Aston Martin DB12 | PH Used Buying Guide

The first DB12s are almost three years old already - how are they faring?

By Tony Middlehurst / Sunday, 15 March 2026 / Loading comments

Key considerations

Available for £ 145,000
4.0-litre V8 petrol twin turbo, rear-wheel drive
Sharper than the DB11, but no V12 option now
Looks amazing, goes just as well
Plenty of issues in early cars
Values holding despite that

Launched at the Cannes Film Festival in the south of France in May 2023, 75 years after the first DB was built, the DB12 coupé was the first Lawrence Stroll-era Aston. Aston called the Gaydon-built 12 a 'super tourer' rather than a 'grand' one, stating (perhaps rather too grandly) that 'grand' wasn't a big enough word to describe the experience. They then went on to say that it was the world's first super tourer, which you couldn't really deny as they'd just invented that sector and the DB12 was the founder (and only member).

Like the DB11, the 12 offered the classic two-plus-two GT recipe of big power in a front/mid-engined rear-wheel drive format. Lighter and more powerful than the DB11, it was up against cars like the Bentley Continental GT and, when the 110kg heavier Volante convertible version came along in August '23, cars like the Ferrari Roma Spider. Although the DB12's bonded aluminium monocoque wasn't new, changes to it boosted the coupé's torsional rigidity by seven per cent while an aggressive new body look with a much bigger grille boosted its intimidation factor by, well, let's say 32.5 per cent. New suspension, electromechanical steering and a DB first in the torque-vectoring electronic rear diff all joined the party to back up the car's more sportlicher market positioning.

By 2023, Aston's engine agreement with Mercedes-AMG had been in place for a decade. You could have had the preceding 11 with a 5.2 litre V12 instead of the 4.0 litre M177 twin-turbo 'hot vee' V8, but now the 12 in the new car's name only signified its place in the Aston timeline rather than the number of cylinders in its engine because the V12 was no longer available. There was no hybrid assistance for the V8 either, but bigger turbochargers, more efficient cooling and some other in-house tuning lifted its power by a hefty 34 per cent over the first 100kg lighter 510hp DB11 V8s to a new figure of 680hp. claimed by Aston to be the best in class. With 590lb ft of torque (90lb ft up on the 11) and the gold standard ZF 8HP eight-speed hydraulic converter auto box attached, the DB12 had enough juice to get it through the 0-62mph run in 3.6sec, or 3.7sec in the heavier Volante.

Both times were around 0.3 seconds less than the DB11 had needed for the same test. A slightly more powerful, lighter and louder S version unveiled in October 2025 chipped 0.1 seconds off the 0-62mph times for both DB12 models, probably as much a result of the 50 per cent shortening of gearshift times as of the 20hp power increase, the torque staying unchanged. PH will be having a shot in the S very soon. The opportunity to buy the first DB12 off the line was auctioned off for charity at $1.6 million, quite an uplift on the coupé's 2023 recommended retail price of £185,000, which was £20k more than the V8 DB11.

Three years on, a used DB12 is a little more affordable, although not by much. Values have been holding up pretty well. At the time of writing in March 2026 Mat Armstrong's smashed, rebuilt and raffled 2023 car with 2,000 miles on it (Cat S, obviously, but inspected by Aston Martin) had been put up for sale by the raffle winner at £100,000, making it the cheapest DB12 on the market by a long chalk, but the normal starting money for one of the thirty-odd DB12s on sale in the UK in March '26 (none of which had passed the 10,000 mile mark) was just over £140k. Of those, around three in ten were Volantes, the cheapest example we found coming in at a tenner under £159k.

That represents a £40k or 20 per cent drop over two and a half years, again not bad, although for clarity that isn't taking into account options (AM press coupés were specced up to £220k from £185k) or the fact that a new 2026MY coupe is now priced at £197,500. Make that £234,500 if you go for a PCP deal including a final payment of £130k.

SPECIFICATION | ASTON MARTIN DB12 (2023-on)

Engine: 3,982cc V8 32v twin-turbo
Transmission: 8-speed auto, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 680@6,000rpm
Torque (Ib ft): 590@2,750-6,000rpm
0-62mph (secs): 3.6 (coupé), 3.7 (Volante)
Top speed (mph): 202 (coupe or Volante)
Weight (kg): 1,685 (coupé), 1,796 (Volante)
MPG (official combined): 23.2
CO2 (g/km): 276
Wheels (in): 9.5 x 21 (f), 10.5 x 21 (r)
Tyres: 275/35 (f), 325/30 (r)
On sale: 2023-on
Price new (2023): £185,000
Price now: from £142,000

Note for reference: car weight and power data is hard to pin down with absolute certainty. For consistency, we use the same source for all our guides. We hope the data we use is right more often than it's wrong. Our advice is to treat it as relative rather than definitive.

ENGINE & GEARBOX

Aston said that its engineers were responsible for tuning the 4.0 V8 up to its new power level, citing modified cam profiles alongside the bigger turbos and cleverly uprated cooling system which included lots more body apertures, channels and vents, an extra couple of auxiliary coolers to help the main central radiator, plus another low temperature rad for the charge cooler circuit and a new oil cooler that was twice the size of the old one.

The carbonfibre-propshafted powertrain was predictably excellent. Thrust in both midrange and top end was plentiful, the 12's newly shortened final drive ratio giving it a noticeably greater sense of urgency than the 11. Thankfully not so noticeable was the performance difference on the road between the coupé and the Volante, the convertible's on-paper shortfall in acceleration paling into insignificance when you were giving it laldy through a Provencale rock tunnel.

The 8HP gearbox was just about flawless in either application, successfully trading off the nowadays increasingly narrow time gaps between torque-converted and twin-clutched gearchanges for a welcome improvement in everyday smoothness. The cultured driving experience was complemented by a well-tuned exhaust note. Sonically speaking of the old V12 Astons were in a different league, but for a turbo V8 the DB12's gave a very good account of itself.

Based on the official combined fuel consumption figure of 23mpg the DB12's tank capacity of just over 17 gallons gave you a potential cruising range of nearly 400 miles. In reality that official figure was a little pessimistic. 28mpg was entirely achievable, taking you over the 450-mile mark without the requirement for hypermiling techniques.

Unfortunately early cars appear to have suffered from their fair share of problems, many of them apparently down to buggy software. Some engines weren't running well on one bank of cylinders, sometimes reportedly due to fritzing injectors. Injectors and spark plugs have been replaced under warranty, as have fuel pumps to rectify a perceived shortage of pressure. Limp modes restricting the speed to 15mph could arrive out of the blue, clearing themselves on restarts. Settings for the exhaust, Individual drive mode and other driver assistance items didn't always 'stick' and had to be freshly re-entered for each new journey.

There was a recall in late 2024 for DB12s built up to July 2024 (along with DBX707s and Vantages, over 4,400 cars in total) to sort out oil cooler hoses that were at risk of rupture, potentially leading to oil loss and engine stall or seizure. On the positive side these cars came with five years worth of free servicing, so paying for that won't be an issue until 2028 at the earliest.

CHASSIS

The DB12 had new-generation adaptive dampers, springs and anti-roll bars that were stiffer than the DB11's, The DB-first e-diff was set up to work with a new ESC system to improve agility in slower corners and stability in faster ones. Five driving modes were accessed through the knurled rotary controller (Wet, GT, Sport, Sport+ and Individual) and four modes (Wet, On, Track and Off) for the new intelligent and usefully widebanded ESP, selectable along with the exhaust settings by a physical dial. There was a big difference in response between the softest and hardest modes.

The blend of security and excitement was eye-opening and addictive. Torsional stiffness for the coupé was said to be seven percent greater than the DB11's and five percent stiffer in the Volante droptop courtesy of a new front crossmember, rear bulkhead, engine cross brace and front and rear undertrays. Those new dampers gave the 12 a welcome smoothness at speed or when ambling around town. Topped off by well weighted, solid-mount steering, the whole package added up to a tighter and more controlled drive than the DB11's, with no penalty on comfort. A modern Rolls or Bentley would top the DB12 on ultimate refinement, but most if not all Aston owners would have no objection to that in exchange for its ability to follow a chosen line without undue deflection even on heavily cambered roads.

In terms of overall road behaviour there was very little difference between the coupé and the convertible, which to all intents and purposes felt just as stiff and wobble-free as the coupé. Three forged wheel designs were available: a standard gloss silver five-spoke, or multispoke and Y-spoke options in satin black (regular or diamond-turned), satin platinum (multispoke) or satin bronze (Y-spoke). The bronze Ys looked incredible with Magnetic Silver body paint. Aston said that the DB12's 21-inch wheels were 8kg lighter than the DB11's 20-inch ones, presumably all four together rather than an 8kg saving each.

Standard tyres were bespoke 21-inch Pilot Sport 5 S Michelins with foam inserts designed to reduce the transmission of road hum to the interior by 20 percent. You could still hear them though, hardly surprising given the massive acreage of tread rubber. Carbon ceramic brakes were available as an option to the standard iron discs. They saved 27kg in unsprung mass but they did need a good shove to work. CBs have become standard fit on the new DB12 S.

BODYWORK

The DB12 brought in AM's big new bonnet badge which was also on the boot and steering wheel. The bonnet itself with new AM matrix LED lights changed from a clamshell to a more conventional segmented design, which was good news for crash repairs. Not so neat was the apparently unpaintable black plastic housing for the radar cruise control gubbins that sat below the front numberplate.

Compared to the DB11 the 12's body was over 20mm wider, with wider tracks front (6mm) and rear (15mm). The reshaped rad aperture and splitter accentuated those wide-track visuals but the 12's maximum width from the end of one reshaped and frameless door mirror to the other was actually the same as the 11's. The 12's size meant you did need to have a care when bobbing around town or negotiating a multistorey car park, but any sensation of unwieldiness quickly dissipated.

The Volante's eight-layer fabric top let loose with the odd unseemly creak but it was deployable at speeds of up to 31mph, dropping in 14 seconds and closing in 16, which was fast enough for most British showers. It did a good job of keeping the wind off your barnet and packed down to a usefully slim shape, cutting the stored hood's reduction of boot space to 60 litres, but we're talking just over 200 litres in total compared to the coupé's just over 260 litres, neither of which are exactly expedition-level. You certainly couldn't fit a golf bag in there.

There was no release button at the boot: you had to open it from the driver's door panel or via the keyfob. Doorhandles popped out on the keyfob too. You didn't have to prod them with your digit as per the DB11. The passenger side window has been known to drop to the halfway point. Simply winding it back up didn't fix it. Winding it up and holding the button before turning the car off usually did. The Volante's rear windows could behave oddly. They did on the UK press car.

INTERIOR

Most DB11 owners would have found it difficult to deny the improvements made for the DB12's cabin. It was clearly superior, with lovely design and materials including 'aromatic' hand-stitched Bridge of Weir hides with occasionally less than perfect stitching that will either make you think fondly of little old ladies in draughty Scottish sheds or do your head in. The heated seats gave good support without being too jaggedy on your body. You could have the seat backs covered in wood, if that was your bent. 16-way heated/ventilated Sports Plus seats were on the options list, as were carbon seats.

Obviously the rear seats (Isofixed, as were the fronts) were best used by kids who hadn't reached second school age yet or, perhaps more likely, by soft weekend bags, especially if you'd chosen the small-booted Volante. It was a 2+2 though, and there was no sensation of being shortchanged on space in the front section. You were far enough away from your travelling companion to not feel cramped, the driving position was excellent and the seats themselves were more than fine, although the passenger seat cooling function didn't work on some cars.

DB12 controls were a good mix of digital and analogue. The 10.25-inch infotainment screen wasn't something from the Mercedes parts shelf. It was Aston's first in-house effort, the tech supporting over-the-air upgrades as well as CarPlay and Android Auto, albeit not wirelessly in the early cars. There was wireless phone charging on the shelf under the new centre screen. The screen was operable by touch, and that's worth noting because that hadn't been the case for every other Aston, even recent ones.

In general the design, usability and materials quality, and the provision of lovely roller controls for HVAC and audio operations was very pleasing. Maybe the speedo and tachometer were on the small side and the central vents felt a bit cheap, but at least you had physical override switches to cancel those sometimes annoying functions like Lane Assist. That's if it was all working...

For some early adopters in particular the in-house system wasn't a good thing. Besides having to regularly reset the settings for the infotainment, temperature and for some driver assistance features, more than a few owners were coming up against slow or unresponsive screens. Too-small fonts, icons that were either too small or too big, glitchy radio and navigation operation, screen darkness during the day and over-brightness at night - these all conspired to tarnish the DB12 experience for owners. Some screens could become warm to the touch too. Both infotainment and the driver screens could randomly go dark, something hardly unique in our modern motoring world. Some audios defaulted to very high volume on startup. Using CarPlay could trip the air-con over from auto to manual. Owners were told that OTA software updates couldn't be performed due to 'insufficient battery'. There were false alerts for, among other things, broken mirror indicator bulbs.

As an option to the standard 11-speaker 390 watt audio you could have a 15-speaker, twin-amped 1,170 watt surround sound system by Bowers & Wilkins was said to provide sensorially supercharged audio and the most enthralling sound experience possible in an Aston Martin.

PH VERDICT

Aston Martin saw the DB12 as the kicking-off point for a new era of Astons characterised by prodigious performance and seamless integration of advanced technologies as well as the sublime style and exemplary craftsmanship for which the brand had long been renowned. As you might guess, those are their words not ours, and there were plenty more like that which we'll spare you, but in fairness there was some substance to the hyperbole.

Lawrence Stroll had reputedly called the DB11 'slow', but as far as we're aware he hasn't levelled the same (presumably light-hearted) accusation at the 12 and it doesn't take long behind the wheel to work out why. It delivered a mighty, grand (or super) touring experience with a more sporting edge, plus arguably a more handsome appearance than the DB11's, with a greater sense of involvement than you'd get from a Bentley and a level of comfort, quality and heritage that you'd expect to get from a hybrid blend of both, If such a vehicle existed.

Some have said that the DB12 is a little too large for the UK, but when you took the mirrors into account there was no real difference between it and the DB11; and besides that its road-filling dimensions here were never going to be an issue in the 12's key markets where all the serious money was going to be made. Some owners postulated that the teething troubles we've talked about in this story might have been down to the car's premature release onto the market, and there has been some anecdotal evidence to suggest that Volantes had more issues than the coupés.

There's also been no shortage of complaints about the level of customer service. Most if not all of the early issues should have been fixed by now, though. If we cut those out, what you're left with is a beautifully executed evolution of the DB line, both cosmetically and dynamically, and just in the nick of time too for the long-term future of a brand that perhaps shouldn't need to be leaning quite so hard on the exploits of a cheesy fictional character.

As intimated in the overview there were just under forty used DB12s for sale on various UK classified sites in March 2026, starting at around £140k. This is PistonHeads, so let's see what tempters there might be in our classifieds section. The lowest-priced example there at the time of writing was this '24 coupé with 9,600 miles at £144,898 but there were plenty of alternatives at the £145k mark including this 3,200-miler and this 4,900-miler. Put another £5k into the pot and you could be in this Luxe collection car in blue.

For £153k you could wow the neighbourhood in this Storm Purple car with B&W audio and ceramic brakes. Volantes on PH kick off at around £162k for cars like this one in Lightning Silver or this one in black with a bold orange interior. Just for comparison, the most affordable V8 DB11s on PH start at £64,000 for 40,000-mile coupés rising to £100k for late low-mileage examples, or £108,000 for Volantes. Quite a gap from there to a £140k DB12, but you might well think it's worth the difference.

See every DB12 for sale