Aston Martin DB12 - long-term review

“We should go on a luxury hotel and spa weekend,” I shouted to my wife from the sofa. “That’s what Aston Martin owners do, right?!” Unsurprisingly, she lapped up the idea like a Cheshire cat with a bowl full of catnip-flavoured cream. Which was brilliant, as I – with a sprinkling of spouse subterfuge – had a plan.

See, Aston Martin has had a few stabs at getting the DB12’s platform right. The 4.0-litre twin-turbo Mercedes V8 combined with this chassis is nothing new, and the DB11 spent much of its lifecycle correcting the initial dynamic failings of the original V12 car, via the V8 and then the AMR. Not wanting to be called fools again, you can tell Aston really sat down and ironed out the faults in the damping and chassis for the DB12 to make it better.

It really is noticeable as soon as you drive it over the first speed hump that there’s more controlled compliance in the revised suspension, especially at the rear. But Aston has also stiffened up the body by seven per cent, given the damping more bandwidth (thanks to an all-new electronic control system), and thrown in an e-diff.

To test this, I wanted to properly put it through its paces on the roads where they developed the car. Because if you want a car to handle its best, drive it on the roads where it’s been pounded around endlessly in camouflage. So I phoned a friend who has done some development driving for Aston, and spoke to Aston officially to get their road routes which wind around Aston's nerve centre in Gaydon, spill onto the M40, and meander through the Cotswolds — that postcard-perfect slice of England which is now largely populated by Londoners, TikTok creators and car journalists-cum-farmers.

Nestled along this route, just a stone's throw from the factory, is Mallory Court Hotel and Spa. This country manor house and luxury hotel is set within ten acres of landscaped gardens; the kind of place where you expect an Aston Martin to be parked. So I dropped my wife off to take part in some sort of ancient Rhassoul treatment in the spa, while I went to my relaxation place – behind the wheel with some fantastic Warwickshire and Oxfordshire roads ahead of me.

You can see why Aston does this development route, as it has a bit of everything – sweepers, road works, mixed muddy surfaces, fast open sections and a bit of the hum drum town stuff. Plus, being British roads, they’re the worst surfaces the world can deliver. Though, going for a proper drive in the DB12 is something you’ve got to gear up for. The standard ‘GT’ mode is not an immediately thrilling or sensory experience. The engine’s unassuming for a new 700bhp V8 and the gearbox is slick and subdued. Compared to its boisterous little brother Vantage - which barks, shouts and hops its way around with a short wheelbase and anger - it’s about a million times more sophisticated. The DB12 is smooth and more relaxing. But you can ramp up to Sport and Sport+, which stiffens everything up and makes everything a bit more alert. I prefer to wind things up fully in ‘Individual’ but not go too extreme on the stiffness as that’s too jarring for our roads.

Compared to the DB11, there’s far more precision to the steering and a more reliable and confidence-inspiring response from the front wheels. It lacks feel, but the input you put in provides an output you expect. In the DB11, at the rear end, that didn’t happen. They set it up far too soft, so when you leaned on it, the DB11 kept on leaning. The rear axle was chiefly to blame – too much squidge and roll meant not enough precision on turn in, and heavy rearward weight transfer on exit, which didn’t provide much confidence and would upset the over-sensitive traction control. Now there’s multi-stage traction control, which you need to loosen off to get the best out of the car.

The SuperTourer nature of the DB12 really comes alive on straighter stretches of tarmac. It has a long throttle which you can take more and more bites out of the braver and more confident you get. The flowing, undulating turns, blind bridge corners and fast straights and big braking areas were a perfect test for the chassis where you can feel the new electronic rear differential (which can go from fully open to 100 per cent locked in just a few milliseconds) work to give greater agility during low- and mid-speed manoeuvres (diff open), as well as much greater control in oversteer and high-speed lane changing (diff fully or partly closed).

Well, it did until it flashed up with a fault. And then also on my drive the screens had a fit and shut down, leaving me temporarily with no dashboard at all and then not connecting to Apple CarPlay. Both Ollie Marriage and I have also had the engine light come up and the car sound a bit lumpy until it’s reset itself. So maybe it’s time for a quick diagnostic check-up.

But it made for a proper development drive. And I came back with a notepad full of remarks, improvements but also a giant smile on my face as the DB12 really does enjoy being hustled.