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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 debuts electric, all-wheel-drive DBX concept

This is like no Aston Martin you've seen before. Oh, sure, it's a coupe, and a luxury grand tourer, at that. But what's so unique about this new DBX concept is what's underneath that slick sheetmetal. Not only is this Aston all-wheel drive, it uses an all-electric powertrain. Yep, it's an Aston EV. Aston Martin says the DBX was created to "defy conventional thinking about the luxury GT segment," with CEO Andy Palmer saying, "The DBX Concept is a challenge to the existing status quo in the high luxury GT segment. It envisages a world, perhaps a world not too far away, when luxury GT travel is not only stylish and luxurious but also more practical, more family-friendly and more environmentally responsible." Powertrain wise, this is a huge departure from what we currently associate with Aston Martin. It doesn't have an engine compartment, because it's powered by electric, in-wheel motors. It has drive-by-wire electric steering, carbon ceramic brakes (okay, that sounds like Aston), a KERS energy recovery system, and cameras in place of actual mirrors (because it's a concept, of course). Design-wise, the DBX has a sort of high-riding coupe look to it, which makes its all-wheel-drive setup clearly evident. It's not super swoopy or revolutionary in terms of its design, instead perhaps more evolutionary than anything. It almost looks like it could be headed for production, even though Palmer put the kibosh on that thinking, saying, "This is, clearly, not a production-ready sports GT car, but it is a piece of fresh, bold thinking about what Aston Martin GT customers around the world could request of us in the future." In any case, it's certainly a fascinating and surprising debut from the British automaker. Check it out, above, and read more details in the press blast, below. ASTON MARTIN DBX CONCEPT CHALLENGES CONVENTION - DBX Concept redefines the luxury GT segment for the 21st Century - World debut for idea of first all-electric, all-wheel drive, Aston Martin - Sophisticated design and innovative engineering to broaden appeal 3 March 2015, Gaydon: Aston Martin today challenges the nature of luxury GT travel in the 21st Century with the debut at the 85th Geneva International Motor Show of the innovative DBX Concept. Created to defy conventional thinking about the luxury GT segment, the DBX Concept widens the appeal of the iconic British luxury brand and reaches out to a more diverse global audience than ever before.

James Bond's ‘GoldenEye’ Aston Martin DB5 sells for $2.6 million

Last month, we wrote about the "GoldenEye" Aston Martin DB5 coming up for auction at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, and reported that it was estimated to bring in $1.6 million to $2.14 million. The Aston did a lot better, as it ended up selling for a comfortable $2.6 million. The cinematic Aston's buyer turned out to be the newly founded NYC spy museum Spyscape, which is already displaying the DB5 deal on its website. As a matter of fact, Spyscape will even be offering rides in the DB5 — not a lot of people have ridden in any DB5, let alone one that has been driven by James Bond. As Hemmings notes, the DB5 in question was found for filming by Aston Martin itself along with a couple other examples. After filming wrapped up, it was restored — reportedly to address damage accumulated during the shoot — and put on a promotional tour. Stirling Moss himself drove the car onstage at the Los Angeles Auto Show, when the spiritual successor for the DB5, the DB7, was presented. It's worth noting that the car sold in 2001 for $200,000, and that it was the most expensive piece of Bond-related stuff sold at the time. Last weekend's auction price puts a zero at the end of that price, and then some. Meanwhile, if you can't afford a $2.6 million James Bond car, how about the just-out Lego kit costing $149.99? Related Video: TV/Movies Aston Martin Auctions Luxury Classics aston martin db5 db5