Aston Martin DBX S: supercar performance for everyday life

Supercars with everyday practicality have exploded in popularity, and it's clear why. Purists will forever argue that if you want a supercar, you should buy a supercar, not a compromise. But there exists a sizable market of would-be supercar owners that manufacturers would be foolish to sideline. People who simply cannot justify the lack of usage that comes with a low-slung two seater. Everyday life just gets in the way too often: children, dogs, weather, luggage, narrow lanes and potholes, to name a few. The romance fades somewhat when that annual service comes around again and you've only added a couple hundred miles to the clock.

Which is where the new generation of “super-SUVs” comes in, and few embody the brief quite as well as Aston Martin.

This past weekend I took the DBX S shooting. Not only did it swallow all my kit with ease — guns, cartridges, boot bag, black tie, the works — but there was still enough room left over for a spaniel-sized dog bed. In a driveway full of Range Rovers, the Aston stood out a touch. It looked different, yes, but not absurd. Had someone shown up in a supercar (like our editor), they might have felt the urge to park out of sight, and rightly so. Perhaps its British heritage helped it blend in: because in the DBX S there was no such anxiety. Whether it's navigating cattle grids or pulling up outside Claridge's, this car works just as well in the countryside as it does in the city.

But the first question people often ask is not about the boot space or its persona — it’s usually about comfort. And the honest answer is it depends. No, the DBX S is not as comfortable as a typical SUV. You don't sink into the low profile bucket seats and it certainly doesn’t isolate you from the world in the way a Rolls-Royce Cullinan does. But yes, it is quite a lot more spacious and comfortable than the typical supercars, whose performance it rivals. For a 717 horsepower machine, it’s remarkably civilised, and a hole in the tarmac isn't going to give you whiplash.

The real question, of course, is what are you buying this car for? If you want long-distance armchair comfort, then this probably isn’t the one for you. Occasionally, its highly-strung, finely tuned mechanics can make it a little jerky in slow-moving traffic. But if you want something that can pick up your kids, or your mates, and a weekend’s worth of paraphernalia, while still getting that mind-bending driving experience, then this could be what you're looking for. The DBX S is not pretending to be an SUV, it’s a performance car that happens to have five seats and a boot, as well as an enhanced 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 with technology born out of the impending Valhalla supercar, which explains a lot.

Aston Martin has been producing “S” variants of its road cars for two decades now, ever since the Vanquish S debuted at the Paris Motor Show in 2004. An S model is Aston’s way of turning the dial up to a hundred, a sort of finely tuned exaggeration for those who want the ultimate wow factor. The DBX707 already delivered face-stretching performance, and for the most part it will remain the preferred, slightly more amenable option.

But the DBX S pushes things a step further. It might not sound like much, but a 47kg reduction in weight, particularly from upper-body components such as the roof, makes a considerable difference. Lowering the centre of gravity improves handling, braking and off-the-line response. It’s the kind of marginal gain you don’t appreciate on a spec sheet, but you absolutely feel from behind the wheel.

In the end, that is the point of the DBX S. It isn’t built for purists. It isn’t built for those in search of softness and silence, or the usual SUV clichés. It’s built for people who still want a supercar experience, but whose lives require something more flexible than a two-seat rocket ship. It is, in short, the modern compromise — except it hardly feels like a compromise at all.

Engine: 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 | Top speed: 193 mph | 0-60 mph: 3.1 seconds | Power: 717 hp | Transmission: nine-speed automatic | Drivetrain: all-wheel drive | Starting from: £210,000

For more information about the DBX S visit the website.

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