The DBS Superleggera is the third new Aston Martin in three years, it’s the third installment
in the company's bold successful new era and it’s based on the same platform as the Vantage
and the DB11, both of which you’ll know all about because you’ve watched our most
excellent videos on them and I dare say, you were good enough to like and subscribe when
you did. Is it just another Aston? Haven’t we seen this all before? Are we getting a
bit bored now, are we? Well no, no I’m not. I’m going to put this out there early doors,
I think this might be the best of the bunch, I think it might be the best car Aston Martin
makes, maybe. Superleggera means very light as students or Italian and Aston Martins
will already know, it’s more a generic tag than an accurate description in the DBS’
case because this is essentially a DB11 chassis with what attracts retuned suspension, more
power and 85% carbon fibre panels so it weighs just under 1700 kg dry. Like the smaller,
sportier vantage it has a transaxle gearbox, unlike it, it has rubber isolated rear suspension
and a conventional limited slip diff. And this is the main event, the headline act,
Aston’s 5.2 litre twin-turbocharged V12 engine producing 715bhp and some 660 something
ft-lb torque, Aston’s particularly chuffed about the torque part because it beats the
Ferrari 812 Superfast which is what they consider to be the cars only true rival by, well, quite
a lot! It makes this car capable of 60mph from rest in 3.3 seconds and 100mph in less
than 6.5. There are some cars the world just needs, aren’t there? Cars that we would
be a lesser place without. I don’t really care how many Jaguar E-paces or AMG GT4s
we have or don’t have, as long as VW still has a Golf, BMW still make a 3 series and
there’s still a Mercedes S-class and a Porsche 911.etc And I think the big, powerful, beautiful,
long striding, involving Aston Martin Super GT is one of those cars, I think the world
would be a poorer place without it and Aston is duty bound to make one. It feels very much
like the company's returning to home territory here, it’s doing what it does best and it’s
done it really well, you know, I really liked the Vanquish and the original Vanquish before
it and the DBS that came along in the middle but I don’t think Aston has ever combined
a sense of really effortless big speed and performance, perfectly judged handling dynamism
and cruising comfort and a really wonderful sense of old school driver appeal, it’s
never all of those three things quite as successfully as it has now. So what difference does 715
of her majesty's horsepower make to a big Aston? Well plenty but I guess the torque
is even more transformative so this car is something like 664 ft-lb of torque from 1800rpm
so it really pulls from low revs in high gears on the Autobahn and on the motorway in a way
that makes it feel really effortless and rapid without really trying. The engine’s great
at high rpm too, because it’s a big V12 it just revs all the way to 7000 and it feels
really elastic, it just keeps going and going as the needle rises. You can either drive
it like a lunatic or you can drive it quickly without really putting much effort in, or
you can just amble along very nicely, sounds quite good doesn’t it? You can hear the
sort of pops and bangs that they’ve engineered into the exhaust, make it sound a little bit
cheekier than the DB11, certainly does that. There are several driving modes and if you
want to turn it up noise wise, stick it in sport or sport+, if you want it to be quiet,
you can leave it in GT. So the dampers, the suspension has three modes as well, GT, Sport,
Sport+, I tend to prefer the cars riding compromise just left in GT because it’s a big Aston
and I love the way these cars have always felt compliant and friendly and a bit gentle
but also they go like stink and they’re great around corners, so involving, really
nicely balanced, really indulgent, flattering cars. This one, more so than any other I can
remember and it just steers so nicely, there’s a lovely weight, perfect pace match to it
in the steering, really clear sense of load through the front wheels and the rear axle
just feels progressive and so friendly when you start to really lean on it. When you move
it around a bit there’s a wonderful old school progressive feel to the rear axle and
the way it just gently picks up a bit of the drift angle or allows you to put on a bit
more if you fancy it. I think the rear axle on this car is a lot more predictable than
I found the Vantage to be, I think it’s all the better for having an old school mechanical
slippy diff because it’s more predictable and it just lets you have a little bit of
fun rather than loads and loads which is basically what the Vantage wants to do all the time,
it just wants massive, massive angles whereas this, it feels cultured, it feels friendly,
it feels really lovely. So what’s not to like? Well I think the cabin could be an issue
for one or two people, I think given that Aston gave the Vantage more of a unique cabin,
and that’s a £120,000 car, I think people might get in this £225,000 car and wonder
why it feels like a DB11 with some extra trim, I mean there’s nothing wrong with it, I
think the cabins fine but if you’re expecting something special, you’re not going to get
it. I also think if you take issue with Aston’s use of Mercedes switchgear in the DB11, obviously
you’re going to have the same problem here because it’s largely the same cabin. Otherwise,
it’s such a hard car to fault dynamically, the transmission maybe is clunky at times,
it’s this new 8-speed ZF transmission which is mounted at the back and it’s a new transmission
because the ones on the Vantage and DB11 won’t handle the torque on this car. It feels a
little bit rough and ready at times, some of the shifts are a bit clunky and slow, a
little bit, but listen, most of the time you drive it it’s absolutely fine but genuinely
in all other respects I can’t find fault with this car to drive, it feels as if Aston’s
really getting to grips now with all of the technology in its 21st century tool kit, you
know? This car handles really well, steers really well, rides really sweetly, the brake
pedal feels really good, you know it feels like it’s finished to a really high standard
dynamically. I’ve come over all Carly Simon because nobody does it better do they? Nobody
makes a big beautiful, enticing coupe like this anywhere near as well as Aston does,
it’s a car the world needs and I’d happily drive it until the wheels came off.