Mark my words, this may look like a merely thoroughly face-lifted DB11, but the new DB12 is likely to be considered one of the more important cars in the history of Aston Martin. These come along every so often, vehicles that are meant to reset the direction of the company and return   to the course from which it has wavered. This is perhaps not a car of DB2, DB7 or DB9 significance, but as the first new Aston produced entirely under the watchful eye of Canadian billionaire, largest shareholder and executive chairman Lawrence Stroll, it is surely not far away.

Although derived from the DB11, the company says the car is 85% new, and it’s certainly true that no areas of its endeavours have been left untouched. The body is entirely new, the structure beneath stiffened and modified. The suspension retains the same architecture but is broader in track and difference in every setting. The engine is still the AMG 4-litre V8, but now tuned to produce not 503bhp as before – which lagged behind the class average – but 671bhp, which puts   it far ahead.

“This is likely to be one of the more important Aston Martins”

Most importantly however, the DB12 now has an interior worthy of both the wings on its nose and the price tag in its windscreen. The look is svelte, the materials superb   and the cascading centre console offers both a touchscreen and physical buttons to press. The screen is smaller and more letterbox shaped than I’d like, but it’s a huge leap forward from the clunky three-generations-old Mercedes system used in the DB11 and certainly no longer presents all by itself a reason to not buy the car.

One of the few things that has not changed is its positioning in the market place. Under the old guard when the DB12 was being mapped out they did flirt with the idea of making it more hardcore so that it would stand as a Ferrari Roma rival; but then the new broom swept such thoughts away and kept it firmly between its Italian rival and the   biggest domestic threat from Bentley in Crewe. It’s a sensible decision.

But for all the changes that have been wrought, the DB12 doesn’t feel like a new car, and there’s not necessarily anything wrong in that. The driving position is the same, the feel of the steering very similar. The engine still produces a baritone howl on demand and the way the car addresses the road is determined primarily by an unchanged wheelbase. Think of it instead as a friend who’s never taken personal fitness that seriously who suddenly and quite unexpectedly turns up taut and toned having spent the last sixth months in the gym. It’s clearly the same person, but with capabilities beyond anything his or her old self could imagine.

No prizes for guessing that, with all that extra power and only 50 additional kilos, the DB12 is one heck of a lot faster than before. And while that’ll appeal to customers who want the quickest car in the class, all that additional top-end shove has been achieved only by sacrificing quite a lot of low-down flexibility. This is no longer a car that kicks from barely more than idling revs – you need to change down, and sometimes more than one gear, before it’ll take off. But when it does, it absolutely flies.

The engineers have done a better job on the chassis where the combination of bespoke Michelin tyres, an electronic differential, state of the art dampers, a wider track and slightly firmer springs have turned the DB12 into an unlikely road warrior while, and this is important, retaining a level of ride quality that allows it to maintain a firm grip on its grand touring credentials.

What’s so admirable is that despite all there is that militates against it being a truly rewarding driver’s car – its size, its wheelbase, its weight, its relatively gentle spring rates – that is precisely what it manages to be. It’s beautifully neutral as you turn into a corner, the steering as well-weighted, accurate and reassuring as you could possibly hope, traction from the apex is exceptional for a front-engined, rear-drive machine of this power, and if you want to be an idiot, it’ll permit as much oversteer as you like without ever becoming unpredictable and ragged as the DB11 could be for the overly adventurous.

All that’s missing is the option of the V12 engine that came with the DB11 from launch, and that’s because it’s being ‘saved for another purpose’. For that read the replacement for the DBS, likely to be seen by the end of this year and, I suspect, to be called Vanquish. It seems only the pinnacle product is worthy of the pinnacle engine these days.

Expect instead, then, for the DB12’s already massive power to be boosted in due course by the addition of a hybrid unit. The combination is already under the bonnet of the Mercedes-AMG GT four-door where it produces, wait for it, 831bhp, so clearly there’s a lot more power to come. But whether the result will be better than this ‘standard’ DB12, or merely even faster, remains to be seen. If it can fill in the hole at the bottom of the DB12’s torque curve that will be useful service indeed, but otherwise it’s hard to see such a car carrying another couple of hundred kilos improving materially on this car. For the DB12 is an outstanding car and one of which Aston Martin will be rightly proud.

Aston Martin DB12

Price £185,000
Engine 4 litres, eight cylinders, petrol, turbocharged
Power 671bhp at 6000rpm
Torque 590lb ft at 2750rpm
Weight 1815kg (DIN)
Power to weight 370bhp per tonne
Transmission Eight-speed automatic, rear-wheel drive
0-62mph 2.6sec
Top speed 202mph
Economy 23.2mpg
CO2 276g/km
Verdict Finally, a truly sporting Aston.