About a decade ago, there was an Aston Martin executive who would politely tell anyone who’d listen that the British supercar builder would never make any sort of SUV. “It’s just not in our DNA,” he would say, referring to the automaker’s decades-long history of building world-famous coupes and collectible hypercars.
This was back in the 2000s, when the Porsche Cayenne had just become the first high-end performance SUV to solidify its place in the market. As we marched deeper into the 21st Century, small SUVs and crossovers took over most levels of the car business. Company after company saw crossovers push out station wagons and sedans while claiming the top sales spot for many long-established makes.
Eventually, the small SUV or crossover market became too successful for any automaker to ignore—even ones at the top of the industry like Gaydon, U.K.’s Aston Martin. The DBX S is that company’s latest venture into the SUV space. The original DBX, an “SUV with the soul of a supercar,” launched in 2020. That’s two years after rival Lamborghini’s Urus, and three years before the Ferrari Purosangue. With all the contestants now well established in showrooms, the DBX S updates the concept’s engineering and styling for 2026.
Building off the previous iteration of the SUV (the $300,000 DBX707 that debuted in 2022 and remains available), the $350,000 DBX S sticks with a V8 engine and puts 2026 engineering to use to squeeze out a few more horsepower up to 717 for an SUV that’ll do 0-60 mph in 3.1 seconds. Because limiters are for commoners, not Aston Martin’s buyers, the DBX S official top speed is 193 mph.
A nine-speed automatic transmission with sport shifters uses a wet clutch to make the automated gear shifts almost imperceptible when the driver’s toe pokes the floor. For the uninitiated, a wet clutch operates the same as a dry clutch, but with the application of lubricating oil. Thanks to some very clever men and women with very serious mechanical engineering degrees, the wet clutch enables quicker, smoother performance shifting without that oil causing the pieces to slide into a malfunction.
The DBX S has all-wheel drive, though the thought of off-roading such a refined vehicle seems less than kind. Three-chamber air suspension with electronic variable dampers provides a blend of comfort and road sensitivity that an Aston Martin’s handling demands, and top-of-the-line Brembo carbon ceramic brakes bring it all to a stop.
Regardless of the branding, engineers and designers of these high-performance SUVs face the same aesthetic challenge. Namely, that it’s difficult to make a crossover as stylish and eye-catching as its coupe or racing-inspired supercar cousins. By nature of their dimensions, even the most advanced (and expensive) SUVs are a little too boxy, bulky or imbalanced front to back to look as smooth or artistic as a mid-engine speedster. Most crossovers resemble bloated hatchbacks, as though someone put a helium hose up a sporty little car’s rear bumper and inflated its bodywork (and ego). In fact, that’s what most crossovers and smaller SUVs truly are: enlarged hatchbacks in their own strange automotive class.
The Aston Martin DBX S manages to retain strong visual echoes of other vehicles in its product line. A shining, detailed badge worthy of a jeweler’s hand sits atop the familiar wide, tapered grille. Cresting lines run from the hood across the side panels and doors to wide haunches, giving the machine a front-leaning, sporty physique. But the elevated passenger cabin smack in the middle of the design clunks it all up a bit. There’s no avoiding that, as it’s what the vehicle class calls for. Aston Martin at least puts that bulky top half to decent use with more than 22 square feet of cargo space—large enough for a couple of golf bags.
The interior claims room for five passengers, but (as with all Aston Martin designs) efforts to remain compact, sleek and aerodynamic squeeze inches out of that optimistic appraisal. Even four passengers might make the rear stalls feel a little snug. Otherwise, the cockpit offers the kind of mildly contoured leather seats more accustomed to grand touring than racing. The driving position keeps all the essential controls in a fighter pilot’s view, while the in-dash display handles the infotainment features more efficiently than in the DBX707.
The driving experience belies its SUV identity, blending quickness and straight-line speed with grounded balance and confident stability in turns. The engine note is unique to an Aston. Not as earthy and rumbling as a Bentley or hyper and feline as a Ferrari, this U.K. rival sounds aggressive, yet sophisticated—speaking softly until another car gets in its way. The DBX S fits into the Aston Martin line loyally as its largest and most GT-focused build. Time will tell if it, too, will rise to the top of the sales charts, as crossovers and SUVs have almost everywhere else.
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John Scott Lewinski
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