The startup process is absurd: you slot a crystal fob into a spring-loaded receptacle, like some Altrusian shaman manipulating the matrix tables in an episode of Land of the Lost. You wait for a reaction. The response is divine. The mechanical starter whirs, the car shudders to life. And then, instead of pushing another crystal button … Read more
The cars and motorcycles have bloomed on this warm Sunday in Harriman State Park, in the way that spring brings girls in their summer dresses to Central Park. Two daredevils take turns launching a Ducati Monster and Kawasaki Ninja along glittering Lake Tiorati. There’s a father and son in a newer Porsche 911; a group … Read more
Aston Martin calls itself a “V12 company.” But with Mercedes-Benz now owning a 5-percent stake in the company, the British brand is sampling some German V8 for the first time: The latest DB11 is powered by a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 that Benz fans will recognize as the handiwork of AMG. We took our own quaffs … Read more
Advertisers generally sell more, more, more. But if the 2018 Aston Martin DB11 V8 could talk, it would tell them all to zip it. The refined V12 version is a marvelous GT, but the rambunctious, four-cylinders-lighter V8 is the little brother who’s up for having a bit more fun and nicking a Double Stuf Oreo … Read more
It’s a late winter morning in the highlands above France’s Côte d’Azure, and the alpine wind howling above our heads could chill the spray tan off an Instagram model. The heat’s blasting, as power chords from a gurgly V8 echo off sheer walls of rock and into the Aston Martin DB11 Volante’s cockpit. It’s a … Read more
As teases go, it’s hard to top being in the town of Nürburg, Germany, revving the majestic V12 of an Aston Martin—yet being denied the long, sensuous pleasure of laps at the Nürburgring Nordschleife itself. (I believe the German word for such a feeling is “Kockenblocken.”) From my hotel balcony overlooking the track, I can … Read more
The Aston Martin DBX is the only car we’ve had that’s so wide it wouldn’t fit through the vehicle gates at our dog compound. And I caught my Aussie Shepherd resting her snout on its rear fenders from the back seat. It’s mean, it’s magnificent, it’s the Aston Martin of SUVs. We got to try … Read more
During the technical briefing for the 2024 Aston Martin DB12 Volante, a company representative noted that performance has become a bigger focus for the automaker than before. And as a result, it’s now targeting the likes of Ferrari and Lamborghini rather than Bentley. That’s certainly a commendable ambition for a brand that owes as much … Read more