Aston Martin DBX707 2022 Review

As the adage goes – if you must ask, you probably can’t afford it. Indeed, with a starting price of $428,000 plus on-road costs, the 2022 Aston Martin DBX707 hyper-SUV inhabits rarefied air in the Australian marketplace.

And that’s before prospective buyers start exercising the extensive personalisation options Aston Martin offers.

At this level, only the likes of the Lamborghini Urus, Bentley Bentayga and Rolls-Royce Cullinan have comparable starting points.

For the record, the 707 is around $70K more than the ‘poverty pack’ standard Aston Martin DBX.

As tested, our Onyx Black DBX707 topped $520K plus ORCs – serious coin in anybody’s book.

And yet there are no formal limits to the DBX range-topping model’s production run. The DBX707 is an ongoing model for the English marque.

The sheer scope of personalisation and optional equipment from which buyers can choose at this end of the marketplace makes the subject of standard equipment almost mute.

You expect a vehicle at this price tag to want for little in terms of standard equipment.

Ironically, that’s not always the case with some luxury cars. Never fear, however, the 2022 Aston Martin DBX707 ticks all of the expected boxes.

Luxury leather electric-heated and -adjusted seating, premium infotainment, keyless entry and start, wireless phone charging, multi-zone air-con, 360-degree cameras and park assistance radars, power tailgate and smart LED head and tail lighting… The list goes on…

Soft-close doors are standard, as are big-ticket items such as carbon-ceramic brakes (420/390mm front/rear with six-piston front callipers) which save over 40kg of unsprung mass (!!!), plus a suitably rorty exhaust system – albeit complete with quiet start option!

Aston didn’t supply an itemised ‘price as tested’ for the vehicle which we taste-tested at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit recently.

Boosting the price by $90K-plus were such things as metallic paint, various bodywork finish tweaks, interior upholstery upgrades and 23-inch forged alloy wheels with matching liquorish-strap bespoke Pirelli tyres.

Our man in London, John Mahoney’s first international drive of the DBX707 has more detail of the choice Aston buyers are offered.

Or better still, have a 5min play with the Aston Martin car configurator – mind blown!

Don’t expect ANCAP or even Euro NCAP to deliver a crash rating on the 2022 Aston Martin DBX707 any time soon. High-priced luxury cars hardly ever grace the testing authorities’ laboratories, so official ratings are few and far between.

Not that we’d suspect the DBX707 should be lacking. The bespoke all-alloy bodyshell has impressive structural numbers and was designed with modern safety and refinement standards front of mind.

And thanks to Aston Martin’s tie-up with Mercedes-Benz and Mercedes-AMG for a range of engine, gearbox and electronics systems, there’s now thoroughly modern safety technology at the company’s fingertips.

The Aston Martin DBX707 wants for little here. Like the standard DBX, the 707 gets a full complement of airbags plus all the electronic driver aids you’d expect – traffic sign detection, autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian detection, adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, rear cross traffic warning, blind spot warning, door opening warning and auto high beam assist are all included.

Unbelievably powerful and fade-free brakes, plus equally impressive body control and precise manners all contribute to the most important part of any safety system – not getting into trouble in the first place.

What technology does the Aston Martin DBX707 feature?

Have a look at our international launch drive of the 2022 Aston Martin DBX707 and other DBX coverage for more details here.

Suffice to say, there’s plenty of well-integrated screen real estate. Meantime, when it comes to controls and functionality, drivers and owners familiar with the systems Mercedes-Benz uses will feel immediately at home in the DBX707.

Only Aston’s centre stack-mounted gear selection buttons feel out of date. Contrived, even…

Eight cylinders, two turbos and four litres of Mercedes-AMG goodness takes centre stage in the 2022 Aston Martin DBX707.

The muscular, tuneful and ever-ready V8 that’s used in a diverse range of German and English models has rarely felt so healthy or eager.

The turbos are new, as is the engine tune and the result is 520kW and 900Nm – up 115kW and 200Nm over the DBX, or about an average hatchback’s worth of extra oomph…

The standard DBX is no slouch, although Aussie F1 Medical Car driver, Karl Reindler, reckons ‘his’ DBX could do with a little more. I reckon he’ll be happy when in season 2023 they upgrade to a 707.

Another thing Karl will appreciate is the new nine-speed wet multi-plate clutch auto gearbox and up-specced electronically controlled rear limited-slip differential the DBX707 gets.

Then there’s the recalibrated, adaptive and adjustable air suspension and active electric anti-roll system.

All of this combines to deliver a much sharper, responsive and more driver-focused drivetrain and chassis in the 707’s sportiest settings.

Yet there seemed to be little if any compromise to on-road comfort and refinement in our (albeit limited) on-road drive of the DBX707.

For the record, Aston initially claimed the tweaked AMG V8 turned the DBX707 into the world’s most powerful SUV. It’ll now have to revise that to ‘the world’s most powerful right-hand drive SUV’ as Dodge recently reinstated a 522kW supercharged V8 in its LHD-only Durango SRT Hellcat.

The brand-new Lamborghini Urus Performante still falls short of the DBX’s mark.

The actual ADR claimed combined-cycle fuel figure for the 2022 Aston Martin DBX707 is a not-too-obnoxious 14.3L/100km – and such is the efficiency of the AMG-sourced engine that highway cruising should let you get close to matching that at Aussie speeds.

An 85-litre tank should deliver decent range.

Around town or in high-speed autobahn blasting, economy is likely to be slightly less than an M1A1 Abrams main battle tank.

If you’re worried about fuel economy, go by plane…

Our first local impressions of the 2022 Aston Martin DBX707 are limited to those formed from a short loop on Victorian coastal highways and limited laps of a damp but drying Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.

Yes, a 520kW SUV on a racetrack…

On the road first; I can confirm that the DBX707 is surprisingly quiet, surprisingly civil and very refined – at least when the sports exhaust is deactivated.

I say ‘surprisingly’ because this is a high-riding, 2300kg wagon ostensibly tuned to perform on a track – a recipe for a hard-riding, bucking bronco on the road. It’s anything but – despite rolling on 23-inch wheels and very low-profile tyres.

There was a touch of brittleness to the ride on South Gippsland’s less-than-pristine Bass Highway but far from the bullock dray ride that, say, a Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 would deliver. The revised air-sprung suspension is impressive…

And at the track? In a word: remarkable.

It’s very clearly not a sports car and it would be very easy to get in over your head, such is the sheer mass and real estate the DBX requires. But even some ‘normal’-sized fast sedans struggle to exhibit the overall competence, crisp turn-in and precision of the DBX707.

What’s to like? Brakes forever… Powerful and fade-free, yet with great feel… And flat, confidence-inspiring corner manners that manage to escape the artificial feel of some other active body control set-ups.

This is especially so during a quickish change of direction such as the run from the exit of Honda corner to the wide, wet-weather, entry and line through PI’s wonderfully aptly named Siberia Corner… Brrrr.

And, boy, is the DBX707 fast. The 0-100km/h time is said to be 3.3sec. It feels faster.

And even coming onto the main straight at Phillip Island with circumspect speed through Turn 12, it was easy to blast well past 230 before another early lift for Turn One.

In perfectly dry conditions, you could probably add another 30km/h to that mark and still live to tell the tale.

And all the time you’re generating silly speed or acceleration numbers in the 2022 Aston Martin DBX707, you’re being cosseted in supportive, comfortable and beautifully finished front buckets.

And you’d have no problems taking four mates along for an equally luxurious ride.

The long wheelbase delivers plenty of rear legroom and the wagon rather than coupe silhouette means there’s decent headroom in the back as well. Aston has eschewed quasi rear buckets for a proper three-place second row and that works too.

There’s two ISOFIX points outboard for the heirs or heiresses.

You might want to critique colour and accessory choices of some of the Aston Martin demo cars (seriously guys, that blue car interior was horrible!), but it’d be a tough room if you had any issues with materials, quality of finish and the design of the DBX707’s cabin.

It’s far from olde worlde ambience, but it does have a unique execution that sets it apart from the other uber-SUV nameplates in this segment. Just ditch the gear selection buttons as noted above.

We experienced the 2022 Aston Martin DBX707 on the track but let’s put that elephant firmly in another room…

That the DBX707 can acquit itself so well on a track is both a tribute to the Aston team’s engineering ability and an indictment on what car companies need to do these days to impress an ever more performance-obsessed car buyer.

If you’re buying a $520,000, 2300kg, five-seater, all-wheel drive for jollies on the track, you deserve to be an object of derision. And you need your head read.

I can, however, see this vehicle making a lot of sense for well-heeled Europeans who want to load up with luggage, skis, boat shoes et al and blast from capital city to resort (seaside or snow) very fast, in real comfort – all the time with massive performance in reserve on both autobahn and alpine pass.

Alas, do that here and you’ll probably end up in jail or on the telly. Or both.

But hey, you’ll look super-cool and get a thumbs up from me at least, as they cuff you and drag you away…

It’s an answer to a question no-one should ask… With over 700hp. Go for it!

2022 Aston Martin DBX707 at a glance:
Price: $428,000 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbo petrol
Output: 520kW/900Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed multi-plate automatic
Fuel: 14.3L/100km (WLTP)
CO2: 323g/km (WLTP)
Safety rating: Not tested