THE WORLD’S BEST WRITERS IN THE NEW CARS THAT MATTER
Target acquired
You know that idea everyone has of the perfect Aston Martin grand tourer? This might just be it
ASTON MARTIN DB12
The 300-mile test
NEW CAR MEETS REAL WORLD
T heflashbacks to some great drives I’ve enjoyed here in the past are becoming more and more frequent, like contractions getting closer together, telling me I must be near to where the Route Napoleon gets interesting. So it must be time to dial the DB12 into Sport mode. It’s a car built for roads like this; let’s see if it delivers.
There’s a little more noise from the exhaust, tighter damping and a different program for the ESC and diffe-rential. The gearbox also loses a very slight hesitation to kick down it shows in GT mode, and is holding gears for longer. The new ESC system is certainly earning its keep, utilising six-axis inertia measurement to predict and manage slippage more effectively. Its interventions are subtle and short in the dry, allowing you to make the most of the unrelenting acceleration.
A series of hairpins makes you appreciate the quickness of the rack and the predictability of the front end, with those messages from the front tyres continuing to flow. The feel from the powerful brakes gives you plenty of reas-surance as you glance at the valley below before returning your gaze to the road ahead. With exceptionally well con-trolled body movements and great balance, this is fun.
Yes, this sort of drive is what the DB12 was made for. And here it’s a really impressive car.
And then the rain happens. A brief but torrential shower saturates the surface and sends me reaching for Wet mode. A couple of miles pass at a reduced rate, but the DB12 can do more. Before long I’m in Sport mode again, revelling in the traction until we hit a particularly slippery tight uphill hairpin.
Given the modest throttle opening, I suspect an oil spill as the DB12’s rear starts to arc. It’s a well telegraphed move-ment that contains instructions on exactly how much op-posite lock to apply, easily catching the slide without the ESC needing to clumsily grab individual wheels. Nice.
If anything, this is even more impressive than the car’s pre-downpour performance. It might look like a DB11, but the changes across the car’s structure and mechanicals have had a transformative effect.
I have very vivid memories of the DB11, and they’re not good. With its ancient Mercedes infotainment system, dubious quality and scary wet-weather handling, it was a bit of a mess when it arrived.
So it was with some trepidation that earlier in the morning I’d nosed out of a particularly swanky hotel in
