The Garage was recently invited to a small, private gathering at the Chelsea Art Museum in New York City to preview Aston Martin’s new four door sports car, the Rapide. This would be a rare, not to be missed opportunity to spend time around the Rapide, to poke, prod, and ask questions in a quiet, laid back setting. On hand was the sole “production” version shown at the 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show, along with design chief Marek Reichman.
My only regret is that no picture of the Rapide does the car justice. Descending the stairs into a gallery of large, abstract paintings, my first glimpse of the Rapide caused me to think I was looking at a DB9 coupe. A quick glance around the gallery confirmed that no, this was the four-door Rapide. I conveyed this first impression to one of the Aston Martin executives on hand, and was told with a smile “That is the exact reaction we want people to have with the Rapide.”
The media have been quick to zero in on the Rapide’s perceived competition, and the Porsche Panamera is mentioned frequently, along with the Maserati Quattroporte and even the Mercedes-Benz CLS. As I spent more time in and out of the Rapide, I began to think of the car as existing as a class of one. This is not a sedan, and Aston Martin is quick to point that out. In designing the Rapide, Aston Martin wanted all of the traits its sports cars are famous for, in a package that offered four doors.
In other words, Porsche had a similar goal in mind, but with a larger, roomier interior that came at the expense of the Panamera’s looks. Aston Martin took the other direction-a no excuses exterior at the expense of interior room. The rear quarters of the Rapide are hardly unkind to its rear occupants though. With the driver’s seat in a comfortable position for me, I hopped in the rear bucket seat and had room for my 6′ 1″ frame. Yes, my knees were close to the front seatback, and my hair grazed the headliner, but I fit no problem. The heated and cooled seats along with wireless headphones for the rear DVD screens should lessen the blow for the tight quarters. Oh, and if you are the parent of a toddler like myself, the Rapide will hold a car seat!
Aston Martin hopes to allure current customers and attract new ones with the versatility found in the Rapide. This is a car that you can take your friends out to dinner with, a near impossible feat in the 2+2 Astons. As I admired the beautifully finished rear cargo area, I thought the Rapide would be the ultimate car to visit the Pebble Beach Concours, then whisk off to Napa wine country with another couple and have plenty of room to haul back a couple cases of your favorite wine.
At the heart of the Rapide there lies a 6L, quad cam 48 valve, hand-built V-12 rated at 470hp, coupled to a six-speed Touchtronic 2 transmission. The factory predicts o-60mph in 5.1 seconds, with a top speed of 188mph. Pricing of the Rapide starts at $199,950USD, and the first cars are expected to be delivered in Spring of 2010. The Rapide will be built in a new facility in Graz, Austria, where it is expected to take 220 hours to build one car. Aston Martin hopes to build 2,000 Rapides in its first year of production, with a quarter or third of that coming to North America.
With the Rapide, Aston Martin is heading into unknown territory. Seating for four? Yes. No excuses design? Yes. And that alone may be what makes the Rapide a success.
