Aston Martin DBS Superleggera
Overview
This is an Aston Martin DBS Superleggera. It is a Grand Tourer produced by British Luxury Car Manufacturer Aston Martin. It was unveiled in 2018 as Aston Martin flagship V12 Grand Tourer based on the DB11 V12 but slightly modified to set it apart from the DB11. The car uses the iconic DBS name plate since the original DBS and the DB9 based DBS V12 with Superleggera name which pays tribute to Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera who helped Aston Martin build their lightest Grand Tourer in the 60s and 70s. It replaced the Vanquish in 2018. The DBS Superleggera shown here is a Volante edition. Volante means convertible as this car is a convertible. It was unveiled in 2019. It is identical to it's coupé counterpart in terms of performance, engine and transmission. It is also the first time on an Aston Martin put carbon fibre as windshield surrounds and rear tonneau cover.
Exterior
The car was designed by Mark Reichman. It has upgraded aerodaynamics which means that when driven, the air enters through the front splitter and exits from underneath the car like a F1 car, then some air goes from side air ducts and escapes through the wheel arches and then again enters the wheel arches and exits through the air ducts in the fenders and goes through it's wing shaped mirrors and enters the ducts behind the door near rear side glass panel and then escapes through the rear vents and the air underneath splits from the dual rear diffusers and the air from vents and diffusers meet at a point creating downforce without increasing the weight from the DB11. It is also wider than the DB11, wider and deeper side-skirts, side-strikes on the front fender, the rear badging is different as it does not have it's traditional winged badge, instead it's just written Aston Martin in big letters due to the huge light bar, and lets not forget the swan doors which mimics the wings of the bird when opened. This car also sits 5mm lower than DB11. Here's something which many people don't know that the hood is a soft close, meaning you don't have to put force on it to close instead it will latch itself.
Interior
The interior is better than the DB11, with racy guage cluster, sporty stitching on the interior, and race seats. The lights inside are not normal bulbs, instead they are LEDs like the dome lights are LED lights instead of bulbs. The steering wheel adjustment, centre console lid and seats are electrically operated. The door handles and dial coverings are metal to give the car an expensive finish, there are almost no plastic in the interior except for the AC vents. Everything is high quality but this car also costs $390,000, so this build quality is expected. All the new Aston Martin cars including DBS Superleggera are equipped with previous generation Mercedes infotainement system as they partnered up with Mercedes. Like the One-77 I reviewed previously, this car also does not have glove compartment. Overall the interior is good except for some stuff which makes you disappointed, for example the switches are heat sensitive, so when you drive you have to take your eyes off the road to press it since it doesn't even have a ridge to figure out the button.
Power and Output
The car is powered by a 5.2L twin-turbocharged V12 with 8-speed ZF automatic transmission with 715HP at 6500rpm and 900Nm of torque at 1800-5000rpm. In order to optimize weight distribution and centre of gravity, the engine is placed as low as possible to the ground and as far as possible to the back from the chassis. It also comes with torque vectoring and limited slip differential for more track focused performance. The new quad-pipe exhaust improves the engine sound whereas the usage of carbon-fibre on the exterior decreases the weight. It has a 0-62mph(0-100km/h) time of 3.4s and has a top speed of 211mph(340km/h). The car is available in three driving modes namely GT mode, Sport mode and Sport Plus mode.
