Who would want to go up against the Purosangue? Aston Martin went where others feared to tread
Twin test
Ferrari has created something unique then. It also tells us it’s in a class of one and has no rivals. And then says we can have one for a few days to group test it. Against what, exactly? Ferrari has thought of that and very considerately supplied us with a list of cars it perceives as rivals and that we are ‘permitted’ to test it against: Lamborghini Urus, Rolls-Royce Cullinan, Aston Martin DBX707 and Bentley Bentayga. The only rival I’m really interested in is the Urus. Same sporting philosophy and Italian aggression. Lamborghini refuses to supply a car – the price difference means they’re not rivals, apparently. How about the Rolls? It’s not sporting, but it’s the same money and also has rear-opening doors. Rolls declines.
So here’s the snag. Ferrari doesn’t want us to test it against cars it doesn’t believe are rivals, and those that it does declare as rivals don’t want to get involved. Now, this never stops TG, we could have borrowed cars from owners or dealers, we could have thrown in a peskily talented Porsche Cayenne. But we’ve driven them all, so we can talk about them.
But first, let’s have a look at the car we do have here, Aston Martin’s DBX707. It’s a talented bruiser, but definitely from the school of ‘practical first, sporty second’. It’s a fairly generic, if handsome, shape. It’s a five seater with a big boot, which gives it a size advantage over the Purosangue, but I reckon these cars are about driving first, not bettering a Discovery. The DBX707 is every
bit as fast, and pretty much as charismatic as the Ferrari – the AMG-sourced twin-turbo V8 belts out a rocking soundtrack and hits just as hard.
Where the Ferrari has the lead – not only over the Aston, but over everything in this class – is in its road manners and sophistication. The chassis is stiffer and that gives the suspension a better platform to work from. It not only rides more smoothly than the Aston, it’s more refined too. It’s also leagues better than an Urus, which is pretty choppy.
Across Salisbury Plain the Purosangue felt more tied down, accurate and satisfying. There’s a charm to the Aston’s looser dynamics – once it starts sliding at the back it doesn’t really want to stop – but it’s woollier around the edges, there’s a looseness to its responses that the tightly controlled Ferrari punishes. The Purosangue’s sole
