Aston Martin DB11 super car: Sporty, but not really a sports car

An Aston Martin DB11 car is seen during the 87th International Motor Show at Palexpo in Geneva this year. (Reuters)

LONDON: Even before I got behind the wheel of a DB11, one fact had already sold me on the new Aston Martin super car: the leather chosen for the interior upholstery was from one specific herd of Scottish long haired cattle grazing on land not enclosed by barbed wire.
As designer Marek Reichman explained at the Aston headquarters in Gaydon, UK, the manufacturer is so concerned about even the most seemingly trivial detail on the DB11, that it sought to avoid any pits and pockmarks that might disfigure the seat leather.
The Aston long hairs don’t get their hide caught on the barbs, nor get bitten by mosquitos, so there are no blemishes on the finished article.
If the designer pays so much attention to the smallest detail, you can be sure the finished product is pretty close to motoring perfection.
And so it was as I put the car through its paces on the winding lanes and country roads of Warwickshire. I’m no petrol head, but even I know a superb piece of motor engineering when I drive one. I’ve tested many of the Aston range in the past, and the DB11 is a few gear-changes up from the others.
It’s sporty, but not really a sports car. It’s a grand tourer (GT), and therefore rather bigger than traditional two-seaters. But the body lines — designed on the geometrical proportions of a Nautilus shell, as Reichman had also explained — make it look as elegant as any of its bigger luxury rivals like Bentley.
Powerful too, although less gas-guzzling than its predecessors. A 5.2 liter V-12 twin-turbo engine delivers acceleration of 0 to 100km in 3.9 seconds and a top speed of 320km per hour. Fast enough to lose your license, if you’re not careful.
But as I say, I’m not really into the torque talk, so other things impressed me on the DB11 more than just performance. The interior is spacious for a GT, with rear seats conformable enough to accommodate passengers on a long journey without the risk of rigor mortis — a definite improvement on predecessors.
And it’s stacked with hi-tech gadgetry, much of it courtesy of Daimler-Mercedes, which has a 5 percent stake in Aston. Windscreen display, 360 degree radar and cameras, and self-parking function are rounded off with a Bang 7 Olufsen sound system to blast out those hard-core road tracks.
It handled and performed as well on congested British motorways as on the country roads. But I can’t wait to open it up on the Middle East’s wide open highways.