On this episode of Ignition presented by Tire Rack
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MotorTranscript
00:00 (static)
00:02 (engine revving)
00:06 (engine revving)
00:11 (upbeat music)
00:28 - Just look at this thing.
00:30 I am driving the achingly beautiful Aston Martin DB11.
00:35 And not only is it all new,
00:37 it's the first product to come from
00:39 Aston Martin's second century plan.
00:42 And what that means is,
00:43 while they've been around for a little more than 100 years,
00:46 a lot of those years didn't go so well.
00:48 The cars were beautiful,
00:49 but the company was flirting around with bankruptcy.
00:52 (engine revving)
00:55 The second century plan is the notion
00:58 that the products are gonna be so good,
01:00 they're gonna stay funded and viable
01:02 and relevant for another 100 years.
01:04 So, not only is this the most important car
01:07 they're currently making,
01:09 you can argue that this is the most important
01:12 Aston Martin ever.
01:13 (upbeat music)
01:24 (engine revving)
01:27 Is it any good?
01:40 No, the DB11 is not good.
01:42 It's great, it is fabulous, it is spectacular.
01:47 If I had to sum it all up in one word,
01:49 that word would be special.
01:53 (engine revving)
01:56 And the DB11 looks three or four different kinds of special.
02:00 First of all, it takes 50 hours just to paint it.
02:03 Second, modern cars are getting so sculptural
02:06 that when you see them in just two dimensions,
02:08 you miss the true shape.
02:10 But then I saw one rolling through a parking lot
02:13 and I was soon biting the back of my hand.
02:15 She's a neck snapper.
02:17 I've heard people say that the DB9 and the V8 Vantage
02:20 represent the pinnacle of Aston Martin design.
02:23 And while they think the DB11 is fine looking,
02:25 it's just not as handsome.
02:27 To these people I say,
02:28 hey, sometimes folks get a glimpse of the future and blink.
02:31 The DB11 on the other hand is eyes wide open.
02:35 First of all, the DB11 is lower, wider, and longer
02:38 than the DB9 that it replaces.
02:40 Longer, lower, and wider are key elements
02:43 as a perfectly flat sheet of paper
02:45 has long been the dream of all sports car designers.
02:48 Then you have incredible details
02:49 like the curly Q front fenders,
02:51 which allow the DB11 to appear as if it's rocketing forward
02:54 even as it's standing still.
02:57 At the opposite end of the car sits the AeroBlade,
03:00 an innovative design-led engineering solution
03:03 that allows the curve of the tail to taper all the way down
03:06 without the need for a spoiler.
03:08 More importantly, the DB11's design language
03:11 is comprehensive enough to set the stage
03:13 for another 100 years of beautiful Aston Martins.
03:18 Almost equally important is the interior.
03:22 Now, Daimler, who makes Mercedes-Benz,
03:25 they bought 5% of Aston and part of that arrangement is
03:28 they supply all the electronics.
03:30 Some of you might say, oh, it's not British enough,
03:33 you know, there's some German parts in the car,
03:35 which I say, that's insane.
03:37 This is the best navigation system in the business.
03:40 Everything works, I mean, 'cause classically speaking,
03:42 what's the worst part about British cars?
03:44 What was the worst part about the DB9?
03:47 The electronics.
03:49 The other thing is, you know, in 1917, King George V,
03:53 he changed the royal family name from something like
03:56 Saxe-Colbert and Gotha to the House of Windsor.
04:00 My point is, even the most British thing you can think of,
04:03 the Queen of England, she's got a little German in her too.
04:07 But of course, as is true of all great British cars,
04:12 the most important part of the interior is the leather.
04:16 Aston Martin implemented a process called broguing,
04:19 which means stacking leather on top of leather,
04:21 like on a fancy wingtip shoe.
04:24 And it's everywhere.
04:25 It's on the doors, the armrest, the seats,
04:28 and even on the roof.
04:30 Why, you may ask?
04:31 Because it smells so good.
04:34 This is old school craftsmanship at its finest.
04:37 The crazy part is, the DB11 drives as good as it looks.
04:42 (car engine revving)
04:45 Okay, so let's start with the meat and the potatoes.
04:47 The engine, right?
04:49 This is a 5.2 liter twin turbo V12.
04:53 It makes 600 horsepower, 516 pound feet of torque,
04:57 and that's made it up to an eight speed ZF transmission.
05:00 It's not automatic, but it's connected to the engine
05:03 via a carbon torque tube.
05:05 It's mounted in the rear,
05:05 so this thing has really good weight distribution.
05:08 51/49, just like the DB9 that it replaces.
05:11 (car engine revving)
05:14 (car engine revving)
05:16 So, what does all that add up to?
05:20 Well, this road is suddenly very straight,
05:25 so I'm gonna launch it.
05:26 Only thing is, the DB11, it doesn't have launch control.
05:30 So the best thing to do is put it in sport or sport plus.
05:33 Probably you want like medium shocks.
05:35 Then you gotta dig through this menu.
05:36 They really buried the traction control,
05:38 which you wanna turn all the way off.
05:40 And then you just kinda gotta feel it out.
05:42 But if you get it right,
05:45 eventually it hits 60 miles an hour in 3.9 seconds
05:50 before running down the quarter mile in 11.9 seconds
05:53 at 124.7 miles per hour.
05:56 (car engine revving)
05:59 Stops decent, 105 feet from 60 miles per hour.
06:05 Not great, not terrible.
06:07 Handles very well.
06:08 It can actually run around our figure eight course
06:10 in 23.9 seconds.
06:13 Anything under 24 is good.
06:16 (car engine revving)
06:19 But it doesn't feel that way.
06:28 It feels really good.
06:30 It actually feels like a miniaturized Bentley,
06:33 which is a very good thing
06:35 because it also happens to smell like a Bentley.
06:37 (car engine revving)
06:41 Remember, this isn't Aston Martin's sports car.
06:44 That's the V8 Vantage.
06:45 And we're gonna see a new version of that thing
06:47 come out next year.
06:48 No, this is a GT, a Grand Tourer.
06:51 I need to run from Paris to Berlin.
06:54 This is the car to do it in.
06:56 (car engine revving)
06:57 The DB11 is a great two-mode car.
07:00 That means it's just as happy eating up huge swaths
07:04 of say Europe as it is in the canyons.
07:07 Want to carve up your favorite mountain road?
07:10 No problem.
07:11 Want to drive from Soho to South Beach?
07:13 Go for it.
07:14 The DB11 smartly splits the difference
07:17 between the hardcore Ferrari and the laid back Bentley.
07:20 Though, to be honest, it's a bit more flying bee
07:22 than it is prancing horse.
07:24 And rightly so.
07:25 My problem is I don't know if I'm British enough
07:31 to properly explain this car to you.
07:34 So, I phoned a friend.
07:38 (car engine revving)
07:41 Johnny, I was feeling really good about myself
07:50 until you pulled up in this one.
07:52 - I tend to have that effect on people.
07:54 Justin, how you doing, man?
07:55 - Really good, nice to see you.
07:56 - Nice to see you.
07:57 For those of you who don't know,
07:59 this is Justin Bell and he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans
08:04 while driving a Dodge Viper.
08:07 I don't care how good you are at Forza,
08:09 he's the real deal.
08:11 - It was a long time ago that now.
08:13 - And you're also British.
08:14 - Do you know what, thanks for noticing.
08:15 Yes, I am most certainly British.
08:17 - Now, could you tell us what Aston Martin means
08:21 to a British person?
08:23 - I think it represents everything that we wish
08:26 and hope that the rest of the world
08:27 would think about being a British person.
08:29 We are a former once great empire
08:32 that clings onto certain vestiges of that.
08:35 And I think it's about power and performance
08:38 and stature and technology and innovation
08:41 and a sort of elegance.
08:42 That's how I think British people wish they were viewed.
08:45 And I think Aston Martin does that.
08:47 That's our front-facing product, if you like, to the world.
08:50 And of course, being a British guy
08:53 right next to a British car.
08:55 You know what that means?
08:56 - You want to stand around and talk about it all day?
08:58 - No, of course I don't.
08:58 Have you got the keys?
08:59 Are they in it?
09:00 - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
09:01 Left-hand drive this one, of course.
09:03 - All right, now, you've never driven this car
09:08 before in your life?
09:10 - Absolutely not.
09:10 - All right, what do you think?
09:12 - I mean, I'm actually in the high-performance mode
09:14 right now, straight off the get-go.
09:16 It is very complete, isn't it?
09:18 It's got this very together sort of energy to it.
09:21 I love the fact that the steering and the throttle
09:23 seem absolutely perfectly linked to each other.
09:26 I mean that in a pretty simplistic way,
09:28 but you accelerate and just the feedback
09:31 through the wheel and through the seat of your pants
09:33 is most pleasing.
09:35 - It drives well.
09:37 - And it drives well.
09:37 Very direct in a high-sports car way,
09:41 but without that harshness that you can associate
09:44 with some high-sports cars.
09:46 You know what I mean?
09:47 It does still have that GT feel to it.
09:49 Let's avoid all these rocks.
09:51 - That's the thing, right?
09:53 I mean, wouldn't it be great to be
09:54 an Aston Martin salesman right now?
09:56 Like somebody comes in like,
09:57 "Sir, go ahead and look at the car for an hour."
09:59 You know, they're like swallowing their hand.
10:01 Like, "Oh."
10:02 "Sir, go ahead and sit in the car."
10:04 And they see this and they smell this.
10:05 And then, you know, 600 horsepower V12.
10:08 Oh, and by the way, this is James Bond's next car.
10:10 - Yeah, I mean, if you ever want to
10:12 push all the touch points that make a man feel more manly,
10:17 you just have.
10:18 Of course, sir, if you don't feel up to it,
10:20 I'm sure your madam may like to go down
10:23 to that Japanese manufacturer around the corner.
10:25 - Right, right, right.
10:26 - No, I mean, this is superbly masculine.
10:30 Yet, interestingly enough,
10:32 the lines are that perfect blend of being very aggressive,
10:37 but with that feminine touch that I think
10:39 is what we expect these days of a sports car.
10:42 (car engine revving)
10:45 - Do you remember a while ago,
10:46 we were sort of having a conversation one night
10:50 over some drinks and you sort of confessed to me
10:52 that maybe you retired a little bit too early.
10:56 - You mean in that very private conversation
10:58 we had over those drinks?
10:59 - This car is going to the track,
11:03 but you're not going to be driving it.
11:05 We're actually giving it to a guy
11:06 who is still a professional race car driver.
11:10 - You mean the oldest license holder in history?
11:13 You're not telling me it's going to the guy?
11:15 - That's right, Randy Pulse is going to drive this thing.
11:18 (car engine revving)
11:21 (car engine revving)
11:24 (car engine revving)
11:27 (car engine revving)
11:30 (car engine revving)
11:34 (car engine revving)
11:37 (car engine revving)
11:40 (car engine revving)
11:43 (car engine revving)
11:48 (car engine revving)
11:54 (car engine revving)
11:59 (car engine revving)
12:07 (car engine revving)
12:10 (car engine revving)
12:20 (car engine revving)
12:26 (car engine revving)
12:34 (car engine revving)
12:37 (car engine revving)
12:49 (car engine revving)
13:01 (car engine revving)
13:04 - How many owners will take their DB11 to a track day?
13:09 I'll go with none, but if they did,
13:12 they'd be pleasantly surprised, up to a point.
13:15 Randy said the car was great up until 8/10,
13:18 and from there on up, the weight became the dominant issue.
13:21 The DB11 was able to lap Big Willow's 2.4 miles
13:26 in one minute, 30.38 seconds.
13:29 That's quicker than an all-wheel drive Jaguar F-Type,
13:32 or a 650 horsepower Cadillac CTS-V.
13:36 Not bad at all, especially for a heavy Grand Tourer.
13:39 That the Aston Martin DB11 is able to straddle the line
13:44 between luxury cruiser and supercar with such ease
13:48 is impressive, but like lap times, not the point.
13:52 What makes the DB11 so appealing, so desirable,
13:57 so wonderfully damn British, is an X-factor.
14:01 It's something that you can't quite put your finger on,
14:03 but that you can't stop thinking about either.
14:06 For the sake of brevity, let's just agree
14:08 that she's special, very, very special.
14:12 (upbeat music)
14:15 (wind blowing)
14:22 (wind blowing)
14:25 (wind blowing)
14:28 (car engine roaring)