2001 Aston Martin Db7 Vantage V12 W/ 19,400 Miles!! Beautiful!! on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2022 Aston Martin DBX Review | 2 exceptional cars for the price of 2

PORTLAND, ORE. – It is so easy to greet the Aston Martin DBX with a great big eye roll. Here we go again, yet another purveyor of beautiful sporting machines selling out to produce a bloated SUV that's utterly anathema to all the cars that came before. Yet another cynical brand exercise where some classic styling cues and a desirable badge are applied to someone else's SUV platform. And yet another SUV that's hopelessly compromised by those same brand affectations. Worse, this is Aston Martin. If you take away the DB5-derived body style and GT driving experience, what exactly are you left with? Aren't those the best reasons to buy one instead of a Porsche? In other words, the arrival of a $222,000 Aston Martin wasn't necessarily greeted by giddy clapping and the score of "Goldfinger" turned up to 11. Skepticism would be the word. Yet, immediately, it started to erode. It may be an SUV and certainly bloated compared to a Vantage, but it sure is pretty. And not just because of that trademark grille and Vantage-like ducktail. It's all about the proportions. The pronounced body-length shoulder line and inboard fastback greenhouse may evoke Aston's cars, but it also avoids the tall, slab-like profile of a Porsche Cayenne and most other SUVs. The wheels are pushed to the corners, elongating the body and creating the sort of long hood, short deck proportions one expects from a two-door GT and definitely not an SUV. Even without the styling cues, the thing looks like an Aston Martin. The DBX is also not on "someone else's SUV platform," it was created by Aston Martin for Aston Martin. So unlike the Bentley Bentayga, Lamborghini Urus and earlier Cayennes, Aston Martin didn't need to contend with the sort of existing, unchangeable hard points that lead to awkward proportions. This can also have practical benefits. Take that elongated wheelbase, for example, which is 2.6 inches longer than the Bentayga's despite the entire DBX being 3.4 inches shorter. Much like the similarly from-scratch Jaguar F-Pace, I suspect Aston Martin made the DBX wheelbase so long for the aforementioned aesthetic reasons and because, unshackled by an existing platform, it could. Yet, like the F-Pace, the happy side effect to a long wheelbase is extra interior space. In the DBX, the amount of extra space is genuinely surprising. We fit an enormous Britax rear-facing child seat in the rear and had the front passenger seat pushed far enough back for someone 6-foot-3 to comfortably sprawl out.

Aston Martin find unique way to recycle scraps of leather

Ever wonder what happens to the scraps of leather left over after skilled craftsmen are done upholstering the interior of a luxury automobile? There's a lot of hide left over, as we've seen first-hand from visiting the upholstery workshops at various factories, but much of the waste is made up of tiny cutoffs. Some of those pieces might be used for repair kits, some scraps for smaller pieces of merchandise, while others might be sold to nearby craftsmen. Aston Martin found a different use for some of its leftovers. The British automaker put down a canvas in the VIP atrium at its headquarters in Gaydon, UK, and equipped a team of artisans with a whole pile of leather samples. What they did with it is perhaps the most compelling example of recycling we've seen to date. The end result, as you can see from this latest video, is an artistic representation of the Vanquish, made entirely out of leather – as if the interior of the luxurious sports car isn't already clad in enough of the stuff. Of course, it doesn't have the Vanquish's 6.0-liter V12 and its 568 horsepower, so unlike most Astons, it won't be going anywhere in a hurry. Perhaps it could be hung in the upholstery workshop for future workers to admire. Related Video:

Aston Martin previews new 5.2-liter twin-turbo V12

Depicted in the teaser video above is Aston Martin's new 5.2-liter twin-turbocharged V12. Beyond those basic specifications, Aston isn't saying much about this new engine or what it will power, but it does promise that the new engine will debut sometime this year. The bulk of Aston Martin's current lineup – basically everything but the V8 Vantage – is powered by a 6.0-liter V12 that dates back to the DB7 Vantage that debuted in 1999. Only where that model produced 420 horsepower, the latest version in the Vantage GT12 produces nearly 600 hp. Which just goes to show how much Aston has been able to do with the aging engine, but everything has its limits, and all good things must come to an end. While the switch to forced induction may mean a less revvy engine, it ought to deliver more torque (as well as lower emissions and fuel consumption). Aston has a new partnership with Mercedes-AMG that is slated to supply the British automaker with a twin-turbo V8. But the German outfit has considerable expertise with twin-turbo V12s as well. The production facility that recently relocated from Affalterbach to Mannheim produces the 6.0-liter twin-turbo V12 that motivates Mercedes' own SL65 roadster, G65 sport-ute, and S65 sedan, coupe, and cabrio, as well as the version for the Pagani Huayra.