Is Aston Martin’s Mad DBX707 the Real Deal?
Radical new DBX707 fundamentally improves Aston Martin’s SUV.
Just a couple of months after it popped up in the UK, Aston Martin brought a prototype DBX707 to Cape Town to introduce it to the local market. “It has a far bigger mouth to gulp in all that extra air to keep it cooler,” Aston’s UK and South Africa regional manager Paul Collett smiled as he ushered me around the car. Indeed. 707 designates the power that the fastest Aston Martin SUV yet puts out in pferd stark. That measure of course being a slightly mangier German measure of horsepower.
Superb 707 HP Apex Predator AMG Biturbo V8
Let’s cut to the chase, DBX707 churns out 687 Yankee horses and 663 lb.-ft from its superb apex predator Mercedes-AMG biturbo petrol 4-litre petrol V8. 707 also has a few connotations — not least the Boeing that revolutionized air travel for once and for all, so it fits the bill. 707 is also a bit more than just an upgrade. It starts with those looks, which as you’d have gathered by now, are in part to help cool the monster. While simultaneously bringing slipperier aero and reduced drag.
That old Aston Martin grimace in far broader, it’s far chunkier up front. There are greater braking vents dotted along the car to help dissipate heat generated by those monster 16.5-inch front and 15.3” rear carbon-ceramic brake discs. They sit pride of place framed by splendidly oversized 23-inch wheels. This is one SUV that really needs a spoiler. Its F1-inspired double diffuser being a case in point as it frames four monsoon drain grade exhaust tips.
There are some changes inside. Like great looking bucket seats up front and all of it tanned in blue and beige with violent green trim in the sampler. 707 has all the infotainment, bells and whistles too. But old Stroll would be well advised to negotiate some prize next generation MBUX bits alongside those F1 power units, AMG V8s and drivelines in future. The current kit seems, well, last season.
DBX707 Underpinnings Fundamentally Retuned
Dig a bit and the active ride control, electronic differential, all-wheel drive and electronic stability control, as well as the steering and basic suspension architecture, are all fundamentally retuned. To deliver ‘the cornering agility, sporting feel and dynamic character of a true sportscar’. But the big news is still under the hood. 208 HP and 147 lb-.ft up on the original that many considered feeble, there will be none of that with the 707!
Such increases would be considered hottish as total output in a hatchback. They come courtesy of induction improvements and new ball-bearing turbochargers, among other tweaks. Aston promises 3.2 seconds to 60 mph. We hope to proof that when we strap our VBox to it soon. From there, 707 delivers devilish performance. It smashes 100 mph in 7.6 seconds. And slaughters the quarter mile in under 11 seconds at well over 125 mph en route to 193 mph.
Not bad for a 5-ton gas burning behemoth. Like the Empire, that strikes back in a claimed 16 mpg. So, who knows how much it will really get it you drive it feisty? Never mind, Aston Martin will however soon offset all that carbon and appease the bunny huggers with a plug-in hybrid DBX. But then if you are dropping five bar on a car, then what’s a few dollars more at the pumps, between friends?
DBX707 Is Now Without Doubt the Real Deal.
So, rest assured, not that there was anything ever wrong with it, but any reservations anyone ever had about the Aston Martin DBX being a bit feeble, are now forever exorcised in the 707. Yours in the `us for an MSRP $236,000, the Aston Martin DBX707 is now without doubt the real deal.
Photos: Aston Martin