The Voice Of The Soul
Words by Alessandro Marrone
Photo by Jay Tomei
I had been waiting for this moment for a long time and as the big day approached, restraining anxiety was becoming increasingly difficult to me. In this very moment I wasn’t thinking about anything else, everything that was whirling in my mind was the provocative forms of the Aston Martin DB11. And then, not to risk a bad stiff neck for being bent in unlikely positions scrutinizing the streets outside the office, I decide to go down and give myself a proper luxury that for a long time my body and my spirit were missing: sitting on a bench and enjoy the warm rays of the sun. After all, I still have to wait and I do not know how much, since the transport from Frankfurt may have suffered some delay crossing the Swiss border. But it does not matter, today I have a smile on my face, patience to spare, and hands twisting while waiting for a huge Aston logo to emerge at the intersection on the other side of the road. Today I will not receive any camera gears, a can of oil for the car or who knows what other useless but terribly tasty thing found on Amazon. The guys from Aston Martin UK are sending me the new DB11 V8 from their Frankfurt HQ and for the next few days I will keep the phone turned off completely. This time we will not do the usual and inevitable juxtapositions with the figure of James Bond, something that happens almost obligatory speaking of the British brand, but we will focus on the fundamental aspects in order to discover the new top of the range Aston, here with the V8 biturbo derived from AMG Mercedes and the grand touring skills that everyone expects to find once behind the wheel of a coupe of almost € 200,000. After all this, I will do everything to justify myself that I will not be able to buy one, but I already know this.
Aston Martin is a historic brand which has written its name in bold in the world of racing, in that of cinema and has become an authentic symbol of lifestyle in the collective for car nuts and everyone else too. Rare enough not to be granted to a clientele that could distort its elegance status, despite perfectly in line with the prices of the opponents and the look that with the new DB11 manages to combine the classic schemes of the company from Gaydon with modern solutions and details borrowed from the DB10 concept car (here in one way or another, 007 always returns in the speech). While the wait becomes almost exhausting, I begin to reflect on the danger of dealing with myths, the risk of seeing your expectations disappointed and regret that innate respect that was there before touching the object of desire. It is in that very moment, almost like to exorcise such a bad thought, that a black truck appears behind a row of cars, and as approaches I begin to wave like a child who has just seen Santa from the window. In less than five minutes, the images that went crazy in my head are taking shape in front of me, while the DB11 is unloaded and we devote ourselves to the routine paperworks.
Not even a minute looking at it and tightening the big key in my hands that I begin to realize the experience that I’m about to live, ironically shared with a post on Facebook as “a normal day at the office.” In reality I’m in seventh heaven and the desire to get on board is too much, so I open the door, which with a slight upward movement avoids unpleasant problems with sidewalks, I give a quick look at the environment that welcomes me and introduces me to the Aston Martin world. A look at the design of the new dashboard, the seats and the sky, which is also filled with stitching in contrast with the dark color of the leather and carbon fiber. I reverently press the button in the center of the cockpit and the V8 enters forcefully inside the cockpit, before the needle settles at the base of the rev counter. The time at my disposal would be plenty enough, especially if we take into account what kind of car we are talking about, but I just cannot hold back and so I put the car in Sport +. I’ll leave GT mode for some motorway cruise, I prefer to avoid “Track” – at least for the moment – and Sport is that little devil on the shoulder that leads you to press again and insert Sport +. The roar of the exhaust becomes stronger and deeper, I think I had awakened the creature that was sleeping in the belly of a sinuous coupe with more than generous dimensions and I can’t go back. I can’t and I do not want to.
IT ALWAYS STARTS FROM A PETROL STATION…
… also because when you’re dealing with a 510-horsepower 8-cylinder, emptying the tank is really a breeze. But I must say that despite the generosity of the engine, the weight, the size of the DB11 and the maniacal desire to hear that symphony coming out of the two tailpipes, fuel consumption is not even hallucinating, far from it – the 9.9 l/100km declared by the Company is quite accurate. What can be misleading and make your eyes bleed watching your savings go away like the wind while filling up, is the considerable size of the tank itself. Not even this time €100 was enough to quench the toy in my custody, but between the curious faces of people and the typical questions of the boy at the gas station, I go back in the car and I grant a look of agreement with the photographer at my side. Every adventure always begins with the desire to travel a road away from intersections, traffic lights or pedestrians who decide to make their own things in the middle of the road. The sun is on our side and it is early enough to reach the first stage where we won’t find cyclists and motorcyclists, more reason to move and devour the first kilometers that separate us from that pristine asphalt dedicated to the maximum exaltation of driving pleasure.
The DB11 welcomes you in every situation, the seat is perfect and finding the ideal driving position is really simple, despite the front hood is large enough to land a helicopter on it. The front pillars do not bother even when the curves are one after the other and you are forced to keep your focus high, but what seems playing against you is the rearview mirror of the driver’s side, large and placed a bit high, thus perfectly able to obscure an entire car that can come from the opposite direction. Nothing compared to what really matters in such a last generation grand tourer driven by the “smallest” engine available. The V8 is in fact derived from AMG and despite Aston declares that a huge job has been done compared to the one that equips the AMG GT, from the horses delivery to the great power reserve at low revs, they really seem identical. The twin-turbo 5.2-liter delivers 510 horsepower here and rises up to 6000 rpm. The point is that for getting to 6000 rpm you have to be on a fairly long road, because between the 675Nm of torque – available at just 2000 rpm – and a tail that does not disdain openings in middle corners, drive it like Bond (here it is once again!) it’s not something you’ll do after a couple of minutes at the wheel.
The g’box is precise, fast and only in the lower ratios seems wanting to kick hard your back, showing how the supreme GT cruiser that the DB9 represented (one of the best cars ever produced) has completely turned into something more focused towards performance. The character of the DB11 is totally different, despite being able to wear the clothes of an elegant coupe, when you prefer to take advantage of its more noble side. Certainly not what I wanted entering this maze of corners almost piled on rock walls that leave no room for mistakes and always ready to make one of the best days of my life, the worst ever. The precision of the chassis is emphasized by the electric power steering, which does not take anything away from driving involvement. The petrol indicator seems to fall faster than usual, but on the other hand tires have entered the temperature as if I had pressed an active grip button and so I try to push a little further, timidly approaching that alleged limit where the DB11 assures me that it does not intend to kill me. Its dark body creates a beautiful contrast with the gray pillars, while its huge jaws devours curves and straights as if today was the last day of this earth. Stopping at the edge of the road it is a psychological violence, because no one should be removed from this driving seat, but the stylistic challenge created by the optical unit at the back allows me to forgive the wait before bringing the V8 back into life, admiring how the DB11 is at ease at over 1500 meters above sea level, as for example in the heart of some elegant English city centre.
If, however, I wanted to write to you about how large the trunk is, or how precise the sat-nav works, I would probably work for another type of magazine. Between me and you, I did not even have time to try the absurd audio system, because in my head there was, inexorable, the ticking of the return to the office. I spent every minute in its company, I drove there, where you can really understand the grandeur of some good metal on wheels, the power of an engine and the ability to give smiles/kilometer, the best way to evaluate a car that is the achievement of a personal goal and the fulfillment of that emotional target called happiness. The DB11 with 8 cylinders is as great as the V12, it costs less (around € 30,000 less) and is also available with a retractable soft top called Volante. Moreover, according to many, the V8 – in addition to being lighter and more elastic – proves to be a more expendable engine in ordinary situations such as driving into the city and even on roads similar to those faced during my test days.
Aston Martin customers know exactly what they want, they’re used to the best and do not intend to face compromises. The DB11 is really a complete car, starting from an all-new aesthetic design and that has been able to reinvent itself without distorting the classic style of Gaydon’s signature, until finally offering performance to the level of the increasingly aggressive competitors. The V8 takes 3.9 seconds to shoot from 0 to 100 kph and touches 300 per hour, all in complete comfort, sunk into leather seats with a unique pattern and an atmosphere of compactness and refinement that shines with its own light. And days later, as I watched it slip into that black truck again, a piece of me went off with it. I miss it, I miss it every day and I absolutely have to see it again. If a car makes you this effect, it means it’s really special. I looked at my hero in the eye and he smiled at me. Mission accomplished.
ASTON MARTIN DB11 V8
Layout – front-engined, rear wheel drive
Engine – V8 cylinder 5.200cc – twin-turbo
Transmission – 8-speed automatic gearbox
Power – 510 hp @ 6.000 rpm
675 Nm @ 2.000 rpm
Weight – 1.770 kg
Acceleration – 3,9 sec.
Top Speed – 300 kph
Price – from €188.162