How Aston Martin Improved the Amazing DBX707 for 2025

Aston Martin employs a number of senior engineers who previously worked for Lotus, a company that has not only built its own sublime-handling cars, but that built a reputation as a consultant to help other carmakers’ optimize their cars’ handling characteristics.

So it is perhaps no surprise that alumni of this suspension engineering factory would have the same effect in their new place of employ, Aston Martin. While Lotus founder Colin Chapman was noted for his obsession with minimal mass, modern vehicles like the DBX707 are maximalist, both in size and mass.

But those suspension gurus have learned the craft so well that they can even make heavy vehicles handle like light ones. Chief engineer Andy Tokley has refined the suspension tuning for the already superb DBX707, bringing its on-road and off-road behavior to new levels.

I specify the 697-horsepower DBX707 because Aston has discontinued the basic 542-hp DBX in favor of the hot-rod version because that model represented 90 percent of DBX sales. So Aston is giving the people what they want, which is the most powerful DBX, but now with even better ride and handling.

That carried-over powerplant achieves an even-quicker 3.1-second 0-60 mph acceleration thanks to a switch from a torque converter to a computer-controlled wet clutch for the 9-speed automatic transmission. This provides a harder launch because the computer can hold the clutch pack open while revving the engine, then engage the clutch abruptly, explained Tokley. “When you close that wet clutch, it gives you a very, very dramatic pull-away in the car,” he exclaimed.

Related:Testing the 656-Horsepower, 202-mph 2025 Aston Martin Vantage

Behind the wheel of the DBX707 in Scotland, where the steering wheel is on the other side. ANDY MORGAN VIA ASTON MARTIN

Ride and handling were already areas of excellence for the DBX, in contrast with the Rivian R1S, which recently received retuned suspension in a modestly successful effort to give the machine acceptable ride characteristics. The system lets engineers manage compression and rebound damping separately, which is important for ride.

The computer-controlled air suspension selects from four different spring rates to provide a rate that is appropriate to the situation. At the same time, active roll control ensures the flat cornering expected from an Aston Martin sports car.

Together, these systems achieve the goals of class-leading ride and handling, despite the DBX’s substantial bulk. At no time does the DBX707 ever feel as heavy as it is, which is a contrast to many sporty SUVs whose engineers failed in their attempts to apparently defy the laws of physics.

Recent upgrades have conferred more prestige to the Aston Martin brand. DAN CARNEY

Churning through the muck and mud near Scotland’s Gleneagles golf resort, the DBX707 proved its off-road mettle in the kinds of conditions its drivers are likely to brave while at the wheel of a $249,000 (starting price) luxury SUV. No, these owners aren’t likely to do any hard-core rock crawling with their Aston Martin, but they will expect it to deliver them reliably to their tailgating location in a muddy field to watch the point-to-point horse races or maybe even to tow a horse trailer out of a muddy paddock.

Related:Aston Martin DBX707 Is SUV Performance to the Max

The DBX demonstrated the capability of its differentials, traction control, and assist systems such as hill descent control to show that it can move as effortlessly through such slop as it can pull to the curb at the country club.

While the chassis received minor tweaks, the refreshed 2025 DBX707 threw out the previous model’s cabin appointments and started over. That means a new infotainment system, new controls, new audio, and new upholstery. Impressively, to those of us who believe that the interior color scheme should be comprehensive, and not just colored seats in an otherwise uniformly drab sea of the same black as every other car, the color extends throughout the cabin.

This is primarily possible because of the DBX’s extensive use of leather surfaces, explained Alex Long, Aston Martin’s director of product and market strategy. “There are no plastics or replacement leather in the car,” he said. “Even the parcel shelf, the trimming on the C-pillar, and right through the cabin is all done in that really rich red color and can be matched to the seats and the dashboard and even the headliner in the car.”

Related:The Aston Martin DB12 Is a Much-Improved Super Tourer

The cabin’s update incorporates chrome materials, contemporary veneers, and a simplified center console with a nubby toggle shifter replacing the archaic shift buttons used previously. There’s also a new steering wheel, redesigned D-pull door release handles and elegant vertical air vents. The front door veneer panels are larger and come in a variety of new materials, including gloss smoked oak, gloss titanium mesh and updated ziricote wood, piano black, and carbon fiber veneers.

The DBX707s Pure Black infotainment display is visible above the console with the new toggle shifter. DAN CARNEY

What really got under the skin of many drivers of the previous model was Aston Martin’s use of an old Mercedes-Benz-sourced infotainment system that won few friends when the German brand used it. But in Aston’s budget-pinched days, this was an affordable solution that came from the same company supplying the vehicle’s drivetrain.

Now, with a larger budget following Aston’s takeover by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, they’ve spent on developing an exclusive in-house infotainment system featuring a Pure Black display that is now worthy of the rest of the car. Additionally, there is a 1600-watt Bowers and Wilkins sound system, similar to that we experienced in the Vantage and DB12 previously.