It Feels Wrong To Use An Aston Martin DBX707 Like This (But Winter Takes No Prisoners)

An exotic automaker selling an SUV is a shameless, craven play for easy cash, or so the cynic might frame it. Build too many of your high-power two-doors, the theory goes, and you risk their siren sheen of exclusivity. Better, surely, to add a four-door to the mix — like Aston Martin has done with the DBX707 — to spread your footprint rather than dilute your halo.

Talk to any of these supercar-turned-SUV-makers, though, and they'll insist that it's genuine demand rather than callous pandering to market behind their range expansion. People really are daily-driving their Bentayga, or Urus, or Cullinan, or even their Ferrari Purosangue, or so the claim goes, loading up family and pets despite the six-figure sticker.

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Just to prove it's no practicality pretender, Aston offered me its latest 2025 DBX707, and in a season where most cars sporting its winged badge would expect to be snug in a heated garage. The depths of the Midwest winter couldn't supply sweeping mountain roads or breathtaking Mediterranean vistas like in the glossy brochures, but it did offer a chance to call Aston's bluff.

In a different timeline, we might all be calling the DBX a hatchback. While it's certainly not as low as a Vantage or DB12 — ground clearance is 7.5 inches normally, but can rise to a surprisingly tippy-toed 9.3-inches — the four-door still feels lower slung than the average SUV. 

In fact, it looks compact in general, though it's only a few inches shorter than an Urus. Sports car makers turned SUV-builders can sometimes struggle to nail the aesthetic — particularly in the stretched lower door section — but I think Aston has done better than most.

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While smaller than the surrounding trucks and Tahoes, the Ultra Yellow paint certainly helped me stand out on the road. That was a $9,700 contribution to a grand, terrifying total of $44,500 for exterior style upgrades, including masses of carbon fiber. 

Then budget a further $7,200 for the 23-inch forged wheels, the textured black finish of which actually turned out to be surprisingly good at shedding slush (though yes, I took these photos at the very start of the loan, in a lull in the weather before things got dicey).

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The same can't be said for the DBX's jutting rear diffuser, which regularly gathered up a little shelf of snow. Perhaps those extra few grams helpfully contributed to downforce.

Inside, the inexplicable absence of a heated steering wheel aside, the DBX's cabin is ready for all seasons. Aston Martin's upgrades for 2025 address the SUV's most obvious flaws: its haphazard dashboard, with old Mercedes switchgear, and a dated infotainment system. That's all replaced with the same 10.25-inch central touchscreen, 12.3-inch digital driver cluster, and in-house UI that we've seen on the latest Vantage and Vanquish.

It's surrounded by a far more straightforward set of controls, though one which still leans heavy on physical switchgear. There are dedicated buttons for the multi-stage suspension and exhaust system; buttons to raise the standard air suspension; and a Manual button that locks the 9-speed auto transmission into human-mode. The transmission selector is a short, stubby lever — though still a big improvement over the push-button version the DBX launched with — while drive modes are cycled through with a nice, tactile knob.

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For the most part, it works well. The drive mode UI is just a little sluggish to appear when you twist said knob, and some of the touch points on the center display are on the small side, but I'm nitpicking here.

In the dry, shod in summer tires, the DBX is capable of 0-60 mph in 3.1 seconds, and a top speed of 193 mph. There's a Launch Mode to help you hurtle forward most effectively, and standard carbon ceramic vented brakes with 6-piston front and single-piston rear calipers to hopefully bring you to a halt again.

The AMG-supplied and Aston-fettled 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8's 697 horsepower and 663 lb-ft of torque were almost certainly wasted on me. Or, more accurately, would've met an untimely end had I tried to explore them fully. The DBX's five drive modes do not include a "Snow" option — you get GT, Sport, Sport+, Terrain, and the customizable Individual — and the off-road specific mode is more for mud and gravel clambering than snow, ice, or slush (or sometimes all three — thanks, Michigan).

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Fears I'd be stuck in GT mode, Aston's recipe for everyday driving, proved unfounded, however. The DBX's default drive mode doesn't exactly hide the SUV's potency, but I found the greater immediacy of the throttle response in Sport made it easier to react to changes in road surface and traction.

Aston Martin having wisely swapped the summer rubber for all-season tires, at least, the likelihood of me drifting a $346,000 SUV into a ditch was moderately reduced. I left the traction control on anyway, though in Sport mode it allowed just enough leeway for some wriggly playfulness when that didn't seem entirely foolhardy in the corners. Sport+ mode, on stretches of road merely soaking wet rather than iced over, wouldn't have seen the DBX hit its most rapid 0-60 time, but it was still plenty quick.

If my time behind the wheel reminded me of anything, then, it's the value of good rubber. There's a part of me that's hoping — next winter, perhaps — Aston slaps a set of proper winter tires onto the DBX and sends that my way. All-seasons are great, but I have a suspicion that (like I found with the GT-R) even grippier snow shoes would only make things more fun.

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That might be as much a driver confidence thing as it is a technical one. Nobody wants to be the idiot who totals the DBX, and with limited time in a powerful and expensive car, I played things on the safer side in the slippery conditions. Happily, you can summon the loudest exhaust settings with a dedicated button, too, regardless of what drive mode you're in. This is unquestionably one of the best-sounding SUVs out there.

Driving at nine-tenths really wasn't the point of my test, probably much to Aston Martin's relief. What stands out is just how easy to live with the 2025 DBX707 is, and though you could argue that should be the case for a vehicle that costs more than a lot of houses, it's certainly not always the way for exotics. The balance struck here — between loud, boisterous sports car and convenient daily-driver — is solid, with the significant dashboard upgrade going a long way.

Do I think the average DBX buyer is considering using it as their winter beater? Unlikely, regardless of Aston's insistence: this is not the car of a person with a single-vehicle garage. But, with a bowl full of keys to choose from, don't doubt the 707's commitment to the bit.

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Maybe, in the end, that's the real point of expensive SUVs like these. If we're going to criticize supercar owners for not sufficiently playing with their toys, then automakers at least need to be making toys suitable for playing with. While taking out a DB12 or Vantage in winter weather could be inviting expensive disaster, this rare and reasonably ridiculous Aston doesn't forget that the "U" in SUV is meant to stand for utility.