Auto review: Aston Martin DBX — your SUV, Mr. Bond

The Aston Martin Rapide is the most beautiful sedan in the world. So it's no surprise the Brit brand's first SUV, the DBX, is a stunner. Now that's how you pen a ute.

America has been overrun by SUVs, but save for the odd Range Rover, luxury automakers have struggled to translate the sex appeal of their sedans/sports cars to the high-riding hatchback. The Porsche Cayenne, which pioneered the performance ute back in 2003, still looks like an overweight 911. Mercedes GLC Coupes look like bowling balls. Even Lamborghini's Urus fails to stir the loins.

The Aston DBX nails it. My white DBX tester takes the ugly SUV duckling and makes it a swan — literally. Signature beak and ovoid headlights sweep backward over a muscled torso to an elegant, swan-like tail. This is a rare bird in the auto kingdom.

But the DBX is about more than good looks.

Like the DB5 sports car that James Bond made famous, the SUV boasts speed and utility. Not rotary-tire-shredders-emerging-from-the-wheels or grille-mounted-machine-gun utility, but useful features nonetheless.

007 style and sophistication

In this Age of Ute, branding is essential as legacy automakers transition to SUVs and electric vehicles. That goes for a $43,000 Mustang Mach-E as well as a $180,000 Aston. The crossover embodies Aston core values earned over decades: style, power and handling.

This SUV is old school, old Europe. It's glorious.

Under the hood is a good old-fashioned V-8 with two turbos strapped to its back. It's the same eight-holer found in Mercedes' AMG models (Merc owns 20% of Aston) as well as Bond's latest Vantage sports car. Exhaling though twin tailpipes the size of ship cannons, the V-8 puts out 542 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque. Our friends at Car and Driver clocked its 0-60 mph time at 3.9 seconds — a half-second shy of Vantage.

Old-school British

The interior is Old Europe as well.

While Mercedes, BMW and Cadillac have introduced a new generation of dazzling, dash-spanning screens, Aston is content with digital instrument and console screens that wouldn't be out of place in a $28,000 Hyundai Elantra. The infotainment screen isn't even touch operated — it can only be controlled by a remote dial. And the screen only supports Apple CarPlay, not my Android Auto (at least there's blind-spot assist since the coupe-like rear roof creates a blind spot the size of Oxford).

The interior and front thrones are wrapped in delicious blue leather. White contrast stitching sows it together. On the door pillars and ceiling? Lush beige Alcantara. My wife swooned. Speaking of castles, the wood-trimmed console arches like a bridge over a moat — the blue leather space underneath perfect for secreting m'lady's purse.

Old-school British touches abound. The hood latch is on the right side of the dash (well, of course it is, most Astons will be sold with right-hand drive). The gears are selected by four buttons — Park, Reverse, Neutral, Drive — located high on the dash. Cupholders strain to hold bottles, and the stitched passenger ceiling handles appear taken from expensive luggage.

And like a winning stallion at the track, it's sinewy flanks are just too gorgeous to ignore.

"I didn't even notice it was an SUV," said one bystander. "It's so beautiful."

A ute it may be, but DBX is a still work of art — just like its ancestors.