Aston Martin AMV8 - Handling, Interior & Exterior - Riding Shotgun - Road Test Review - Motor

The ride quality is similar to the DB9's: a bit more stiff-jointed and abrupt at lower speeds, but it smooths out as speeds rise, flowing across the tarmac and feeling fluid and composed. There's a slight brittleness when dealing with ridges and expansion joints, but Porritt claims that some tweaks to the bespoke Michelin run-flat tires will improve things. "It might need a bit more than that, but we'll see as we drive more developed versions."

While the ride, handling, and performance characteristics are indicative of the real thing, the mule's rough and ready interior is an eyesore. There's a lot of exposed bodywork, the gearshift works through a naked gate, and the center console is covered in nonstandard toggle switches and dials. And key areas of the cabin and exterior--door handles, air vents, windscreen, and transmission tunnel--are dotted with stick-on thermometers for quick heat reference points. But the interior is functional, for sure.

Crucially, however, the air-conditioning works, and it has to work hard. Turn off the engine, kill the flow of arctic air pumping out into the cabin, and within seconds the interior is unbearably hot. Get out of the car, and it's like stepping into a sauna--except the humidity is hovering around 85 percent. Truly uncomfortable.

The intelligent sharing of componentry between the AMV8 and recently launched DB9 means much of the development work has already been carried out, saving valuable time in getting the smaller, more volume-driven Aston to market. Porritt reckons that with AMV8 production in full stride annual Aston sales will reach 5000. Not bad for a company that a little over a decade ago could count car production on both hands. Out of the haze looms Al Ain, a huge rocky outcrop that rises 5000 feet above the flat and otherwise featureless desert plain. The empty road that snakes its way up its north face is a 20-minute full-throttle race to the top. Chris pulls up at the base of the climb, flicks on the large, dash-mounted toggle switch to activate the telemetry, and then fires the compact Aston up the hill.

Pushing hard up the mountain, this development mule feels taut and wieldy, spearing through corners with poise and stability and whipping along the straights between them with venom. It puts its power down cleanly. But there's a surprising amount of front tire squeal through some of the slower corners. "We set up the prototype cars to understeer much more than the production car," explains Porritt. "Because they're valuable, they have to last. The last thing we want is to bend them." This explains this prototype's full rollcage.