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Not perfect, but the gorgeous DB11 straddles the worlds of sports cars and GTs in a deeply classy way.

It’s an all-new Aston Martin. No, really. The DB11 marked the start of a whole new chapter for the company with a new, stiffer bonded aluminium chassis, mildly inflated dimensions over the DB9, and new engines. Not just one, but two.

The DB11 launched in 2016 with a new twin-turbo 5.2-litre V12 engine, which was joined a year later by an AMG-sourced 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8. Both drive the rear wheels through an eight-speed paddleshift automatic gearbox.

There’s clean-sheet styling – there are cues from DB9s of old, but the overall look is very fresh – and a new electronic architecture supplied by Mercedes. And it kicks off an exciting new phase in the Aston story with all manner of hypercars, mid-engined supercars, crossovers, and electrified Lagondas on the horizon, not to mention a return to the top tier of Le Mans.

But Aston’s not forgotten its front-engined GT roots, and so the DB11 and Vantage remain at the base of its ever-increasing range. The DB11 launched as a coupe but is now also offered as a Volante soft-top. Neither feel as scalpel-sharp as some rivals at the same £150k ballpark – Audi R8s, Porsche 911s, McLaren 570s – but the DB11 straddles the ground between performance cars like those and softly damped GTs from Bentley and Merc.

Aston’s injected a little more muscle since 2016, though; the V12 car initially launched to slightly reserved praise and improvements ushered in for the V8 model have since been applied to the bigger-engined version, which now wears AMR (Aston Martin Racing) badges. Don’t go thinking it’s a stripped-out 911 GT3 rival, though; those badges mislead a wee bit as this is still very much a continent-crossing GT, just with firmer, more satisfying responses should you ever choose to push its chassis closer to its limits.

Indeed, it’s still layered in finely stitched leather inside, still has back seats, and still feels most in its comfort zone when you relax, at which point the V12 whispers eerily quietly in the background. You want anger? Then Aston also offers the DBS Superleggera, a broadly DB11-based supercar that manages to be a whole heap more animated.

Driving

What is it like on the road?

What the DB11 is like to drive depends entirely on which year it was built. Early V12s didn’t feel especially sporty, rolling too much for you to place them with any accuracy in a tight corner, and certainly focusing more on long-distance comfort than short-term adrenaline spikes. But the tweaks for the V8 version launched in 2017 – which the AMR then borrowed in 2018 – sorted it out just nicely.

The V8 is vehemently the sporty one, not least because it’s 115kg lighter. While its 503bhp engine gives well over 100bhp to the V12 – and the top speed is 21mph lower – it feels more boisterous and keener, and will actually be the quicker car in the real world simply because it compels you to drive it harder.

It turns in quicker, is keener to bring its rear axle into action, and in short, is a whole bundle of fun if you’re in the right mood. And the engine is thunderous in its delivery and sounds suitably rawer than the V12 while it’s at it. This is a worse GT – it asks a lot of attention on twisty roads to keep it pointing the right way – but it settles down nicely if you dial back its selectable driving modes, and will still cruise at a hushed pace if you want it to. You’ll just be far more inclined to leave the motorway and avoid driving it the boring way.

The AMR isn’t too far behind in the excitement stakes, but even with its 30bhp-higher 630bhp output over the launch V12, it’s still not a car that makes much of a fuss unless you really clog it. It sounds very good when you do, but it does rather feel inappropriate in a car so classy. It’s hellishly quick, mind, with 0-62mph in 3.7secs. You might actually manage it, too, the rear axle much better at putting all its power down with the AMR tweaks.

You can firm things up by dialing the adaptive dampers through three modes – GT, S and S+ – and body control becomes noticeably tighter without nuking the ride. You have to manage the weight, brush the steel brakes a touch earlier than you think – slow in, fast out – but time everything right and there’s an effortless flow to its movements.

It doesn’t have the same depth of aural character as its 6.0-litre naturally aspirated predecessor, but in sheer performance terms, it’s a big step on. On the motorway it doesn’t much care whether you’re cruising at 50mph or 150mph, it ticks over silently, utterly unstressed. If you need a big comfy GT but still want something that resembles a supercar (and occasionally acts like one, when you’re in the mood) it strikes an admirable balance.

On the inside

Layout, finish and space

There’s a handmade quality to most things you touch, like the brogued leather on the doors and the stitching around the sat nav screen. Flick the perfectly sized metal paddles with your fingers and there’s a reassuring ting. A digital instrument cluster brings the car up to date, but also cheapens it slightly – we’d prefer a physical dial with more detail for our £150k-plus, at least for the tachometer.

Squint through the Aston fonts and you might recognise the various media displays as lifted straight from Mercedes. Which, thanks to Aston’s tie-up with the Germans, they are. This felt fresh, exciting and a big step on back when the DB11 launched, but it’s hard to deny it’s already aged a bit in here. Largely because Merc’s own media set-up has taken such a giant leap since. Perhaps future Aston models will use more up-to-date software.

You sit low, but the visibility is still fine, besides the fat A-pillar when you’re pulling out of side roads. The parking sensors are so hyperactive in traffic you’ll probably end up turning them off. Important to remember when you come to parking…

The rear seats aren’t exactly big but you can squeeze even six-foot adults back there for short journeys, and kids will be absolutely fine.

Visit the online configurator and you can go wild with the options in here. Check the gallery on the first page to get up close and personal with some of the more intriguing colour options…

Owning

Running costs and reliability

There are efficiency gains from the move to turbos, but you’ll need to drive like your grandma to hit the V12’s claimed 25mpg (or nearly 29mpg in the V8). But that’s missing the point – owning a big GT like this is about feeling special and the DB11 is brimming with sense of occasion.On the right road it can turn in a virtuoso performance, but the rest of the time it swallows countries whole or isolates you from traffic jams and cracked-up surfaces on the commute. It is, whichever way you measure it, a sizeable step on from the DB9 it replaces.

The boot, however, is both small and oddly difficult to use. You have to crouch right down and lever things in carefully, and you’ll have to use carefully chosen bags or cases if you’re taking it on a long trip. There is an umbrella strapped into the boot, mind, so there are some concessions to practical life.

If we must talk money, then neither V8 nor V12 is a bargain. The former, at a whisker under £150,000, is the cheaper way into a DB11 by almost 30 grand, though in markets outside of the UK its 4.0-litre engine size will widen the gap far further. In the UK, Aston expects sales to split 50/50 between the two engines. The Volante convertible only comes with a V8, for now at least.