27 Sep, 2017 (All day)
We like the Aston Martin DB11. Who wouldn’t? Yet when we first drove the V12 last year it fell half a notch short of perfection. We couldn’t help but feel cabin quality wasn’t quite up to snuff for a luxurious £160,000 GT car.
Welcome, then, to the new, much improved V8-engined DB11. It costs £144,900 and comes with the same thundering 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 that also powers most modern Mercedes-AMG models. Here it’s been fettled to make it feel less AMG and more Aston Martin.
The V8 model gets a raft of styling changes inside, all of which are designed to improve the overall quality. Most of these do precisely that, even if the black air vents look similar to those in a £20k Mercedes A-Class. The changes are a big step forward, but they won’t worry Bentley just yet.
Beneath the skin there are some nifty tweaks to the suspension to make the V8 model feel more agile, sharper and more sporting than the V12. The rear suspension has been redesigned to make it 10 per cent stiffer, while the power-steering is heavier, again to provide more feel.
The engine weighs almost 100kg less than the 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12, and overall the V8 version is 115kg lighter than its big brother. This helps explain why it’s 15 per cent more efficient and, claim Aston’s engineers, around seven to eight miles per gallon more economical in normal driving.
Aston has also redesigned the action of the shift paddles for the eight-speed ZF gearbox. Physical movement of the paddles has been reduced by 50 per cent, and the result is a much snappier shift action.
From behind the wheel, there are three main aspects that distinguish the V8 as the superior DB11, despite it being the cheaper of the two models. One; the way it sounds. Two; the increased agility. And three; the extra speed it can carry as a result.
Aston won’t admit as much publicly, but behind closed doors it won’t argue with anyone who suggests that the V8 is not simply the sweeter of the two DB11s to drive, but also the faster of the two in real-world conditions – wet or dry.
True, on paper the V8’s numbers aren’t as bombastic as those of the V12; it takes four seconds to cover 0-62mph – versus the more expensive model’s 3.9 seconds – while its 187mph top speed is also a touch down on the V12’s 200mph benchmark. Thank the fact the V8 has ‘just’ 503bhp, against the faster car’s 600bhp, for those figures.
But when it comes to torque, and even more crucially, torque to weight, the 675Nm V8 is the more potent of the two. And that’s why it’s quicker where it really counts. Brake pedal feel and travel have also been retuned, with the result being that the V8’s left pedal feels much sweeter underfoot, even under the lightest of applications. The V8’s lightweight body also helps it stop in shorter distances.
Still, it’s the chassis mods that make the biggest difference of all. Partly because it is so much lighter, but also because it’s that much stiffer at the back. This ensures the nose feels much more incisive, making the V8 more of a weapon on the road.
It turns with real precision, has a lovely balance when loaded up mid-corner, and provides terrific body control no matter which of the three modes its electronic dampers are set to (GT, Sport or Sport +).
Complaints? It still feels like a big, slightly intimidating car to drive, especially on some of the narrower Spanish roads on which we tried it. The A-pillars are also unusually wide when compared with some rivals, intruding on front three-quarter visibility too much.
- Model: Aston Martin DB11 4.0 V8
- Price: £144,900
- Engine: 4.0-litre turbo V8 petrol
- Power/torque: 503bhp/675Nm
- Transmission: Eight-speed automatic, rear-wheel drive
- 0-62mph: 4.0 seconds
- Top speed: 187mph
- Economy/CO2: 28.5mpg/230g/km
- On sale: Now
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