THE BEST- HANDING, BEST-RIDING LUXURY SUV IN THE WORLD? PROBABLY.

The guttural V-8 growl is as familiar as the iconic winged logo on the leather-clad steering wheel.

- ANGUS MACKENZIE

But overlaying it are sounds never before heard in an Aston Martin: a distant ticking of gravel peppering the underside, the muffled thud of rubber on rock, the swoosh of muddy water cascading over the hood.

We’re dancing an Aston Martin DBX prototype through the wilderness of Oman, on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It feels right at home.

We’ve covered the oily bits of Aston’s first-ever SUV on MotorTrend.com, but here’s a quick recap: The DBX is built on a brand-new all-aluminum body structure engineered and developed in-house at Aston Martin.

Under the hood is the ubiquitous 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 that powers sundry Mercedes-AMG models as well as versions of Aston’s own DB11 and Vantage sports cars. Developing 542 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque, it’s hooked up to Daimler’s smooth nine-speed automatic and a performance version of the company’s 4Matic all-wheel-drive system, with an active center differential and rear e-diff.

Suspension is by way of triple-chamber air springs with active anti-roll, and 22-inch wheels are standard.

The DBX we’re driving is what Aston calls a 1PT—a first production-trial build— which means it’s one of the first cars to come off the line at the newly opened factory in St. Athan, Wales.

Riding shotgun is Aston Martin vehicle attribute engineering chief Matt Becker, who points out the steering and suspension calibrations are still being finalized, as is the software that controls the pops and bangs from the exhaust in Sport+ mode. Otherwise—apart from the usual manufacturing process tweaks to ensure things like the door fits and wiper locations are optimized to reduce wind noise—it’s close to the final spec of the DBXs that will arrive in the U.S. in the second half of the year.