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I drove a $273,000 Aston Martin DB 11 Volante and a $168,000 Mercedes-AMG GT C - here's my choice for the best luxury two-door
I drove a $273,000 Aston Martin DB 11 Volante and a $168,000 Mercedes-AMG GT C - here's my choice for the best luxury two-door
Apr 9, 2019, 23:12 IST
First up, we have the Aston Martin DB11 Volante, the most recent Aston Martin we've tested.
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What we have here is a convertible ...
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... But we've also tested the Aston Martin DB 11 coupé. That tester did have a mega-powerful V12 engine, however, while the Volante had a V8.
The Volante looks good with the top down, but ...
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... The suave, aggressive design comes though with the top dropped.
The DB11's interior is staggeringly stylish — ultra-premium.
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Yes, there's a back seat. No, it isn't for adults to sit in.
The brogued detail on the blue seats in our tester was pure bespoke. Absolutely gorgeous!
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The seat backs are adorned with Tamo Ash.
Under the hood, we find a 4.0-liter, twin-turbo V8, making 503 horsepower.
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Here's where things get interesting. Aston Martin is a small automaker that sells only about 5,000 vehicles per year. So it obtains engines from ... Mercedes AMG!
Likewise, Aston's infotainment system is borrowed from Mercedes.
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The high-grade audio system, however, comes from Bang & Olufsen.
On to the Mercedes-AMG GT C!
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We tested the pure, hardtop GT — a grand-tourer-meets-sports-car with no back seats.
The bulging, curved rear end of the AMG GT isn't as attractive as the sharper tail of the Aston.
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But the overall design of the AMG GT is more aggressive — it has an intensity, while the DB11 goes for beauty.
Inside, the Mercedes-AMG GT is abundantly luxurious, but you can see how Aston Martin has laid claim to a much higher degree of lushness — and prices its cars accordingly.
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In place of the DB11's brogued seats, the AMG GT has this lovely quilted leather. It comes in handy to cushion the car's very stiff suspension.
The 4.0-liter V8 rocks twin turbochargers, making 550 horsepower with 502 pound-feet of torque in the AMG GT C that we sampled. BUT ...
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... As I indicated earlier, this is effectively the same V8 that's under the DB11's hood. The DB11's V8 has been detuned by 47 hp.
Because they're the same, the infotainment systems are a dead heat. For the record, Mercedes owns 5% of Aston Martin.
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The audio systems aren't a dead heat. For whatever reason, I've always thought Aston audio sounds poor relative to other luxury brands. The Burmester setup in the AMG GT sounds magnificent.