My dealer, Aston Martin Orlando, had a new "preproduction" but close to production ( so they said) DBX and invited a few customers to spend some time driving it and giving some feed back...What else for my wife and I to do on an overcast Saturday morning with COVID going around...

Overall impression was "very good." Could be better... I hope they don't release it with some issues that I noted.

Overall exterior looks are outstanding...Long, sleek look to it... not a huge amount of scoops, vents, etc. This one had Carbon Fiber accents everywhere...Dealer indicated the CF options were over $40K...( it guess it makes an Aston an Aston...) The color on this one was awful, IMO, coupled with a dark navy blue interior...not sure who picked out the color combo... Good fit and finish, gaps were good... Front grill is huge but not near as bad as the Vantage.

Interior was very nice. However, the instrument cluster and dash had these little lips or wrinkles that did absolutely nothing and looked horrible. The cluster is something you look at all the time and to me would be a deal breaker if I had to look at it all the time. The steering wheel is positioned rather high (I'm 6-1) and If I were to position it in my preferred position, it would block the top half of the gages. Seats were very comfortable. My wife noticed the rear seats already had scratches and scuff marks on the very soft leather in the back seat ( only had less that 2,000 miles on it) SUVer's can be hard on the back seat with Kids, car seats, junk and pets so we will see how they fare...One item to note the "haptic" turn blinker was a total fail...It sounded and felt like a little english guy was left in the dash, banging on a tiny hammer, trying to get out...I is supposed to be "fixed" on the production model, The rear compartment does not seem as large as it should be. I think the interior is smaller than it appears it should be from the outside... The technology and infotainment is just like my wife's last gen Mercedes (AMG GLE) so its at least a generation or two behind MBZ latest set up...Push button controls for gearing...Need to move the "D" button closer to driver...you have to reach clear across the center stack to press "D". Also the touchpad controller has buttons on each side and the left side buttons are tilted away from the driver...not very driver focused

The drive was quite nice. Spent a good 30 minutes driving and I the sales guy was hanging on. Big big issue for me was hood rise on acceleration...On heavy quick accleration, you could see the hood rise very noticeably and could feel the front end get loose...This too would also be a deal breaker for me. On hard braking, the back seat seat belts would not release from pretensioning...My wife had to unbuckle and buckle back up

Braking was overall very good but didn't do enough of it to see any issues. The DBX is nimble and quick, as it should be...

Overall, This DBX was Priced at $270K...( with the recent discounted price)... The CF was $40K, the awful color was $9K and other items added up... Good news is that most driving aids and drivetrain all are standard and a good selection of paints and finishes are standard not so astronomical in cost. Dealer has 10 on order and most are under $200K

If you want one now, and want to choose all your own options ( I did use the AM configurator...But no prices)... It could be OK. For $180 to $200K IMO its not quite worth it. It would be more in the $120K range like my favorite vehicle AMG Wagon, which gets you all the room but great handling and performance and no compromises...

 

Love the color. No interior pics?

 

I haven't driven one yet, but I had the same thoughts about the price. To me it feels like modern SUVs are almost disposable and so easily dated by their tech, they're not enthusiast vehicles, and really aren't anything more than status symbols. I'd be just fine paying 120 for something like that, but not 200.

 

Same here! Would prefer bright finishers instead of the carbon though

 

That is awesome! I got an email from my local dealer and in the process of scheduling a time to test it out. Not sure how I feel about it, but I am a little excited to check it out. Great review.

 

Hood rise on acceleration? YGTBSM! Have you ever driven any performance vehicle? I want to see "hood rise" on acceleration. Please explain.

 

while I would generally agree with you for rear wheel drive (drag racers...) as I've driven some performance AWD vehicles and comparing a recent drive in my brother in laws Bentley Bentayga, most pull strong with little rise in the front...

it seems to me it was excessive... not what I want in a high performance SUV

 

I would love when that would happen driving my 1965 GTO

bad
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maybe some sort of damper setting was too cushy?

 

something was off...

 

While late to the game, I think it has some promise for AM for sales and improved balance sheet, etc. Time will tell.. over 100+ years, they have not been able to figure out the numbers part.

IMO, the majority if not all their cars are overpriced, especially relative to their competition and now the DBX is in this group. Low/mid 100's nicely optioned? Yes.. close to 200K not so much. What's interesting is that they have to discount so much that their MSRP really means nothing. Why not drive more traffic with lower MSRP's since you have to lower anyway?

 

$100,000 in OPTIONS! I can't believe we are in a world where a truck/suv/cuv/car/whatever can add $100,000 and 50% in total price in options. They charge $3000 to paint the brake calipers! Why would anyone hate money enough to do that to themselves?

https://www.automobilemag.com/news/2...bx-test-drive/