What's It Like Taking the Land Rover Defender 110 Over Sand? Just Beachy

aston-martin dbx Full Overview"Watch this." Aston Martin boss Tobias Moers keeps his foot hard on the brake, selects launch control, and pushes the gas pedal to the floor. The revs build with a guttural snarl, then he sidesteps the brake pedal. The Aston Martin DBX707 super-SUV lunges with a roar like a hungry lion, the nine-speed transmission snapping through the upshifts as the twin-turbo V-8 kisses the 7,000-rpm redline. Moers laughs out loud. "It's ridiculous fast," he says.A tight left-hander. Moers pitches the Aston into the turn and punches the throttle. The tail swings wide, and he catches the motion with an armful of opposite lock. He keeps his foot down, and the Aston exits the turn in a graceful drift, as comfortable and composed as a sports car. Moers grins. "You shouldn't be able to do this in an SUV," he says, shaking his head.It's good to see the boss enjoying his new toy.And the Aston Martin DBX707 is very much Moers' toy. His fingerprints are all over Aston's new super-SUV, from the tweaked, AMG-sourced 4.0-liter twin-turbo under the hood, to the AMG Speedshift MCT wet-clutch nine-speed automatic with its Sport+ mode and launch control function, to the chassis that's been tuned to deliver precision and support without compromising ride comfort.The DBX707's mission statement is simple: to be faster than a Lamborghini Urus and to handle better than a Porsche Cayenne Turbo Coupe. And after a brief drive of a production-ready prototype at Aston's compact Stowe Complex test track at Silverstone, England, we're tempted to say, "Mission accomplished."The DBX707's raw thrust is a given: With 697 hp and 664 lb-ft of torque under the hood, even a 5,000-plus-pound SUV is going to feel quick. This Aston builds speed with relentless intensity, the power delivery so smooth and linear, you must carefully watch you don't hit the rev limiter if you're shifting manually. Moers claims a 0-60-mph acceleration time of less than 3.5 seconds and a top speed of 193 mph, and the DBX707 feels every bit that quick.But what's much more impressive than how the DBX707 goes is how it handles. It feels agile and responsive, not twitchy or straining at its tethers, especially when changing direction rapidly. It has, quite simply, the best, most authoritative front end of any super-SUV in the business, precise in its response and concise in its feedback. Turn in, and the Aston goes exactly where you point it. More important, there's plenty of support from the rear axle, right through from corner entry to exit.Much of that, Moers says, is the result of a major rework of the front suspension, particularly in terms of its supporting structures. A cross-brace means the front shock top mounts are 55 percent stiffer than those of the standard DBX. A 0.16-inch-thick underbody panel has raised torsional stiffness by 1.3 percent to improve steering response and impact control. Compression and rebound damping have been increased by 20 and 10 percent.Modifications at the rear include a new e-diff with a higher locking rate, and spring and damper rates that are softer than those at the front. Overall, the electronic active roll system has been recalibrated to deliver 50 percent more torque on low body motions, and the roll control is now more rear-biased at higher cornering speeds to reduce understeer.As a result, the DBX707 feels remarkably light on its feet, with none of the slightly leaden, nose-heavy feel you get when pushing a Lamborghini Urus or a non-GT Porsche Cayenne Turbo Coupe—the car Moers' team initially used as a dynamic benchmark—and little of the exaggerated roll and head toss you normally feel in vehicles with a high center of gravity. And although it's tighter and tauter than a regular DBX, the ride is still impressively refined, with no harshness or jitters over small, sharp lumps and bumps.It still feels more like a grand tourer than a track rat.The Aston Martin DBX707 is hella fast in a straight line and jaw-droppingly good through the twisty bits. We'll reserve final judgment until we get to spend more time with it on real-world roads a few weeks from now, as well as until such time we can pitch it against its rivals in a proper comparison test. On first impression, though, the DBX707 just might be the new benchmark super-SUV.Looks good! More details?

BMW calls the iX its technology flagship, but the 2023 BMW iX M60 aims to be the company's high-performance technology flagship. Built as a true M vehicle, the iX M60 features dual motors for a combined 610 horsepower while still achieving nearly 300 miles of range. The sportier EV crossover won't be all hardcore performance thanks to its air suspension system, innovative interior features, and connectivity that you've come to expect from the Bavarian luxury brand.High-Tech ChassisThe iX M60 leverages the latent performance potential of the relatively lightweight iX xDrive50 model, utilizing an aluminum spaceframe chassis, carbon fiber unibody, and carbon fiber reinforced panels for the roof, side, and rear sections. All that helps it com in at 5,769 pounds, with a large portion residing down low in the battery pack. Those exterior panels can also come in seven different colors, with Alpine White as standard and range from Dark Graphite Metallic, Phyronic Blue Metallic, Blue Ridge Mountain Metallic, Storm Bay Metallic, Oxide Grey Metallic, and Aventurin Red Metallic.A double-wishbone setup is found up front, while the rear is a five-link. All four corners are suspended by an air suspension system with electronically controlled dampers, which take roll, acceleration, deceleration, vehicle speed, and even steering input to make sure the body stays planted. That damper rate is further mapped differently depending on the "My Modes" setting, which is changed by a button on the center console. Steering is assisted by BMW's Servotronic with a variable ratio steering rate. This all is designed to deliver optimum handling and feel while also keeping the M60's height correct at any speed and any load. You can also adjust the height of the body manually if you think you need extra ground clearance or not.The wheels and tires the iX M60 comes with will, of course, also play a role in upping its performance over an iX xDrive50. The standard wheel is a 21-inch design wrapped in 255/50R21 sized tires on all four corners. The optional wheel is a half-inch-wider, 22-inch-diameter aluminum wheel with a unique aerodynamic design and Titanium Bronze color with a 275/40R22 tires. Behind either wheel are blue-painted, Brembo-made brake calipers with the "M" logo, letting bystanders know that you have the highest performance braking yet fitted to a stock BMW EV. It's a fixed four-piston caliper for each front wheel and a fixed two-piston caliper on each rear.High-Tech InteriorInside, every iX M60 will come standard with BMW's Live Cockpit Professional and Natural Interaction, which allows you to activate certain functions via your voice or even by gestures, much like your smartphone. Giving you and your occupants theater quality sound is a standard Bowers and Wilkins Diamond Surround Sound system. The headliner comes in Anthracite as standard but you do get five different interior colors to choose from. The Oyster, Mocha, and Black colored interiors come in perforated SensaTec synthetic materials but if you want the feel of real hide, you can get perforated leather coverings in Amido or Castenea Chestnut colors.Both the front passenger and the driver are treated to Active Seat Ventilation, but the hot part is the Radiant Heating Package. This system warms not only the seats, steering wheel, and armrests but also the door panels and dashboard, as found in some Mercedes products these days. You'll still get more traditional hot air to defrost the windows courtesy of an efficient heat pump system. A thermally insulated windshield helps keep that warm air in. Occupants are also surrounded by ambient lighting with LED strips located between the door cars and windows and in the Panoramic Sky Lounge LED roof.Fifth-Generation Rear MotorNow, we get to the fun bit: the e-motors that drive the BMW iX M60. BMW employs a three-phase AC synchronous motor out back, which according to BMW allows for more energy density, faster switching frequency, and better heat management—all of which translate to higher RPM, more horsepower, and more torque. More power and torque, indeed—the standard combined output of both the front and rear motor is 532 hp and 749 lb-ft of torque. Individually, the front motor provides 255 hp while the rear motor provides 483 hp in normal operation. In Sport Boost mode, that jumps to 610 hp while Launch Mode slams you in the back of your seat with 811 lb-ft of torque.Battery Type and CapacityThe iX M60 employs a lithium-ion battery pack with a 106.3-kWh nominal power capacity. It's capable of Level 2 AC charging at up to an 11-kW charging rate for a 0-100 percent charge in just over 10 hours. However, it is also DC fast charge capable at up to 250 kW, going from 10-80 percent full in about 35 minutes. In all, you'll get 280 miles of range out of the iX M60 on a full charge, according to BMW's preliminary EPA rating.If you're looking for the current epitome of EV performance with a focus on German build quality, you're going to want to take a look at the 2023 iX M60. At the very least, you're getting a taste of BMW's bright and powerful future. The 2023 BMW iX M60 is set to launch in June of 2022 with a base price of $106,095.

During Monterey Car Week, billions of dollars of exotic cars, classics, and other rolling reminders that you don't make the big bucks descent on Monterey, California, to slosh around into a dizzying slurry of gross excess. It's an amazing, overwhelming thing to take in, for sure, but luckily there's a blowoff valve of sorts for that suffocating wealth and glamour: Concours d'Lemons.Held in nearby Seaside, California, a nice enough spot that, like most of the rest of America, resembles Oscar the Grouch's dingy trash can by comparison to Monterey, the Concours d'Lemons forces you to physically leave Car Week's fever dream environment.Oh, and it also exclusively hosts shit cars. Just real salt-of-the-rust stuff, like Ford Pintos and homemade Lamborghini replicas. We're not being mean, either—the show, spun off of the 24 Hours of Lemons dirtball, low-buck racing series—is a self-proclaimed celebration of automotive detritus.We last checked in to this steaming pile of a car show in 2019, so we held our noses and decided to go back. This year's show took over the parking lot and nearby lawn of the Seaside City Hall, and featured such bizarro junk such as a malaise-era American luxury sedan bedecked in some kind of craft "hair" and sporting a bug-eyed horse head atop it; a faux Lamborghini Countach; and some '80s Volkswagens.Of course there were tons of eyesores in-between, and the show was packed. Check out what showed up in our extensive gallery:We'd say "at least it was free," but this show should be free, because no one should need to pay to experience this. And that's exactly what makes it so enjoyable.