2023 Aston Martin DB12 front 3q main

For over half a decade, Dan Heyman has written professionally about cars and car culture, specializing in luxury/performance vehicles, 4 x 4s and pickup trucks, with a micro city car or two thrown in for good measure. If he's not striking a spacebar, he's likely out photographing cars on the twists and turns of the Coast Mountain roads outside his hometown of Vancouver, BC, or cutting a line on a racetrack.

The 2024 Aston Martin DB12 Super Tourer is the latest entrant into the long line of DB touring cars that Aston has built over the years, cars that were driven by the likes of Carroll Shelby, Rafael Nadal, Elle Macpherson and of course, James Bond.

That’s the obvious part.

Less obvious is the DB12’s “Super Tourer” nomenclature. Not just that but according to Aston, it’s the world’s first Super Tourer. We’ve heard about “grand tourers” or “grand touring automobiles” before, and the DB12 fits the mold: long-hooded, big wheels, gutsy V8 power, 2 + 2 cabin, traditional trunk, and so on. It’s a body style that Aston has mastered over the decades – it’s celebrating its 110th anniversary this year – but it’s what’s under the hood and in the details that add the “super” to the formula.

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Take the brakes, for example; for the first time in a DB, they’ve fitted carbon ceramic items, and more than that, they’re standard. They’re shrouded by lightweight wheels wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport 5 S rubber, which is a first for a road car. They’ve also added a rear e-differential, variable traction control and have tweaked the suspension’s springs and Bilstein active dampers to give you the performance of a sports car. Think up to 1.1 g of lateral acceleration with the chassis compliance you need over long drives.

We’ll see how all that comes together on the spidery roads around France’s Côte d’Azur in a minute but for now, just look the thing. The hood is the perfect length, the cab just rearward enough to strike a perfectly balanced profile while the new wheels – measuring 21”, another DB first – are works of art themselves, finished to look as if milled from a single slab of whatever precious metal you can imagine.

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This being an Aston, appealing details abound; the instantly recognizable grille has been pulled wider but is thinner along the x-axis for a squatter look, the headlight housings feature a trifecta of LED DRL bulbs designed to line up with the tops of the side grilles, items that are available in carbon fibre or aluminum with an oh-so-perfect “Aston Martin” inscription. The roof can either be body-coloured or finished in exposed carbon fibre and the rear comes to a beautiful taper punctuated by thin wraparound taillights. A newly-designed Aston Martin logo – each one handcrafted by jewelers in Birmingham, UK – is the perfect cherry on top of an exquisite exterior.

Inside, the diamond-print leather seating is the first detail that meets the eye, while the generous offerings of mechanical buttons and dials as opposed to a touch surfaces are welcome. The flat-bottomed steering wheel is just the right size and now sprouts shift paddles, and the 15-speaker, 1,170-watt Bowers and Wilkins audio system would work in a three-row SUV, let alone a barely four-person sports car. Everything is placed within easy reach of the driver, including the 10.25” infotainment display which features an all-new OS with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The whole affair is an exercise in tight packaging; the way the drive mode selector takes the form of a bezel ‘round the glassy start button is smart, as is the toggle-like shifter that, while very Porsche-like, does well to reduce overall clutter.

<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-176783" src="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/IMG_0050.jpg" alt="2024 Aston Martin DB12" width="2000" height="1333" />

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The seating position is right on, just back enough so you know you’re in something special, with controls falling nicely to hand. It’s all good, but I was disappointed to find that the gauge cluster is now a digital display, meaning there are no ultra-elegant analogue dials that Astons are so well known for. You can choose from between two gauge styles, but unfortunately neither feature the counter-clockwise tachometer seen on the DB9 or One-77. That’s a shame, but this is a car that will make you forget about all that right quickly once you hit the road and open the taps.

Power from the twin-turbo V8 is rated at 671 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque, all sent to the rear wheels via an eight-speed automatic that features a shorter final drive than the outgoing DB11. It’s enough for a 0-100 km/h sprint of a ridiculous 3.6-seconds, a 12 per cent reduction over the DB11 and about the same as what you’d get from a bonafide hypercar not too long ago.

You will feel it, indeed – even in the new, relaxed “wet” drive mode, the DB12 surges forward like something with a big-hearted V8 slung out ahead of it should, in an almost effortless manner, but not so effortless that you get the feeling the car’s bored; redline is at 7,000 RPM after all. For those wondering about how much “Aston” is in the engine and how much “Mercedes-AMG”: the lump does come from the latter, but Aston chooses its own turbos, cams and compression rating.

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Activate either “Sport” or “Sport Plus” – as I did for most of my drive – and you’re rewarded with an incredibly sticky and predictable affair. It’s to the point you’re able to push harder and harder and have the car shrink around you as the pace quickens. It’s an almost eerie feeling, just how sorted the DB12 is through the bends that pepper the Route Napoleon and its surroundings; a new version of the smaller Vantage is on the way, and it will be very interesting to see how much tauter it could possibly feel than this.

Then you leave the B-roads and hit the highway, activate the more relaxed GT mode and the DB12 changes hats, rolling along in comfort as you would in a Bentley Continental GT. The DB12 may not be quite as cushy as the Bentley, but it’s far better looking and will surely be a rarer bird. It’s a stonking return to form for the DB series and with the new Vantage, the Valhalla, and possibly even a new DBS on the way – not to mention the success Aston is currently enjoying in top-tier motorsport -- it signals the start of an exciting new era for Aston, and what a start it is.
<h3>2024 Aston Martin DB12</h3>
BODY STYLE: Two-door performance coupe

DRIVE METHOD: front-engine/rear-wheel drive

ENGINE: 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8, 671 hp, 590 lb-ft of torque

FUEL ECONOMY CITY/HIGHWAY/COMBINED: N/A

TRANSMISSION: 8-speed automatic

Cargo Room: 262 Litres

Base MSRP: $281,800

WEBSITE: <a href="https://www.astonmartin.com/en-us/models/db12">Aston Martin DB12</a>

2024 Aston Martin DB12 First Drive Review

The New Aston Martin DB12_09

The Aston Martin DB12, the world’s first super tourer, will be powered by a Mercedes-sourced 4-litre bi-turbo V8 producing 670hp.

The term “grand touring” or any variation thereof has long been synonymous with the luxury, the panache, and the flare of a good, hearty drive from one country to another, possibly with a dropped top, probably at speed, likely in a European car. It denotes a sense of adventure that we can all get behind and has even inspired a racing classification – GT -- and a world-famous racing video game series – we’ll let you figure out which one. You’ve got 2.5 seconds.

It's a segment that Aston Martin has been playing in since, well, it first started over 100 years ago – Aston is celebrating its 110th anniversary in 2023 -- and has been well known for, ever since. Even as they dabbled in smaller performance coupes (even microcars), became Canadian (snicker) and went racing – both in their native GT class as well as the open-wheeled world of Formula 1 – whenever you thought Aston, you thought long hoods, rear-wheel drive and the Côte d’Azur. And James Bond.

Here’s the thing, though; it seems all those years of “GTing” has gotten to Aston and after a big influx of cash from Chinese conglomerate Geely, it was time to move on to something bigger and better. It was time to take grand touring to the next level: Super Touring.

<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-176291" src="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/The_New_Aston_Martin_DB12_01-scaled.jpg" alt="Aston Martin DB12" width="2560" height="1706" />

We’ve capitalized that term here because it’s one that Aston themselves has coined to define their latest supercar, the Aston Martin DB12, which they’re calling “the world’s first Super Tourer”.

Big words; one doesn’t just go about creating a vehicle segment lightly – unless you’re the Germans and have decided that “coupe” no longer means “two doors”, of course. So what is Aston doing to back it all up?

It has the looks, to be sure; the big copper-coloured wheels set against green paint are a delight, and the now signature way the front fender blends with the doors is expanded here, so as to not be outdone by the massive lower clip and grille. The bluey crystalized headlight bulbs also catch the eye, and the aggressive and pointy rear end brings it all together nicely.

Speaking of the Germans: a big part of what’s earned the DB12 the Super designation is German, and that’s its heart: a 4.0-litre biturbo V8 courtesy of the big-engine masters over at Mercedes-AMG. Here, it makes 670 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque, both figures that are up on what’s made by the Ferrari Roma, one of this latest DB’s closest competitors. It’s an upgraded version of what we’ve been enjoying in the DB11, stacked with larger turbos and better compression ratios. The result is a 3.5-second 0-97 km/h time and a top speed cresting 320 km/h.

<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-176293" src="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/The-New-Aston-Martin-DB12_07-scaled.jpg" alt="Aston Martin DB12" width="2560" height="1706" />

Of course to be truly “super”, one needs to keep that all in check – there are, after all, much less expensive and exotic vehicles that make quite a lot more power. The DB12 needs to be able to handle the twists and turns of a European coastal road just as easily as it can fling you forward down a de-restricted section of Autobahn.

In that light, the DB12 gets an electronically-controlled rear differential – Aston has dabbled here before, just never in a DB-branded car – which the company says can go from locked to open in the blink of an eye, helping get the meat of the bespoke Michelin Pilot Sport S tires down on to the sun-baked tarmac below in a much more manageable fashion. It should come as little surprise that the DB12 is stiffer than the outgoing DB11 and that active dampers are also in on the deal, modified in the DB12 to provide a greater dynamic range. Put simply, it can be softer or firmer when you want it to be, simply by tweaking the drive modes.

<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-176294" src="https://wordpress.wheels.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/The-New-Aston-Martin-DB12_06-scaled.jpg" alt="Aston Martin DB12" width="2560" height="1689" />

Inside, much attention has been paid to upgrading and modernizing the DB12’s interior as the DB11 suffered from a little bit too much old-school-cool in an era where digitize all the things was the name of the game, even in the world of super- and hypercars. Those issues were personified by the aging infotainment system, which Aston has upgraded for the DB12, providing a high-res touchscreen as well as support for wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, connected to an optional 15-speaker Bowers &amp; Wilkins Audio system.

It all points to Aston Martin taking a lesson or two in modern technology – some of which was probably provided by their F1 know-how – and looking to deliver a vehicle that can crush continents as those of its ilk always have, but to do so anchored firmly in this century and beyond. If you’re lucky enough to have the $300,000-plus on-hand it’s likely going to take to procure one of these, you’ll get the classic flavour you’ve always loved – rich leather, brawny V8, rear-wheel drive and fat rubber – but with a touch of what it takes to really do damage this day in age.

Of course, we will have to drive the new DB12 to see if the Super Tourer idea slants more to marketing jargon or does indeed bring a new dimension to the drive of this latest DB. Soon, we will have the chance to drive one on the very roads we spoke of earlier – you’ll want to check out our review. Watch this space.

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2024 Aston Martin DB12 First Drive Review

Aston Martin DB12 debuts as the world’s first ‘Super Tourer’