At first sight, Aston Martin and AMG are nothing alike.
The first makes elegant and sportive grand tourers, and the other is AMG...
They do share a trait however, both build cars which aren't focused on the biggest numbers.
Instead, it's all about the highest amount of pleasure. Cars which aren't measured by horsepower, lap times or lateral G-times,
but by the size of the smile they bring to a drivers face.
And now, those companies have put their heads together.
This DB11 V8 is their first product.
And it's quite the first product... This has to be to most impressive entry model I've ever driven.
Because that's what it is, an entry model.
The V12 might be the engine you'd expect in an Aston Martin, but it's not what the European Union expects from Aston Martin.
The European Union expects less emissions, and that's kind of hard if you've got a 5.2-litre V12 in the front.
So they've installed a smaller engine, this 4.0-litre V8 from AMG.
An engine which you might recognize from the C63 AMG, the E63 and the S63 AMG.
So do you miss anything? Well, yes. About 100 horsepower.
Also, a 12-cylinder has the advantage that whenever a piston moves, another piston absorbs the power.
That means there's a perfect balance. A V8 just doesn't have that, even when it's perfect.
But missing it? That's quite a big statement if I'm honest.
Even though you're down 25 Nm of torque, which also takes longer to reach,
because it reaches maximum torque at 2000 RPM, instead of 1500.
But you still have 675 Nm of torque, so that means in the middle range...
it's incredibly quick. It just keeps going.
It really is an enormous amount of torque, and if there's one manufacturer who knows how to make a turbocharged engine sound good,
it's AMG.
So no, you don't really miss it.
Besides, there even are advantages. It's 115 kg lighter.
This means that even if you're down on power, you're only 0,1 seconds slower to 100 km/h,
and you're still able to do 300 km/h. So it still has plenty of speed.
Also, Aston Martin states that because the engine is lighter, shorter and therefore further to the back,
so that's good for the weight distribution. That also means it now is sportier.
If that's correct or not, depends on the way you expect the car to be.
If you get in thinking it's a competitor the Porsche 911 Turbo, or the McLaren 570GT,
both of which start at around €230.000, you might be disappointed.
For that, it's a little too heavy.
Something you notice mostly when braking.
But the automatic gearbox as well. When it's in the least sporty modes,
it's a little too hard. It isn't as refined as the PDK-gearbox with double clutch.
And if you really drive it on the edge on tight roads and sharp hairpins... I mean it's 115 kg lighter but it still weighs 1760 kg.
And that's a lot. That's why this car is more at home in the most comfortable mode,
when it's driving on long and sloped roads. A lot of follow-throughs and some tunnels to enjoy the sound.
And that's when you notice how balanced the chassis is. The cadence it provides...
You start to enjoy the fact you can travel very quickly, but not too hard.
And that makes you forget there are some shortcomings, objectively speaking.
For example: the automatic gearbox sometimes just isn't up to speed.
Also, the 675 Nm of torque sometimes is too much, even for the 295 mm wide rear tires.
If you aren't paying attention if you're exiting a corner, it just might go sideways.
And when it comes to that, those numeric issues,
you can get better cars for this amount of money.
But do you remember what I said at the beginning of this video? That it doesn't matter how big the numbers are,
but that it's all about the big smile of the driver? Well I can tell,
this car will give you the biggest smile available.
I can also tell you that when you get out, and you look at it after driving it very quickly for 500 kilometres...
That smile will just keep on getting bigger...