It might make you frown: Aston Martin is now offering their flagship DB11 with a V8 engine, which is made by Mercedes-AMG. It is the first, visible, step into the collaboration of these two legendary automotive names. By not being part of a larger conglomerate Aston Martin joined forces with Mercedes-AMG. For them it is a way to get access to great engines, so they don’t have to develop completely from scratch themselves, which as a highly exclusive brand that only sells a limited amount of cars each year takes up a disproportional part of the investments. As this might disappoint some fans, it shouldn’t. The engines of Mercedes-AMG are ample performers, known to be reliable, and all around respected.
Back to the DB11, why would you buy a V8 instead of a V12, or vice versa depending on your viewpoint? That will be a matter of taste. Aston Martin is not the first to offer a nearly identical car with either a V12 or a V8. Bentley does it with both the Flying Spur and The Continental, although there the V12 is a W12. Mercedes-AMG actually made a legacy out of it, offering both the SL and the S-class with V8’s and V12’s for years.
Fitting the DB11 with a V8 does more to the car then you would think. While it has almost 100hp less than the V12 (503hp against 600hp), it is only 0.1 seconds slower in the 0-60 mph sprint. This is mainly thanks to the 253 lb lighter weight of the V8 version, thanks to the more compact engine. Overall you will notice this especially in the corners, where you have a more agile, responsive car to work with.
Aston Martin’s engineers didn’t just take a V8 off the rack at Mercedes-AMG and mounted it in the DB11, but modified it so that it fits the character of the car. Air intake, throttle response, ECU software and the wet sump lubrication system have, among others, all been modified and the engine is mounted to a ZF eight-speed gearbox instead. Because of its different size, the V8 is also mounted differently than the V12, resulting in a near perfect weight balance of 49/51.
Visually it is hard to tell the V8 and the V12 version of the DB11 apart, although the price tag of the V8 will start at $198.995,- which makes it $17.500,- less expensive as the V12. Why would people still buy the V12? Because it is exactly that, a V12: A twelve-cylinder symphony which is only made nowadays by a handful of car companies. The Aston Martin DB11 V8 can be ordered now with the first deliveries expected in last quarter of this year.
