Extremely-high-performance SUVs are a bit of absurd, however laborious to not love.
An SUV, in any case, is designed to maximise house and floor clearance. Designers usually don’t care a lot if an SUV is heavy, so long as it could actually carry a lot of individuals and stuff over slippery floor.
Excessive-performance vehicles are designed to maximise pace and grip, features that favor small and low-to-the-ground automobiles. Weight is pace’s enemy.
But, one distinctive class of vehicles combines the 2, as if the concepts don’t contradict each other.
Aston Martin’s low-calorie dessert, the DBX, is likely one of the greatest. Lovely and ultra-luxe, it allows you to tow a ship from a Bridge of Weir leather-based seat, or take a spirited drive down a winding street such as you’re in a roadster… albeit in a automotive that weighs as a lot as two of them.
Laborious to enhance on that. However Aston Martin is making an attempt.
For 2026, Aston will introduce a good higher-performance mannequin of its flagship SUV, the DBX S.
The corporate hasn’t mentioned pricing. However that’s customary apply for Aston Martin. To study the worth of any of its vehicles, you need to contact a dealership. Our data present the bottom 2025 DBX beginning at $252,086 after supply.
717 HP, Lighter Weight
“DBX S continues an extended custom of Aston Martin’s utilising the ‘S’ suffix to indicate a particular, high-performance model of an current mannequin,” the corporate explains.
We’ll name it DBExcess. Energy is cranked as much as 717 horsepower from a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 engine. A 9-speed wet-clutch transmission eliminates the necessity for a torque converter. It remaps shift factors for every drive mode. The quickest will leap from zero to 62 mph in 3.3 seconds, Aston says.
The all-wheel-drive (AWD) system can ship 100% of the ability to the entrance or rear wheels, however retains a 50/50 break up underneath supreme circumstances.
Engineers eliminated weight all over the place they might, together with with a carbon fiber roof and an optionally available polycarbonate grille. Light-weight magnesium wheels might be optionally available. However the weight-savers might solely get up to now.
With each weight-reducing choice, the corporate says, the DBX S can weigh about 103 kilos lower than a base DBX. Let a center schooler within the passenger’s seat, and also you undo all their laborious work.
Aston Martin says the automotive rolls simply 1.5 levels “even proper on the restrict” because of recalibrated air springs and digital dampers. Engineers additionally tightened the steering ratio by 4%.
The DBX S will look barely totally different than a regular DBX because of a novel grille, a reshaped rear bumper and diffuser, and stacked exhausts. Inside, “The inside of DBX S shows a bespoke ‘S’ theme; probably the most notable characteristic being the distinctive herringbone design which comes as customary on the seats, however which can be prolonged to the headlining if the optionally available Carbon roof is chosen.”
A mix of semi-aniline leather-based and grippy Alcantara strains the seats, headliner, and middle console. However you’ll be able to go for 100% leather-based in the event you choose the look (and simpler cleansing).
