Aston Martin DBX S: Outstanding Performance, Uninspired Aesthetics

About a decade ago, there was an Aston Martin executive who would politely tell anyone who would listen that the British automaker wasn’t going to make any kind of SUV. “It’s just not in our DNA,” he said, 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 was just the first luxury SUV to cement its place in the market. As we move deeper into the 21st Century, small SUVs and crossovers are taking over many levels of the automotive business. Company after company has seen crossovers outbid station wagons and sedans as they seek the top selling spot in a largely established market.

Ultimately, the small SUV or crossover market was too successful for any automaker to ignore—even industry giants like Gaydon, the UK’s Aston Martin. The DBX S is the company’s latest entry into the SUV space. The original DBX, “an SUV with the soul of a supercar,” was launched in 2020. That’s two years behind Lamborghini’s Urus rival, and three years ahead of the Ferrari Purosangue. With all competitors well established in showrooms, the DBX S updates the concept’s engineering and styling for 2026.

Building on the previous iteration of the SUV ($300,000 DBX707 that debuted in 2022 and is still available), the $350,000 DBX S sticks with a V8 engine and puts the 2026’s engineering to use a few extra horsepower up to 717 for a 3-second dos0V. Because the limits are for ordinary people, not Aston Martin buyers, the official top speed of the DBX S is 193 mph.

The automatic transmission with sport shifters uses a wet clutch to make automatic shifts that are almost imperceptible when the driver’s toe moves down. For non-employed people, a wet clutch works in the same way as a dry clutch, but with the use of lubricating oil. Thanks to very smart men and women with serious engineering degrees, the wet clutch enables quick and smooth shifting without the oil that causes the parts to malfunction.

The DBX S has all-wheel drive, although the thought of taking the refined car off-road seems less than gracious. A three-chamber air suspension with electrically adjustable dampers provides the combination of comfort and road sensitivity that Aston Martin’s handle demands, and high-quality Brembo carbon ceramic brakes stop it all.

Regardless of the brand, the engineers and designers of these high-performance SUVs faced the same aesthetic challenge. Namely, that it’s hard to make a crossover as stylish and attractive as its coupe or racer cousins. By the nature of their size, even the most advanced (and expensive) SUVs have a box that’s too small, too big or too disproportionate front to back to look smooth or creative like a mid-engine speed. Most crossovers look like bloated hatchbacks, as if someone put a helium tube up the rear bumper of a small car and enlarged its body (and ego). In fact, that’s exactly what most crossovers and small SUVs are: hatchbacks that have grown up in their unusual vehicle class.

The Aston Martin DBX S manages to retain strong visual echoes of other cars in its lineup. A shiny, detailed badge fit for a jeweler’s hand sits atop a familiar, sharp grille. Cresting lines from the hood across the side panels and doors to wide areas, giving the machine a forward-looking, sporty body. But the tall passenger cabin smacks in the middle and the design narrows it down a bit. There is no avoiding that, as that is what the automotive sector wants. Aston Martin at least puts that large overhead compartment to decent use with more than 22 square feet of cargo space—large enough for a couple of golf bags.

The interior applications room for five passengers, but (like all Aston Martin designs) efforts to stay compact, smooth and aerodynamic to squeeze the inches out of that optimistic test. Even four passengers can make the rear tables feel a little cozy. Otherwise, the cockpit offers the kind of lightly embossed leather seats more suited to good touring than racing. The cockpit keeps all the important controls within the pilot’s view, while the in-dash display handles infotainment features more efficiently than on the DBX707.

The driving experience belies its SUV identity, with agility mixed with straight-line speed and low balance and confident stability in turns. The engine note is unique to the Aston. Not as earthy and loud as a Bentley or as hyper and feline as a Ferrari, this UK rival sounds aggressive, but sophisticated – it’s quiet until another car gets in its way. The DBX S enters Aston Martin’s line-up in earnest as its largest and most GT-focused model. Time will tell if it will also rise to the top of the sales charts, as crossovers and SUVs are almost everywhere.

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