Aston Martin DBX 707 Destroys Bentley Flying Spur in Strange British Luxury Drag Race

It’s no secret that British luxury cars are powered by German engineering and technology. So you’re about to watch a drag race between the most powerful Aston Martin SUV, the DBX 707, and the most powerful Bentley in Europe, the Flying Spur W12. But actually, this is a Mercedes-AMG V8 defeating a VW Group 12-cylinder. Oops, we spoiled the outcome!

Aston Martin started off pretty slow in the SUV segment, but there’s no doubt the DBX is one of the sexiest 4×4 ever made. It’s just a little disappointing to have a German V8 from this brand. The DBX 707 is supposed to be the fast one, but it doesn’t have a V12 either, unlike the DBS Superleggera and the V12 Vantage. Instead, it does what all SUVs do and just re-tunes its twin-turbo V8.

But the 707 treatment brings massive gains which cannot be ignored. Normally, the 4.0-liter twin-turbo supplied by AMG delivers a respectable 542 horsepower, but it’s been tuned to 697 horsepower, or 707 PS if you live in Europe. That’s about 29% more of the good stuff, so you know this wasn’t achieved using just software.

The engine features brand new turbochargers and better air induction from vents located inside those LED halos, while the reprogrammed control unit was created under powertrain engineer Ralph Illenberger, who came from AMG. The gearbox is often overlooked. They replaced the standard DBX’s nine-speed with an AMG version that features a wet clutch pack instead of a torque converter. It’s basically faster, stronger, and adds a Race Start launch control. It’s also been redesigned to be more aggressive, though it’s nowhere near as in-your-face as the DBX by Mansory.

The luxury/sports SUV has become a prime pick for football players (of both kinds) and celebrities. But a couple of decades ago, everybody had something like this Bentley Flying Spur. This W12 Continental sedan is described by Mat Watson from Carwow as being the “most powerful and quickest four-door Bentley you can buy in Europe” because the Bentayga Speed isn’t offered for emissions reasons.

It would have been nice to see a DBX vs Bentayga vs Cullinan drag race, but this is still entertaining to watch for… unexpected reasons. Carwow must have had problems with its cameras because several shots show Mat Watson animated like a South Park character of the Canadian variety. That has a great comedic effect, but it doesn’t impact the outcome of the race.

The DBX 707 is lighter than the Flying Spur and it makes more power. So even though the Bentley has a bigger engine and the same torque, it loses the race. The worst loss is in on the third attempt when Mat disables stability control and gets a much better launch.

Conclusion? A lighter British SUV with an AMG engine and bigger turbos is faster than a 12-cylinder British luxury sedan on a Porsche platform. Doesn’t really help if you can’t afford to buy either of these cars, but at least we know the DBX 707 is packing some heat.

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