When Aston Martin revealed the DB12 as the successor to the phenomenal DB11 grand tourer, the automaker argued that the DB12 had been elevated to "Super Tourer" status. Two years on, and Aston Martin is ready to improve on the platform once again, this time by bestowing a new version of the DB12 with the S badge saved for its paramount models.
On any S-branded Aston Martin, the star of the show is the powertrain. The new S makes use of the same twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V-8 as the non-S variants, but the output has been stretched from 671 to a stout 690 horsepower. Peak torque stays put, with 590 pound-feet delivered at 2750 rpm. Along giving the model extra power, Aston's engineers fiddled with the launch-control system to reduce gearshift times by more than 50 percent, resulting in what they project to be a 0.1-second improvement in the run to 60 mph. Aston Martin claims the DB12 S is good for a 3.4-second sprint, but we think it could do slightly better in ideal conditions.
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