alluring exterior styling, mighty-sounding exhausts and James Bond’s newest escapade to remain relevant, the DB12’s cabin introduces a newfound sense of occasion and material quality to match its distinct metalwork.
Related: Aston Martin Unveils James Bond-inspired DB12 Goldfinger Edition
From easily the most comfortable driving position that I’ve encountered in an Aston Martin, pride-of-place within the DB12’s interior is a centre console featuring an array of wonderfully tactile physical buttons and switches complemented by a neatly incorporated touch-operated infotainment display. Key to this execution is this setup’s bespoke design, functionality and, indeed, its in-house-developed operating system. Set to be rolled out in each of the seven new front-engined Aston Martin products promised over the next two years, this broadly successful attempt at establishing a unique ownership experience is ironically only let down by the Mercedes-Benz-sourced haptic controls on the multi-function steering wheel.
No longer available with a V12 engine, the DB12’s Mercedes-AMG-sourced twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 has not only been heavily reworked for this application (including larger diameter turbos and modified cam profiles), but its inclusion realises a weight saving of close to 100 kg compared with the outgoing twelve-cylinder DB11. Mated with a ZF-sourced 8-speed automatic transmission with a 13% shorter final drive for improved responsiveness, the 325-section rear tyres on Aston Martin’s first “super tourer” are tasked with taking delivery of 494 kW and 800 N.m of torque between 2 750 and 6 000 r/min.
With Sport+ driving mode engaged, the DB12 Coupé recorded a best 0-100 km/h sprint time of 3.76 seconds on our test strip. Featuring 400 mm ventilated brakes up front and 360 mm items at the rear, braking performance was suitably superb, achieving an average stopping time of just 2.8 seconds.
Impressively capable in a straight line, while the DB12 is the first road-going Aston Martin to feature an electronic rear differential for more responsive on-the-limit dynamic prowess, the crowning success of this package is its Bilstein-sourced DTX adaptive dampers. Incorporating six-way sensors, this highly sophisticated setup mounted to underpinnings 7% stiffer the DB11’s grants this car a newfound sense of poise and control, both in everyday driving conditions and – when the opportunity arises – tackling a favourite stretch of twisting road.
Via a nine-stage stability control setup, it’s obvious that one of the non-negotiables of the DB12 project was to make the behind-the-wheel experience of what was always going to be a powerful car (thank you, AMG) altogether more accessible and engaging.
Aided by the impressively well-weighted and suitably precise workings of the car’s electrically assisted steering setup, and despite its GT mandate, the DB12 feels agile and easy to place on the road. That said, while previous DB creations have been fun to drive based on the accompanying respective sense of occasion, and inevitable 007 references, the 12 feels closer in terms of its dynamic ability to some of the best smaller and lighter Vantage models we’ve sampled over the years – our favourite of which, the manual V12, featured in our January 2010 Performance Shootout.
Curiously – and perhaps a consequence of a generally well-insulated cabin – while there is now a clearer-than-ever differentiation between the car’s driving modes (including GT, Sport, Sport+, Wet and Individual), it was felt that the corresponding exhaust note could have grown even more prominent with each analogue click of the drive mode dial.
While the newest member of the broader Aston Martin family is indeed an Englishman, the arrival of Gaydon of Formula One engineering icon Adrian Newey is yet another clear indication of this brand’s ambitions to shift the perception of its products – both on track and on the road – from being nice to look at, and indeed to be seen in, to being dynamically capable of besting the competition, including in both settings…
Find the full feature in the November issue of CAR Magazine.
