Currently reading: New 2022 Aston Martin DBX 707 is most powerful luxury SUV

New flagship model boosts DBX’s V8 to 697bhp, upgrades chassis, makes styling sportier

The new Aston Martin DBX 707 is a significantly uprated performance version of the DBX SUV, with a raft of mechanical upgrades that make it the most powerful luxury SUV from a mainstream manufacturer.

It’s the second addition to the DBX range, positioned as a highly potent and dynamically enhanced alternative to top-rung rivals including the Bentley Bentayga S, Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT and Range Rover Sport SVR.

Aston CEO Tobias Moers told Autocar that it could ultimately make up 60% of overall DBX sales. "I see the high potential in the marketplace, he said, citing an unnamed rival car "that makes a lot of sales a year" and is "far too comfortable” for DBX 707 buyers.

Chief among the changes is a reworking of the DBX’s Mercedes-AMG-derived twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 engine, from which Gaydon’s engineers have liberated an additional 155bhp and 148lb ft to take peak outputs to 697bhp (707PS) and 664lb ft. A bespoke tune and the introduction of ball-bearing turbochargers are among the most significant tweaks.

Efficiency isn’t hampered, however: the 707 scored 19.9mpg on the WLTP test.

This power hike, along with the use of a quicker-shifting and more responsive wet-clutch nine-speed automatic gearbox, takes the DBX 707’s 0-62mph time down from 4.5sec to 3.3sec. It therefore just edges its V12-engined Aston Martin DBS grand tourer sibling.

87 Aston martin dbx 707 autocar images static

In addition to superior pace, the 707 promises even greater dynamic appeal than the standard DBX, courtesy of uprated air suspension, a retuned power steering system, a strengthened limited-slip differential and carbon-ceramic brake discs (which shave 40.5kg off the unsprung weight).

“Too often this class of car is characterised by a thuggish obsession with brute force,” said Aston Martin engineering boss Drummond Jacoy. “With the DBX 707, our objective was to match immense performance with impeccable control and precision, combined with an authentic sporting character essential in every Aston Martin model.”

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The chassis upgrades promise flatter cornering, “tighter management” of vertical movement over bumps and reduced pitching and squatting under braking and acceleration.

Moers suggested that the DBX 707 could go after the SUV lap record at the Nurbürgring, currently held by the Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT with a time of 7mins 38.9secs. "We need the high-grip tyres I think, they took a Corsa on the car. We didn’t try a Corsa so far. 

"On the standard Pirelli 23in there is a pretty good grip level. We are not far off that record, but on the standard tyres. So for sure you can imagine we have an ambition. At the end of the day, it’s a tyre test.”

A bespoke styling package marks the 707 out from the standard DBX. A larger grille with a new double-vane mesh pattern is the most obvious differentiator, plus there are redesigned light clusters, air intakes and bumpers, black trim detailing, a new spoiler and larger quad exhausts.

This “overtly sporting” design theme continues in the cabin, where Sport Plus seats are equipped as standard and all the switchgear is finished in dark chrome.

89 Aston martin dbx 707 autocar images seats

Bespoke to the 707 is a new driving mode selector panel that gives “immediate fingertip control of key dynamic modes”, rather than making the driver negotiate sub-menus in the touchscreen.

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Notably, the manual gearbox mode now “holds manual like a sports car”, rather than defaulting back to automatic mode, plus there is a new active exhaust switch that opens the exhaust valves outside of Sport driving mode.

Prices start at £189,000, up from £161,200 for the standard DBX. Deliveries begin early in the second quarter.

Felix Page

Felix Page
Title: Deputy editor

Felix is Autocar's deputy editor, responsible for leading the brand's agenda-shaping coverage across all facets of the global automotive industry - both in print and online.

He has interviewed the most powerful and widely respected people in motoring, covered the reveals and launches of today's most important cars, and broken some of the biggest automotive stories of the last few years. 

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Comments
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405line 2 February 2022

If someone says somebody else is 6ft,3inches or 5ft,11inches and 15 stone  I know roughly how tall they are and how heavy they are in relation to their height if you say to me they are 1.?? metres and so many pounds or Kg it will take me a lot longer to work out their metrics, nothing wrong with the units per se or wheteher they are base 10, hexidecimal, or binary it only matters that the receiver has a ready reckoner for the metrics given.

jason_recliner 2 February 2022

Easily the best looking 4WD out there.  Saw one for the first time at the casino yesterday and it was the first 4WD to make me think tnat maybe my next car will be one of these and not a sedan.  Perfect styling, as we've come to expect from Reichmann.  Off topic, but Autocar, can you quite it with the bhp?  It's pintlerss, meaningless, nobody uses it except you.  Use kW and Nm like the rest of the world.  Or, if you insist on using superseded imperial figures, use hp so your figures line up with everybody else.  Enough already, it's obvious from your stupid power figures that you're out of touch.

martin_66 2 February 2022

AUTOCAR - ignore Jason_recliner.  I suspect I am not alone in wanting you to keep BHP and lbs/ft.  They are figures I, and most of your readership, understand.

PS, KW and NM are confusing, meaningles, European figures.

martin_66 2 February 2022

@jason_recliner

Autocar, Top Gear, Pistonheads, Auto Express.  Probably the four main car enthusiast websites in the UK.  ALL still use BHP.  Only Auto Express uses NM for torque instead of Lbs/Ft.  But then no self-respecting person actually reads Auto Express.

It would appear that it is you who is out of touch, NOT Autocar.

jason_recliner 2 February 2022

Yeah, alright.  Use hp if you are that backward (not sure how using SI units is confusing for you, they're base 10, we have 10 fingers, we think in 10s, but whatever) but why the stupid pointless bhp?  It's pretty obvious a Maclaren 720 has 720 hp, for example, a Maclarne 765 hp has 765 hp.  Surely I don't need to do the maths for you?

jason_recliner 2 February 2022

It feels a little bit inappropriate arguing with a senior citizen. But, on the other hand, you need to accept your irrelevance at some point - you had your moment but the world has moved on.  No offence.

martin_66 2 February 2022

Oooh....You cheeky young whippersnapper!! 

Yet another uncouth lout who is so poorly educated and immature he has to resort to personal insults.  Shame.

As I pointed out previously, ALL the main websites use BHP.  They always have done.  Get used to it and get over it.

jason_recliner 2 February 2022

No personal insults intended.  As I said, no offence.

What do we think the power rating of the DBX 707 is?

martin_66 2 February 2022

"No Offence" are the last words of someone who has just said something he knows to be offensive, as well you know.

I "think" the amount of power this car's engine produces is 694 BHP.  At least, that's what the journalist who wrote the article said it is. Go back and have a read of the article, you might learn something.

martin_66 2 February 2022
martin_66 wrote:

"No Offence" are the last words of someone who has just said something he knows to be offensive, as well you know.

I "think" the amount of power this car's engine produces is 694 BHP.  At least, that's what the journalist who wrote the article said it is. Go back and have a read of the article, you might learn something.

 

HA ha - 697 BHP.  Now even I can't read!!

jason_recliner 2 February 2022

What's offensive about being old?  It's inevitable.

Personally, I'd like Autocar to quote hp - if metric is too hard - so that we don't have this situation where Aston Martin references the 707 hp power figure, and Autocar has to do some kind of conversion.  What is the conversion aiding, does it make the power figure more 'real'?

martin_66 2 February 2022

Actually I think you have a point about HP.  I never quite got the point of the word "Brake" in front of it.

I'll give you that one sonny-boy.  Enjoy your youth, you'll be joining me in the old folks' home before you know it!!!

martin_66 2 February 2022

I don't need anybody to do any maths for me.  I am quite capable of understanding BHP figures when they are quoted.  You are the (only) one who seems to need the figures converted into PS and NM.  Perhaps you might want to think about going to school and getting an education?

MaxTorque 1 February 2022
At first glance this looks like an over-sized Fiesta.
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