BEN NEVIS, Scafell Pike and Mount Snowdon represent the three highest mountain peaks in Scotland, England and Wales, respectively.
To do all three in succession—and many hard-charging hikers attempt that challenge in 24 hours—requires lots of driving through the UK’s most glorious landscapes, meaning a fast, comfortable grand tourer is of the essence. What car might be best suited to this mission to the great outdoors? Step forward the Aston Martin DBX707.
Aston Martin is an ancient (in automotive terms) English brand; this car—its super SUV —is built in St Athan, Wales. The acres of sumptuous interior leather are furnished by Bridge of Weir, Scotland. What emerges, therefore, is a holy trinity of British craftsmanship.
Outwardly, the 2024 facelift of the DBX you see here looks little different to when the model first roared onto the scene in 2020. The main changes are on the inside. The previous interior simply wasn’t special enough, nor was it ergonomically brilliant. Now, the car has one that befits a £208,500 high-sided GT, complete with a much-improved infotainment system and a touchscreen. The other notable thing about the DBX is that it is now only available in DBX707 form. The customers have spoken: 542bhp wasn’t enough, so the 697bhp (or 707ps in new money, for Pferdestarke, German for ‘horse strength’) upgrade comes as standard. The 707 uses different turbos, with additional cooling to create that power. Only the less practical and even more expensive Ferrari Purosangue boasts more horses (18 more, to be precise) among petrol SUVs and the DBX’s chassis is so good that I think it could take plenty more.
This story is from the September 03, 2024 edition of Country Life UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the September 03, 2024 edition of Country Life UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Save our family farms
IT Tremains to be seen whether the Government will listen to the more than 20,000 farming people who thronged Whitehall in central London on November 19 to protest against changes to inheritance tax that could destroy countless family farms, but the impact of the good-hearted, sombre crowds was immediate and positive.
A very good dog
THE Spanish Pointer (1766–68) by Stubbs, a landmark painting in that it is the artist’s first depiction of a dog, has only been exhibited once in the 250 years since it was painted.
The great astral sneeze
Aurora Borealis, linked to celestial reindeer, firefoxes and assassinations, is one of Nature's most mesmerising, if fickle displays and has made headlines this year. Harry Pearson finds out why
'What a good boy am I'
We think of them as the stuff of childhood, but nursery rhymes such as Little Jack Horner tell tales of decidedly adult carryings-on, discovers Ian Morton
Forever a chorister
The music-and way of living-of the cabaret performer Kit Hesketh-Harvey was rooted in his upbringing as a cathedral chorister, as his sister, Sarah Sands, discovered after his death
Best of British
In this collection of short (5,000-6,000-word) pen portraits, writes the author, 'I wanted to present a number of \"Great British Commanders\" as individuals; not because I am a devotee of the \"great man, or woman, school of history\", but simply because the task is interesting.' It is, and so are Michael Clarke's choices.
Old habits die hard
Once an antique dealer, always an antique dealer, even well into retirement age, as a crop of interesting sales past and future proves
It takes the biscuit
Biscuit tins, with their whimsical shapes and delightful motifs, spark nostalgic memories of grandmother's sweet tea, but they are a remarkably recent invention. Matthew Dennison pays tribute to the ingenious Victorians who devised them
It's always darkest before the dawn
After witnessing a particularly lacklustre and insipid dawn on a leaden November day, John Lewis-Stempel takes solace in the fleeting appearance of a rare black fox and a kestrel in hot pursuit of a pipistrelle bat
Tarrying in the mulberry shade
On a visit to the Gainsborough Museum in Sudbury, Suffolk, in August, I lost my husband for half an hour and began to get nervous. Fortunately, an attendant had spotted him vanishing under the cloak of the old mulberry tree in the garden.
