Aston Martin Rapide

Aston Martin Rapide CAR Middle East first drive

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Statistics

How much?	$ 233175
Engine:	6000cc, 12cyl, 470BHP @ 6000, 443lb ft @ 5000
Transmission:	Automatic
Performance:	5.2 sec 0-100kph , 296kph
How heavy?	1950kg

Tom Bird
08 February 2010

It can cruise pretty well too – even with the adaptive dampers switched into sport mode, bumps and cracks in tarmac are well soaked up. It’s only on more flowing undulations that you might find on a motorway that the Rapide is better off in the softer Normal suspension mode.

The biggest news about the Rapide are those rear seats. I’m not going to kid you in thinking that it’s palatial back there – you’re not going to be able to stretch out and read the business pages that’s for sure.

Instead, you’re hemmed in on all sides by either seat, door, headlining or leather-trimmed centre console. There really is no wiggle room to speak of. Once you’re in – a task made a little tricky by the narrow door aperture and low-seat front seats – you’re not going anywhere fast.

You can even get some screens fitted to the backs of the front seats to keep those in the back amused on long journeys. However, I found 30 minutes back there about 29 minutes too long – though this wasn’t helped by the spirited driving style of the bod behind the wheel.

But that’s not really his fault. From behind the wheel the Rapide does feel remarkably sports-car like – you can definitely feel the DB9 genes coming through more here than you can find hints of a 911 in a Panamera. It’s only under heavy braking that the extra 200kg really makes itself known.

If anything, the Rapide makes the DB9 rather redundant. The DBS fills the role of rapid GT very well and the Vantages – in hardcore V12 and sensible V8 flavours – are excellent drivers’ cars.

It leaves the DB9 in a rather unsure of itself middle ground. And with the arrival of the more practical Rapide – it definitely falls into the shadow of its bigger brother. There’s just a $22,000 price difference between the two – which although is a significant amount of money – it’s only a twenty percent premium on top of the DB9.

If you’ve always been put off buying an Aston because of the lack of rear seats, then the Rapide might well be the car you’ve been waiting for.

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