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Aston Martin Rapide

In 1974 Aston Martin produced their first modern four-door sedan: the beautiful, V8-powered 160-mph Series 1 Lagonda. More than three decades later, extravagantly fast, expensive and elegant sedans are back in vogue, with the Maserati Quattroporte and Mercedes CLS dipping their toes in the water first, and the Porsche Panamera setting up for a 2009 dive. Aston Martin is back in the fray also, and once again beauty is on the English side. The Rapide is built on the VH platform of the DB9 (and V8 Vantage), and wonderfully manages to not only retain, but even perfect the suppleness and grace of the two-door.

The dash is trimmed in wood, leather, aluminium and carbon fibre and houses a Jaeger-LeCoultre clock, while the boot contains a chess set, two chilled Jacquesson champagne bottles and a set of flutes. If you're not yet used to the playboy, jet-set lifestyle, you should probably get some pointers on the matter before purchasing the Rapide.

Under-hood is the same 5.9-liter V12 that lives under the bonnet of the DB9, but with an additional 30 horsepower to make up for the four-door’s extra 310 pounds. For much the same reason, the six-speed Touchtronic gearbox borrowed from the DB9 has shorter ratios, but top speed does not suffer much at a claimed 180mph. Carbon brakes and calipers are also unique to the Rapide, and are a first for Aston Martin.

Aston's press release says ‘A sports car is not simply characterized by the number of doors’, which is pretty much what Mercedes said with the CLS and is exactly what we said 7 years ago when this site was born! - by Traian Popescu

Specifications