ASTON MARTIN DB11

By Motoring Editor, Maarten Hoffmann

It’s a sad but true fact that Aston Martin has gone bankrupt seven times in its history. However, the company’s current CEO, Andy Palmer, has been absolutely committed to putting the marque on a firm financial footing, and his efforts thankfully seem to be paying off.

We say ‘thankfully’ because Aston Martin is an important brand. It makes cars that are as beautiful as supermodels, builds them in the UK, and even King Charles is a fully paid-up fan. It also helps that Canadian billionaire and investor Lawrence Stroll led a consortium to gain a 25% stake in the company.

This Aston is intended to be a lot more than just a showpiece that looks good parked up at the kerbside, though it’s claimed to deliver a driving experience and quality feel that’s worthy of its price.

Two engines are available – a twinturbocharged 5.2-litre V12 petrol, and a similarly boosted 4.0-litre V8. The latter comes from Mercedes’ tuning offshoot AMG, with which Aston Martin has a fruitful technical alliance. And it kicks off an exciting new phase in the Aston story with all manner of hyper cars, mid-engined supercars, crossovers, and electrified Lagondas on the horizon, – not to mention a return to the top tier of Le Mans.

The DB11 launched as a coupé but is now also offered as a Volante soft-top. Neither feel as scalpel-sharp as some rivals at the same £150,000 ballpark –Audi R8s, Porsche 911s, McLaren 570s – but the DB11 does straddle the ground between performance cars like those and softly-damped GTs from Bentley and Merc.

What the DB11 is like to drive depends entirely on which year it was built. Early V12s didn’t feel especially sporty, rolling too much for you to place them with any accuracy in a tight corner, and certainly focusing more on long-distance comfort than short-term adrenaline spikes. But the tweaks for the V8 version launched in 2017 – which the AMR then borrowed in 2018 – sorted it out just nicely.

The V8 is vehemently the sporty one, not least because it is 115kg lighter. While its 503bhp engine gives well over 100bhp to the V12 – and the top speed is 21mph lower – it feels more boisterous and keener, and will actually be the quicker car in the real world simply because it compels you to drive it harder.

It turns in quicker, is keener to bring its rear axle into action and, in short, is a