Aston Martin DBX review

As you might expect, there’s a herd’s-worth of cow in most DBXs, and it’s all very buttery and fragrant, with a wild palette of colour and material choices along with two brightware finishes to slather everywhere and much optional carbon fibre. If that’s not enough, then you can always go full bespoke and order through AM’s ‘Q’ Department to get that peppermint green-over-tan or red-over-more-red that you’ve always wanted (though you’d probably end up with the taste police chasing you with a pool ball in a sock).

Still, the front seats are particularly pretty, and the rest of the interior is well-suited to four people, with an occasional seat for five. General leg and headroom is very good – that’s down to the generous wheelbase and bespoke aluminium chassis – and although the doors are physically short, they open wide, which means the DBX is surprisingly accommodating and useful in tight parking spots, despite its overall width.

Talk to me about the load bay.

There’s a 638-litre boot (big enough for most uses), and proper full-split configurations for the rear seats, as well as another 81-litre cubby under the boot floor, meaning you can do a passable impersonation of a luxurious removals van if you have to. Plus, Aston has done away with a daft oversight: presumably to save money, early DBXs were only available with a removable towbar – i.e. you had to lie on your back under the car to fit it. Not very luxury SUV. You can now have a fully electric one and tow up to 2,700kg.

Ok enough nonsense, how’re things for the driver?

Whereas before this was DBX’s major let down, now the interior gets a good balance of tech and proper physical buttons. The central infotainment screen is no-longer borrowed from Mercedes – it’s Aston’s own 12.3-inch touchscreen – and it’s really rather good. It’s responsive and fairly simple to navigate with clear shortcuts. There’s wireless Apple CarPlay too, and there will be Android Auto but that’ll be wired and added soon via an over-the-air update. 

Underneath that central screen you get a much more sensible button layout than before, with a proper central drive selector as opposed to the awkward buttons on pre-facelift cars. The physical switches and knobs on the console now include controls for the climate, the air suspension, traction control, suspension stiffness, the exhaust valves and more. Great news. Oh, and there’s a central engine start button that’s surrounded by a rotary controller to cycle through drive modes. It’s all impressively simple. Take note, Ferrari.

The seating position is excellent and allows a commanding view of the road ahead, while the seats themselves are fine sculpted items and the storage under the centre console is usefully large. It feels genuinely Aston. The ‘base’ stereo is an 800-watt, 14-speaker system, but upgrading to the Bowers & Wilkins system brings a real aural joy for when you want to quieten down the exhaust.

Is there anything that doesn’t work?

Aston has updated the steering wheel too, and the little haptic pads that control the 10.25-inch digital dial display are exceptionally fiddly to use. Proper buttons here too please, Aston.