Aston Martin Valhalla reviewed: the 1000bhp hybrid supercar that drives like an Aston

Andrew Frankel drives the 1064bhp Aston Martin Valhalla on road and track in northern Spain, finding a mid-engined hybrid supercar that defies expectations with its refinement, feel, and true Aston Martin character

Aston Martin Valhalla hybrid supercar tested in Navarra

Just under 1000 Aston Martin Valhallas will be made – more an everyday driver than the flagship Valkyrie

Andrew Frankel
April 28, 2026

It was up in the hills above Navarra that I finally came to accept that the Valhalla is a proper Aston Martin. That may seem a strange thing to read, but I’d wondered from the start what relevance was a carbon-fibre, mid-engined, two-seat, plug-in hybrid to the brand. There’d been the Valkyrie but I’d always seen that as an Adrian Newey project in which Aston Martin was involved – a pure outlier so far as the marque was concerned. Aston are luxurious and sporting. They have never been about how fast you go, but more how you go fast.

On those roads, made treacherous by recent rain, being both pulled and pushed along by upwards of 1000bhp, I discovered the Aston within. We progressed with teeth no more gritted than knuckles were whitened. I have found myself in similar conditions in far less potent cars going faster than I’d have chosen through the sheer professional imperative of being able to tell you what the car was like. This was not like that: for all the awesome potential at my disposal, the carbon tub, the pushrod suspension, the massive aero package and forboding name, the Valhalla is far from the untameable beast its description might imply. It was fun. I felt a level of confidence only McLarens tend to provide these days and when I learned its chief engineer was recruited straight from Woking I can barely describe how unsurprised I was.

Aston Martin Valhalla rear view on winding road

Active aerodynamics give 600kg of downforce. Below: driving position feels like that of an endurance prototype

The only real surprise is how hard it tries to put you off. At least at first. It is very comfortable, with the kind of bum-down, feet-up driving position more reminiscent of prototype racing cars, but the glasshouse is shallow enough to make you wonder how easy it will be to judge its extremities. There is no luggage area, front or rear, so everything you want or need to take with you must travel in the cabin. How many people are simply not going to buy one because to do meaningful distances you must either travel with the most minimal kit, alone, or not at all? If the view was that this didn’t matter as most would be bought as investments rather than driven, the fact that an unspecified number of the 999 cars remain unsold suggests a flaw in thinking.

Nor is the interior the kind of sybaritic space you might expect and certainly hope for from an Aston. The instrument pack looks like it could have come from an electric crossover SUV and the seat simply slides fore and aft, though your dealer can set it into one of three preset tilt angles.

“So often cars that feel good on the road soon fall apart on track, but not this one”

But the moment you start driving it, you’ll be gabbling forgiveness within a mile. It’s not even that the engine is a siren call, serenading you with music you thought no car could make; on the contrary with a flat plane crank fitted to the AMG-sourced 4-litre V8, its voice is hard-edged and purposeful for sure, but not gorgeous to listen to. However, the ride quality is sublime, the sense of connection to the road genuinely extraordinary for a car with both a driven front axle and electrically assisted power steering and once you’ve found top gear, it’s even quiet enough to make you want to drive it all day.

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And then the roads get good. The biggest danger here is you. Even after half a lifetime doing this job, the way it delivers its performance is so intoxicating I’d understand anyone feeling the need to pull over and have a word with themselves in the mirror (I’m talking figuratively here because your view behind is provided by a camera). The acceleration is astonishing, but that’s the least interesting aspect of this car’s performance. It’s the way the hybrid works to fill in the holes in the torque curve that an engine producing over 200bhp per litre of capacity all by itself presents without lag, or any clue it is electricity making it possible.

Even on bespoke Michelin Pilot Sport S 5 tyres (the weather precluding the use of the more extreme Cup 2 option), grip levels are outrageous, but again to look at this in such binary terms is to miss the point: it’s the feel the car imparts, that sense of being entirely at one with the machine I’ll remember far longer than whatever meaningless amount of lateral g I was able to pull.

So often cars that feel so good on the road soon fall apart on track, but not this one. I did over 20 laps of the Navarra circuit and the way it would change character according to drive mode, from clean and quick in downforce-optimised race mode, to pure drift monster in Sport Plus with no hint it might ever run out of patience, was revelatory. The most similarly configured car I’ve driven this way is the Ferrari SF90, which cared not at all for being bossed about in that manner.

So congratulations to Aston Martin. If cars sold on pure ability, the Valhalla would have sold out long ago. The way it combined a fine ride and impressive refinement with such outstanding and engaging manners on road and track was not something I’d expected. Despite it all, it is this that makes it every inch an Aston, and perhaps the finest I’ve experienced to date.

Aston Martin Valhalla

Aston Martin Valhalla interior with carbon fiber and orange leather

  • Price £850,000
  • Engine 4.0 litres, eight cylinders, petrol, turbocharged, hybrid drive
  • Power 1064bhp @ 6700rpm
  • Torque 640lb ft @ 6700rpm
  • Weight 1755kg (DIN, estimated)
  • Power to weight 606bhp per tonne
  • Transmission Eight-speed double-clutch, four-wheel drive
  • 0-62mph 2.5sec
  • Top speed 217mph
  • Economy 20.3mpg
  • CO2 275g/km
  • Verdict Peak Aston? We’d say so.

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