Jeremy Clarkson Reviews Aston Martin’s DB11
Top Gear Car Guru Jeremy Clarkson Is a Hero to Many Auto Enthusiasts. So, when He Gets His Hands on a New Aston Martin DB11, We Listen
Never mind that his on-air personality has been a bit naff for a decade, and that his off-air personality seems worse. The great Jeremy Clarkson can do no wrong. We don’t exactly love the guy, and his reviews often ring hollow. However, the rare moments when the Top Gear star genuinely likes a car he’s driven, he manages to paint the picture of its driving character quite well.
Spoiler Alert: It’s Flawed, but Beautiful
The exterior styling is the next evolutionary step in the Aston Martin design language. The DB9 generation of Aston featured a refined, muscular styling, as if the car was wearing a well-tailored suit. This DB11 takes that suit to the ironing board, putting creases where there were none previously. The result is stunning.
The DB11 is a beautiful car that suffers from a woefully bad interior, but perhaps it’s just this one. Not every car will be fitted with the brogue seat stitching, but the fact that its even an option makes us weep. On this, it would seem, Clarkson and we agree as he states: “The door linings in my test car looked like those polished marble kitchen tops that have got too many chintzy bits in them, and the steering wheel was square. Who thought that was a good idea?” It’s really not a great interior, but now that all of the electric bits in the interior are taken care of by Mercedes-Benz, at least they work (like the sat nav and the “Comand” infotainment setup). So, choose your interior trimmings with dignity in mind.
As to how the car drives when pushed, it is apparently as good as promised. The chassis was designed by a former Lotus engineer and somehow manages to perform better than any Aston that came before. It does this while simultaneously managing to be a more comfortable Grand Touring machine than any of its predecessors. To get a full sense of how much “Jezza” enjoyed his time in the DB11, you can read his full review in The Sunday Times.