My regular trajectory of increasingly identical midsized SUVs was recently blown to pieces by one example that’s a total outlier, to the mixed blessings of British performance fans everywhere.

The two-row, arguably family friendly 2026 Aston Martin DBX S still conforms to a few SUV standards: It has an off-road mode, and you might be able to load a couple of bikes aboard if you were a little cavalier about the vehicle’s wall-to-wall carbon fiber and leather interior.

But with 717 horsepower from a borrowed Mercedes-AMG 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8, the sleek, futuristic and absolutely stunning DBX S is about as far from the SUV pack as you can imagine. Floor it, and it can hit 60 mph in about three seconds flat, or run to a 193-mph top speed — I got to drive it in Los Angeles, so of course both of those numbers made perfect sense — with a mixture of graceful and utterly teeth-jarring rigidity that made it the most beautiful and brutal vehicle I’ve ever driven.

Aston Martin, recognized for more than a century of luxurious, high-speed cars favored by both fictional British secret agents and sophisticated drivers, made a slightly unthinkable turn six years ago in conjuring the first DBX.

While it shares a upper profile that sees the extra-wide mesh grille, hood and core essence of a DB12 sports car transposed onto an SUV body – quite the accomplishment alone – the DBX S further celebrates its family sized status by offering refined space and an upright posture.

The S model, base-priced at $262,500, but amped up here to a personal-record-setting $409,200 with extras including multiple carbon fiber treatments, is itself the extra-strength version of the DBX platform. The chassis has been tightened, the body somewhat lightened and the full-throttle supercar noises accentuated to a degree commensurate with the price tag.

The rigidity, additionally amplified through $21,600 worth of 23-inch magnesium race wheels and super-high-performance tires, made the DBX borderline intolerable on rough pavement — such as I found while inching along through the endless construction zone in the detritus of last year’s wildfires on the Pacific Coast Highway in eastern Malibu.

But — quite thankfully — when I happened on an absolutely vacant, mind-bendingly curvy and surprisingly well-paved mountain canyon road further west, the DBX S’s verifiable race car heritage and pure fury came to life.

The tires helped impart so much lateral grip that objects in the cabin became airborne on a series of 10-mph corners, and the audacious and hellacious crackles of exhaust on exits were a car magazine-styled dream come true. 

Turn-in is so composed, especially when virtually travelling sideways, and the ultra-massive carbon-ceramic brakes and their race-yellow calipers so unbelievably and speed-sheddingly capable, that it’s all a little magical.

I doubt you or your passengers would enjoy an identical tire/wheel setup in Colorado’s now-extended mud season pavement. But they contribute to an automobile that makes giant, straight-line-fast V8 SUVs like Durango, Escalade V and QX80 seem like grain elevators.

The Aston’ standard under-lip aero is aggressive, but not so precious to make real-world driving impossible, so I can see the DBX S surviving a very ritzy gravel-road camping trip or two. Just be mindful of the individual swaths of carbon fiber body trim — side mirrors, upper and lower body — here that can exceed $20,000 apiece.  

Inside, the decor is likewise ultra-luxe, with the options adding contrast stitching and embossed headrests, single-tone leather and a $12,300 Bowers and Wilkins audio system, complete with steampunk-styled tweeters on the dash. Carbon fiber again was the recurring theme, from huge plates on the doors and the tops of the front row seatbacks to the flat-bottomed steering wheel itself.  

Seating is race-car-styled stiff, but comfortable enough for my long day behind the wheel, and even the rear seats are patterned and pleated to help hold passengers in place.   

And while console switchgear is an elegant, historic-inspired nod to Aston Martin’s storied past — lots of cool roller controls, lit-up knobs and a graceful gear tab, plus a further yellow strip of leather celebrating the S models’ racing history — the AV touchscreen was small and messy, and absolutely invisible in bright sunlight, especially while trying to use the back-up camera.  

I did appreciate the integration of the all-new Apple CarPlay Ultra, an Aston Martin first which creates fully custom, all-digital instrument displays integrating CarPlay functionality.