Aston Martin DB12 S review

But as with all things power-related, what you’ve got is often less interesting than where it is, as is the case here. Because if you look at the power charts of both a DB12 and DB12 S, you’ll see their curves plot identical paths until you’re close to 6000rpm. What’s more, the limitations of the gearbox means there’s no more torque anywhere. So unless you’re redlining it (and frankly unless you’ve just returned from doing exactly the same exercise in a DB12 which is probably quite unlikely, and have an uncommonly sensitive backside) you’re never going to know the difference.

So, to more significant fare. There’s a new exhaust system (and optionally in titanium, dropping 11.7kg) to make the V8 sound even more, well, V8-y. And it does. Don’t read too much into the fact you’ll read elsewhere that gearshift times have been cut by 50 per cent, as that’s only in launch control mode, something I expect approximately none of the customer base is likely to use more than once during their time with the car. But there’s a new map for the accelerator pedal which I am told feels more intuitive and progressive, though I don’t recall ever having a problem with the old one.

But the most noticeable changes by far have been visited upon the chassis and its associated systems. Apart from the carry over Michelin Pilot Sport S 5 tyres, which made their global debut on the DB12, everything has been examined, tweaked or changed, all with the aim of increasing that sense of connection to the road, to make the car feel not just more sporting but natural too, yet without compromise to the hitherto fine ride quality. The Bilstein DTX dampers have new software to better manage roll and pitch while a stiffer rear anti-roll bar complete with toe, camber and castor changes to the suspension geometry aim to make the car feel more neutral, more ‘on the nose’ if you will. This in turn has led to a new tune for the electronics in both the steering and e-diff. Carbon ceramic brakes, once optional, are now standard, carving a further 27kg off the weight of the car, significant more for where it is – every gram of it unsprung mass – than how much.

Visually, it doesn’t look that different, though it is. There’s a deeper front spoiler and new bonnet louvres to help extract hot air from under the bonnet while down the side there are new sills too. But, ‘S’ badging aside, by far the easiest way to identify this car is to look at the back and clock the new exhaust stacks, the now fixed rear gurney and a beefier rear diffuser.

All in these changes add £20,000 to the price of the car, making it the first V8-powered production Aston Martin with a price tag north of £200,000. But when you consider you’d spend well over half the difference just optioning in ceramic brakes to your standard DB12, plus all the other suspension and cosmetic goodies, not to mention the right to tell your mates you’ve got the ‘S’, it’s not hard to see why sales aspirations for the non-‘S’ car are so modest.

If there is any bad news here it is that, to the owner of these hands, feet and backside, it doesn’t feel that different. Now, it’s always a difficult call to make because I’ve not driven a DB12 since I drove one as fast as I dared from Le Mans to Wales last summer while feeling distinctly under the weather not, for once, through self-inflicted reasons. And there was none available at launch in the South of France with which to make meaningful comparison.

Ironically the biggest change I noticed is not mentioned by Aston Martin at all. My single significant complaint about the DB12 when I drove it three years ago was its sluggish response from idle up to around 2500rpm. This twin-turbo, 4-litre V8 appeared to be seriously deficient in low down torque. No longer: it pulls lustily from wherever in the rev range you happen to be. What has happened? Not what I expected, for sure, because save new software to liberate those extra few horsepower at the top end, it is unchanged. Turns out it’s the gearbox that was holding it back and updates to that is what has unleashed the V8 right through the rev range. So now you know.

Then again, big changes are the last thing this car needs; far more important is that the car which, to me, best epitomises all that an Aston Martin should be stays that way. And it does. You might think it could be quite hard to get a poor impression of a car with near 700bhp while thundering around Provence but, in fact, it’d be remarkably easy. The roads there are very challenging and are as good as any you’ll find in winkling out weaknesses in a car’s structural stiffness, suspension set up and damper tune. The DB12 S is sublime. You do notice that the body moves differently now, and in a counter-intuitive way, because given the car is meant to be more sporting and is an ‘S’ model, you’d expect it to feel more tied down on its springs, not less. What happens is quite the reverse: there is more vertical movement as you cross undulations which could turn horribly queasy if that movement were not so well controlled. What actually happens is the car simply feels more natural, with any sense of the electronics deciding ‘we’ve had enough of that’ and artificially clamping down removed. Now, that is still precisely what it is doing, you just don’t feel it any more.

I’d not say the chassis changes make you feel any more confident driving the car because it was not exactly deficient in that area anyway, but I would say you feel more involved, more likely to change drive modes at the first sign of a decent road, more likely to tread harder, earlier in the corner because the car is now just a little more willing to adjust its line according to how much and how quickly the throttle is applied.

Nothing else has changed much. If these changes have brought a deterioration (or, indeed, an improvement), I could not feel it. There is tyre roar, though no more than you’d expect of a car wearing shoes of this size and the human machine interface which blends physical controls for actions that are both important in regular demand with a clear and reasonably intelligible touchscreen for functions more convenient than necessary is about as good as you can hope for these days.

All in all then, anyone who drives a DB12 S expecting a wildly improved car will be both rather disappointed and someone with rather unrealistic expectations. Instead the car is what you’d expect of something upon which a suite of carefully thought through upgrades has been applied. Or at least it’s what you’d hope for. Even in their combined entirety, let alone individually, there is no transformation here, so it is perhaps just as well that none was required. What we have instead is a DB12 that’s been visited by a few years learning by people who know what they’re doing, know what an Aston Martin should be in general, and a Grand Touring Aston Martin – a breed that has formed the heart of the brand since launch of the DB4 in 1958 – in particular.

When I first drove it in 2023 it was clear to me that the DB12 was both the greatest unlimited production Aston Martin of the modern era and the finest car of its type that there was. And the best thing I can tell you about the DB12 S is that the statement holds as true for this subtly, fluently and effectively revised car as it ever did. Which is as much as any sensible person could hope for.

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