Aston Martin Rapide?

test drove one

best looking sedan on the planet,currently

back seat = penalty box
getting in & out of the back seat = good luck if you're over 7 yrs old
Instrument Panel = kinda old tech with a marginal screen
cool seats and soft trim
huge A-pillars almost tree trunk like = blind spots
relatively fast for a large sedan......i'd describe it as spirited,but not world class
great sounds from the motor


did I say it's the best looking sedan on the planet?
that alone probably makes up for the aforementioned shortcomings

the designer's alternative to the Maserati Q'Port
if you gotta have "style" this could be your answer......otherwise look elsewhere

 

Great looking car.

No other experience with driving.

 

Great looking car - but the QP would b my choice in this segment .

You might as well buy a 911 if your comparing rear seat usability

I think the QP sounds much nicer

Why not get the new QP?

 

+1 why not the new QP? Or grand tourer the Bentley Conti GT (if it were myself)

 

Agree with above post. I drove one for about 600 miles. First, for shorter passengers and/or drivers, the seats are very low. I had a 5'3" passenger state she could not see properly through the windshield.

I was also surprised with very firm ride quaility, especially over bumpy roads. Much rougher than a 458. Front spoiler sits very low, with no front lift option, so needed to be careful with driveways and speed bumps. The car received too many thumps up for other drivers. Even when I pulled into a 4 star hotel in Scottsdale near the valet; guests and workers admired the the Magma Red (metallic burgundy) Aston and even took photos. Maybe because it is one of the best looking cars on the planet.

 

I like the Rapide too but it's not been a successful seller and I wonder about its reliability.

Maserati is more mainstream and people forget the GranTurismo is also a 4-seater that looks like a coupe and you can have it as a convertible. It looks and sounds as good as or much better than the Rapide and is slightly faster, especially in the sport model and MC Stradale models. Even as a 4-seater cabriolet it is as fast as than the Rapide. It's much easier to ingress the backseat of an open convertible and more entertaining to carry guests in.

 

I have seen 3 including an S and sat in one, all seats, and kinda studied it. I agree with the posts above it is the best looking (ICE) sedan on the planet. If ya got the dough and want to make a show, get it. You only live once and the time spent in that should be memorable (in the right color).

 

I would argue better looking and they are available at fire sale prices. I just bought one 10 months old with 3k miles for less than $.50 on the dollar.

 

I think top gear did a test of the Rapide, QP, and Panamera turbo.
I saw a few rapides in California and they are incredible stunning in person. If it was even a remote possibility for me I'd jump at the chance to own one.

 

Got excited thinking you meant one of these beauties: Home - lagonda rapide

 

Having had the chance to be around both of these cars a lot, it all depends on what you need.

Rapide- Great looking car, beautiful, in every way. You simply cannot beat the sound of that naturally aspirated V12. Interior is gorgeous, YES the back seat are snug. They are bucket seat in every definition of the word. I'm 5'2 weight about 150lbs, the rear seat hold me in very snug. If I were to drive the car with the seat forward, someone about 5'11 or so would have a tough time stretching his/her legs. But there is something special about Aston's that the QP just doesnt have. -

I would have to disagree with another poster stating that the ride is rougher than a 458, we're talking about 2 totally different cars here. Suspension setup for these cars are completely different. Also, I personally don't think the front end is that low, really I wish it was a little lower. The Maserati definitely sit higher than the Rapide.

Maserati
QP- Great family sedan, very practical, plenty of space in the cabin and the trunk. For me this would be the perfect luxury family sedan. The 2014 will be pretty powerful car and gorgeous as well. Had the chance to see the Euro specs when it was being toured around the country and I simply cannot wait to drive one.

There's also the new Ghibli will be coming out soon (sept-oct first ones to arrive at dealers)- this is going to be around the 5series & A6 segment. Will come in a V6 AWD or V6 RWD variant. This is going to be a < $100K sedan. Size wise, its about 5inches shorter than the current QP's.

If there is anything I can help you with PM me, I'll be more than happy to assist you.

Michael

 

Dan Neil does a credible job of describing the Rapide in today's WSJ :

RUMBLE SEAT Updated June 21, 2013, 4:12 p.m. ET
Aston Martin Rapide S: It's a Beauty, It's a Blast
The British marque's new sedan overcomes its iffy ergonomics with high luxury, robust performance and sheer gorgeousness
By DAN NEIL

Dan Neil/The Wall Street Journal
Aston Martin Rapide S

MY RETIREMENT PLAN: One day, I will acquire a Series II Aston Martin Lagonda (1976-90), an implausibly low four-door luxury saloon with cubist edges and NASA-style instrumentation, nothing less than a time capsule of 1970s optimism and naiveté. I will then spend the rest of my natural life rebuilding the car's electric systems.

Photos: Aston Martin Rapide S

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Dan Neil/The Wall Street Journal
Click to view slideshow.


Aston Martin's new sedan overcomes its iffy ergonomics with high luxury, robust performance and sheer gorgeousness. Dan Neil gives his take.

The William Towns-designed Lagonda was the most beautiful road car ever produced by the dear old firm, once based in mildewed sheds at Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, England, but now, in the modern era, located in Gaydon, in Warwickshire. Running a close second in the looks department is our test car, the new Rapide S, a four-door version of the aluminum-chassis DB9 coupe with a newly revised 5.9-liter, naturally aspirated V12 (550 horsepower, up from the previous 470 hp). Aston has dubbed this version of the dozen-pump the Gen 4 AM11, with remapped engine software, less internal friction and better breathing. Raise the hood and you'll see, downstream of the throttle bodies, the two magnificent cast-magnesium air plenums converging at a black crinkle-finish engine shroud, the breastplate of a British battle robot.

Waist-high to a supermodel, and the whole liquid length of the thing hovering on 20-inch wheels, the Rapide S is spectacular, shattering, stunning. You know the part of your psyche that wants things? The Rapide S pierces it like an aluminum arrow. Thwock! Damn, that's a fine-looking car.

“Yes, the seats are small, the sightlines restricted. Do I care? Not in the slightest.”
After skipping the 2013 model year, the Rapide returns for 2014 sporting a big red S and a long list of tweaks to go along with its irrepressible sexuality and irresponsible ergonomics. The 2014 revision involved lowering the engine and revising the front end to meet European pedestrian-safety standards. I'll get to that.

For the moment, I want to talk branding, and sing the praises of this company's chief executive, Ulrich Bez. It may seem strange that Herr Dr. Bez—born and educated in Stuttgart, Germany, the bearer of a dossier thick with achievement in motor sports, as well as product development at Porsche, POAHY -2.88% BMW BMW.XE -3.12% and Daewoo—should turn out to be the perfect conservator of Aston Martin. But in 13 years, the guy has not put a foot wrong. The foundation, literally, of the modern Aston Martin is the VH chassis, which is a flexible architecture of bonded and riveted aluminum panels, rectangular-section tubing and extrusions, a production technique shared with Lotus and Tesla, among others. While the construction technology was developed at the University of Birmingham, it was Dr. Bez who instituted the change at Aston Martin—on his second day on the job, according to legend.

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Speaking of motor sports: Aston Martin is a relatively small, financially constrained company, with nothing like the resources that Porsche or BMW can bring to bear. And yet, under Dr. Bez's direction, the company's works team (Aston Martin Racing, or AMR) has competed in world endurance racing at the highest levels since 2005. AMR won the GT1 class at Le Mans in 2007 and 2008. From 2009 through 2011, AMR battled Audi and Peugeot UG.FR -4.10% in the insane-with-cash Le Mans Prototype category. The Astons never quite reached the podium in that competition—the Audi and Peugeot diesel prototypes had to stop less often for fuel—but AMR raced heroically.

This weekend, AMR is again in La Sarthe, France, marking Aston Martin's centenary with a five-car effort to win the GTE Pro and Am categories. I would not bet against it.

In other words, Dr. Bez brought to the brand equation exactly what Aston Martin needed: credibility. By the time Dr. Bez took the reins in 2000, Aston Martin—then the property of Ford F +1.21% —was an empty suit of a company. Its racing heritage was a distant memory; the company's flagship, the DB7 (coupe and Volante) was incestuously related to the Jaguar XK (Jag was also, at the time, owned by Ford). The franchise relied almost entirely on its James Bond connection, which was, frankly, a little sad. Driving an Aston Martin doesn't make you James Bond any more than wearing an Omega Speedmaster makes you an astronaut.

2014 Aston Martin Rapide S

Enlarge Image

Dan Neil/The Wall Street Journal
Price as tested: $223,595

Powertrain: Front midmounted, naturally aspirated, quad-cam, 48-valve V12 with variable valve timing; six-speed automatic rear transaxle with manual-shift mode; rear-wheel drive with limited-slip differential

Horsepower/torque: 550 hp at 6,750 rpm/457 pound-feet at 5,500 rpm

Length/weight: 197.6 inches/4,387 pounds

Wheelbase: 117.6 inches

0-60 mph: 4.7 seconds (mfr.)

EPA fuel economy: 11/19 mpg, city/highway

Cargo capacity: 14 cubic feet

The beauty of Dr. Bez's approach is that today, Aston can afford its own eccentricities, and the Rapide S is full of them. The central console, for example, is a beautiful, baffling chessboard of leaded-crystal switches, aluminum buttons and compass dials controlling God-knows-what. In order to achieve Pythagorean perfection (the company literature invokes the Golden Ratio shamelessly), the four-door Rapide's wheelbase is stretched a mere 9.8 inches compared with the DB9's. That obliges the rear doors to be pretty small. Once you're inside, the rear bucket seats are hilariously snug—in jacket size, about a 38 short, whereas I'm a 42 long.

These ergonomic shortcomings, which Porsche or Audi would never sign off on, constitute dare-to-be-different charisma in the Rapide S. The car's leather-and-stitch saddlery is exquisite. The shoulder-high central tunnel that bisects the cabin, sheer exoticism. The aluminum cabin trim—around the seat-belt retractors, the cupholders, the many Bang & Olufsen loudspeakers—is the perfect complement. Yes, the seats are small, the sightlines restricted and the navi system something out of a truck-stop gift shop. Do I care? Not in the slightest.

The most notable change in the 2014 Rapide S is the larger, single-frame grille and its eight blades of polished aluminum, under which is a gorgeous carbon-fiber splitter that I managed to chip while parking at the grocery store. Lesson learned: Don't take the Aston to the grocery store.

The revised front grille—which does have a sort of addled, curling smile to it—is part of a front-end revision necessary to meet more stringent pedestrian safety standards (the big V12 has been also been lowered 0.8 inch). What hasn't changed is the deep, oaken, masculine rattle from the tailpipes, like a playing card stuck in God's bicycle spokes.

Still not the quickest car in its class—officially, zero to 60 miles per hour in 4.7 seconds—and by no means the most efficient (11/19 miles per gallon, city/highway), the Rapide S is nonetheless one of the most compelling, satisfying machines you'll ever sit in. In 25 years it will be a star on the lawns at Villa d'Este and Pebble Beach.

By then, I should have my Lagonda fixed.