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Hamilton Spectator

James Bond driving an SUV? Why does this Aston Martin cost $480,000?

It's not how this car shoves you into your seat the moment you dare fiddle with the accelerator. Nor is it the way your ear is assaulted by the cannonball of decibels that blast out of its quad-tip exhausts. No, it's the sheer presence of the thing … the aura. The way folks turn around and stare, as if they've just spotted a superstar. The DBX is an anomaly; it's a machine so opulently out of reach that it'll make even the most well-off human being feel like they haven't worked hard enough. My absolutely gorgeous Malachite Green British SUV was wearing a $350,000-sticker-price due to its equally expensive options. Er, $7,700 for a set of wheels without tires? That sounds about right. I gasped when I realized those numbers were actually in U.S. dollars. In reality, my press unit, which was painted in the colour of money, knocked at the door of $480,000 in Canadian bucks. Who, on earth, is this thing for? On paper, it would be easy to acknowledge that a BMW X5 M Competition offers similar performance at a third of the price. But the DBX707 doesn't just exist to blend supercar performance with the daily practicality of an SUV; it's there to satisfy the one per cent, those folks who are hungry for the latest, exclusive item, something the next rich snob doesn't have. Aston Martin needed an SUV. In case you haven't been keeping track, sport utility vehicles are the single most lucrative market for any automaker, including boutique luxury marques. According to the kind folks at Decarie Motors, Canada's oldest Aston dealership in Montreal, the arrival of the highly exclusive DBX, selling at around 3,000 cars worldwide each year, is the best thing to have happened to the brand. Aston Martin's SUV serves as a rebuttal to equally ostentatious vehicles such as the Lamborghini Urus, Ferrari Purosangue, Bentley Bentayga and Rolls-Royce Cullinan. For the 2025 model year, the entire DBX lineup received a thorough refresh. For starters, the 707, which was originally a high-performance variant, becomes the base model, eliminating the standard DBX in the process. That's a smart decision, as the regular DBX felt as though it was lacking in performance, especially considering its astronomical price tag. An even more extreme S model is coming soon and aims at topping the lineup as the DBX's most vicious variant to date. There's an entirely redesigned cabin, which takes inspiration from the DB12, especially on the centre console, where an array of buttons, which feel fantastic, makes you feel as though you're at the helm of a battleship. The cabin comes with refreshed technology, which no longer feels like it was developed a decade ago. The DBX still borrows Mercedes hardware, but the infotainment interface, itself, was entirely designed and programmed in-house by Aston Martin. It's quicker to react now, ditches the dreaded rotary knob dial and simply feels like a system that belongs in this era. Sadly, Android Auto still requires a cable. Blame Google's notoriously strict certification program for that. Power still comes from an AMG-sourced, twin-turbocharged, 4.0-litre V8, but it received an entirely new turbocharging and cooling setup, engineered by Aston Martin. The result is a staggering 697 horsepower and 664 lbs.-ft. of torque (motive force), channelling through all four wheels via a nine-speed automatic transmission, which was also provided by Mercedes-AMG. The DBX707 launches hard, squats its rear end in the process and will quickly get you to licence-losing velocities. It sounds absolutely menacing, as it bounces from one gear to the next. Modern V8-powered performance vehicles no longer sound like this. Europe's strict noise regulations may to be blame. But the DBX707 seems to have missed the memo, as it makes sure to wake up the entire neighbourhood at wide-open throttle. Thank heavens, there's an off switch to all this madness. Dial everything back to the DBX's quietest, softest setting, and you'll quickly forget you're driving a Formula One Grand Prix medical car. Casual daycare runs in this Aston Martin felt just as nondramatic as they might in a Honda CR-V, but with the added luxury of: a green leather interior; thick, supportive seats; and the sort of cabin smell and aura you'd normally associate with a high-end limo. Mere mortals may not be able to comprehend the Aston Martin DBX707. A $20,000 (U.S.) 'lower' carbon fibre body kit simply doesn't make sense on a vehicle originally designed to carry kids to school and haul a boat to the cottage. Frankly, it boggles the mind that the DBX707 can tow up to 6,000 pounds. Somewhere behind that massive rear diffuser that seems to have been taken right off of an F1 car, there's a hitch, enabling you to do SUV things. This thing is, indeed, out of this world. Sure, it boasts unfathomable claims and numbers. But the beautifully styled Aston Martin DBX707 is a keeper. For the exclusivity and the aura alone, it's worth the asking price, I'd say. Type: Five-door, all-wheel-drive, mid-size SUV Engine: Twin-turbocharged, 4.0-litre V8; 697 horsepower, 664 pounds-feet of torque Transmission: Nine-speed automatic Fuel: 15.7 litres/100 km in the city; 12.0l/100 km on the highway; 14.0l/100 km combined; 14.5l/100 km observed Cargo: 637 litres, or 22.5 cubic feet; 1,529l, or 54 cu.-ft., with rear seats folded Price: $480,000, as tested