What's the news?
Today, on its stand at the Geneva Motor Show, Aston Martin has finally, fully revealed its new DB11 sports car. It's the first car of the company's 'Second Century' plan, previewing a daring new design direction for the brand that incorporates hidden aerodynamic elements. It's powered by a brand new V12 engine developed internally and would cost well over €300,000 to import into Ireland.
Exterior
The styling of the new DB11 should silence critics of Aston Martin's gentle design evolution over the past decade, as it manages to keep brand identifiers while bringing a sharper language to the table. The rear end in particular is a radical departure for Aston, having more in common with Bond's DB10 than any other DB model before. The LED lights at the rear also give the DB11 a highly unique signature.
Beyond that, what interests us most about the DB11's exterior is its new aerodynamics package. Up front, there are vents within the side strakes aft of the wheels to release high pressure air within the wheelarches, which Aston calls the 'Curlicues'. This reduces lift of the nose at speed - to the benefit of front-end grip and stability. Complementing this at the back is the 'AeroBlade', replacing the traditional rear spoiler. Browse through the images in the gallery and look for discreet air intakes at the base of the C-pillars. Air flows in there, through ducts in the body and out through the long slit in the rear deck.
Interior
If you think the exterior of the DB11 is a departure from what has gone before, just wait until you see the brand new cabin. While Aston Martin now works with Daimler on things like infotainment, there don't appear to be any obvious shared buttons or switches, but the interface is notably clean in appearance and thoroughly modern. The main instrumentation is rendered on a new 12-inch full-colour TFT LCD display, while infotainment is viewed on an eight-inch screen at the top of the centre console. This is controlled via a rotary dial as standard or a touchpad optionally.
Just like the Aston DB9 before it, the DB11 is a 2+2 coupe, so there are rear seats, and Aston Martin claims that they're far more spacious than before, while the door openings themselves are larger to make getting in and out easier. The rear seats even have Isofix mountings for child seats, while boot space is 270 litres. Most buyers are likely to be more interested in the leather upholstery. Monotone Strathmore leather upholstery with Alcantara headlining is standard, along with heated and electrically adjusted front seats. But the sky is the limit when it comes to customisation. Optional trim inlays can be various woods and carbon finishes; there are 'Jewellery' packs and six seatbelt colours; a 1,000-watt Bang & Olufsen BeoSound sound system; and various textures to apply to the leather, including Celestial perforation, Nexus quilting and Brogue detailing. And we've barely scratched the surface.
Mechanicals
The DB11 uses a new twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine, developed by Aston Martin. It's a 5.2-litre unit producing 608hp and 700Nm of torque, enabling the DB11 hit 100km/h in just 3.9 seconds from rest, on the way to a 320km/h top speed. That makes it the most powerful and most accelerative DB model Aston has yet built. It's mated with an eight-speed ZF automatic gearbox, sending power to the rear wheels via a limited slip differential.
Braking is taken care of by 400x36mm two-piece ventilated steel discs up front, grabbed by six-piston callipers, with 360x32mm discs at the back and four-piston callipers. The 10-spoke 20-inch alloys are shod in Bridgestone S007 tyres, measuring 255/40 ZR20 up front and 295/35 ZR20 at the back. Holding these in place at the front is an independent double wishbone set-up with coil springs, an anti-roll bar and adaptive dampers (as part of the three-mode Adaptive Damping System - ADS). At the rear it's the same, though a multi-link design. The speed-sensitive steering has electric assistance.
Anything else?
The DB11 comes as standard with three driver-selectable modes, GT, Sport and Sport Plus. These affect the settings of the adaptive damping, torque vectoring by braking, power steering, automatic gearbox and throttle response.
But enough talk, take a look at the video below to see the DB11 in all its glory.
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