2023 Aston Martin DBX 707 Review: Where SUV Truly Meets Sports Car

Sure, it’s hard to go wrong with 697 horses, but Aston’s super-SUV is more than just a hot rod.

aston martin dbx 707 in satin green paint

Published June 18, 2023

Updated June 18, 2023

This car review isn’t going the way you think it is. Unlike many an auto journalist or car enthusiast, I’m not opposed in the slightest to the idea of super-sport crossovers. After all, what sort of hypocrisy is it to valorize sport sedans and super-wagons, yet condemn crazy-quick SUVs? Sure, sport-utes might be heavier and ride higher, thus diluting performance versus those fast family cars … but that’s already what those cars are doing when compared to sports cars.

Viewed through such a lens, it’s hard not to be impressed with the Aston Martin DBX 707. While aviation nerds might assume the numbers in its name are a reference to the speedy four-engined airliner that launched the commercial jet age, it actually specifies the output in metric horsepower. (Which, admittedly, is a little odd, since Great Britain is one of the few places besides America that use Imperial horsepower … but given what Cadillac is doing, for example, it’s hard for us Yankees to pass judgement.)

Like every V8-powered Aston these days, its eight-pot is sourced from the wizards at Mercedes-AMG, but the Hogwarts grads in Gaydon have squeezed more power out of it than any Merc bar the now-discontinued AMG GT Black Series. Combined with a performance-tuned gearbox, active torque vectoring and all-wheel-drive, the DBX 707 has the sort of tech to make the most of its supercar power; it just so happens to be in a vehicle that’s as tall as an average human. Why should anyone hold that against it?

The DBX 707 is truly, maniacally quick

aston martin dbx 707 parked sideways as an amtrak acela train passes on a trestle in the distance

Pop quiz: Which goes faster, the DBX 707 in the foreground or the Amtrak Acela on the trestle behind it? If you guessed the bullet train, well, sorry to disappoint — while the Acela can hit 165 mph under ideal conditions, the Aston leaves it in the dust with a Vmax of 193 mph. That also makes it faster than key competitors like the Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT or Lamborghini Urus Performante, if only by an academic degree of a couple miles per hour.

Unless you live near the autobahn (or perhaps in some stretch of the great American West where the sheriff owes you poker money), however, that sort of speed is largely useless. More important to most buyers is acceleration, and that the DBX 707 also delivers in spades. Car and Driver‘s testing clocked the big Aston at running the 0-60-mph dash in 3.1 seconds on the way to a 11.5-second quarter mile with a trap speed of 119 mph — almost exactly equal with C/D’s test numbers for the Audi RS 6 Avant.

With that sort of firepower under the hood and my loan taking place in New York City in chilly mid-spring, my opportunities to unleash the fury were tragically limited … but I made it work. Hammering it up a damp, gentle grade, the DBX 707 clicked off the 0-60 run in a hair more than three Mississippi — on all-season tires. Midrange punch is outrageous; one or two downshifts, and the big Aston rips a hole through traffic like Sebastian Vettel in a go-kart race.

Acceleration, though, is cheap these days, thanks to electric motors; practically every month, it seems, a carmaker rolls out another electron-powered family hauler that can pace supercars from a standstill to highway speed. The DBX 707 sets itself apart from those electron-powered masses with good old-fashioned internal combustion character.

The 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 is made by AMG, but it speaks with a British accent. But think Statham, not Firth; with nearly 700 ponies and a meaty 663 lb-ft of torque available and a tightly-geared nine speed automatic (another AMG contribution) to keep the engine right in the power band, it hits hard and keeps hitting harder as the revs rise.

Going fast and stopping short don’t make a sports car, however; handling does. The DBX 707 may stand a fair amount higher than, say, a BMW M5, but all that time Aston’s engineers have spent building true-blue sports cars has paid dividends in terms of tuning an SUV.

Indeed, close your eyes and throw the car down a few curves (NOTE: DO NOT ACTUALLY DO THIS), and you might think for a second that you’re actually driving a sports car. The DBX 707 grips and rips through turns tenaciously, with frighteningly little body roll. It handles so well, you’ll have trouble exploiting all its capabilities on a public road. Just, well, like a sports car.

The DBX interior is dated, but still functional

While the new DB12 debuts a long-overdue renovation for Aston Martin’s interior scheme, the DBX and the rest of the line struggle on with a layout and infotainment system that’s a step behind the newest contenders. The infotainment setup, in particular, holds the car back. It’s based on a version of Mercedes-Benz’s old Comand system, and it feels very much a legacy of the last generation of such interfaces. The clickwheel-based navigation doesn’t play well with Apple CarPlay, and the entire system runs too slowly for a new car on sale in 2023 — especially one with this sort of price tag.

The physical controls are a mixed bag; the buttons on the steering wheel offer a direct action and excellent handfeel, and the round ones for shifting and adjusting characteristics like stability control and exhaust sound are satisfying to the touch. On the flip side, the haptic controls for the climate control are less pleasing, the window switches are mounted too close to the driver for easy reach and the decision to create a giant knob in the center of the dash and not have it control the volume feels unfortunate. (It’s for drive modes.)

Still, apart from the rare piece of piano black plastic, it’s hard to find fault with the materials used inside. The leather smells like a fine belt or handbag, giving the cabin the rarefied air of money — and it’s practically everywhere in there, coating parts you wouldn’t expect and stitched together with remarkable attention.

The giant carbon fiber paddles behind the steering wheel are good fun, but with nine gears to choose from, it’s a little silly using them. Doubt constantly clouds the mind: Is fourth best right, or fifth? Or should I let it ride the torque curve in sixth, or keep it closer to redline in third?

My tip: Just let the car shift for itself — it’s much more effective at knowing what gear you need. Unless you’re planning on taking this beast on a rally course, in which case, use the paddles … and know I salute you.

The 707 is, arguably, the better-looking DBX …

If you’re ever curious about whether you’re looking at the “regular” DBX or the big-bore 707, just look to the face: if it’s got a really big mouth, it’s the more potent model. There are other tweaks, of course — horizontal LED DRLs instead of trapezoidal ones, a wider lower intake and more aggressive front spoiler not least among them – but the maw is the easiest way to tell.

What you might not expect is that these changes make the DBX 707 look better than its lesser sibling. On paper and in pictures, the tweaks seem too aggressive for a crossover; in person, however, they give the DBX added presence. The regular model avoids the fight; the 707 seeks it out. It’s the sort of attitude you (presumably) want when you’re buying a 700-horsepower SUV.

… and, perhaps, the sexiest new SUV on sale, period

If there’s one thing Aston has always excelled at — through all the trials and tribulations, through all the owners and financial hardships — it’s building a damn sexy car. And that hasn’t changed just because the brand is doing its first SUV.

The Cayenne is far less ugly than it used to be — remember the first time you saw that first-gen’s mug? — but it’s still no looker. The Urus is exotic and arresting, but through sheer brute force of its sharp angles; handsome it ain’t. Teslas are generic blobs, the Mustang Mach-E is…fine, and while the likes of the Hummer EV and Bronco and G-Wagen are good-looking in their brutal ways, they’re not sexy. (At least, not conventionally sexy. Rule 34, after all …) Bottom line: If you’re looking for looks in your sporty SUV, you’ll have trouble doing better than Aston Martin.

2023 Aston Martin DBX 707 Alternatives:

With a base price of $239,086 and a rich options list that makes it easy to mark that up past a quarter-million bucks, the DBX 707 costs as much as a house in some parts of the country, even in this market. Still, it’s not alone in its space. The previously mentioned Cayenne Turbo GT and Urus Performante are the closest analogs to this hot high-rider, but there are other options for well-off customers willing to be a little more flexible in their preferences.

Buyers who simply want brutal acceleration will likely be swayed by the Tesla Model X Plaid; those who prioritize luxury and smoothness over raw performance will likely explore the Bentley Bentayga; anyone seeking performance nearly in this league at a significantly lower price may be wooed by the Audi RS Q8, Mercedes-AMG GLE 63 S or BMW X6 M. And the Ferrari Purosangue, in theory, would present a strong rival for the DBX 707 … but odds are good that anyone who landed on that list is already committed to their V12-powered Funvee.