Throughout history, four door sports cars rarely look as good as their two door counterparts. Many manufacturers have tried, but the fact Is adding two extra doors for two adult-sized rear seats would inevitably elongate the car and the extra headspace at the rear would always ruin how the tail end comes together, thereby ruining the sleek lines that are fundamental to sports cars. Case in point – the awful looking Porsche Panamera. Practical and useable? Yes. Good looking? Absolutely not. Therefore, while there are plenty of beautiful four door luxury saloons, like your Rolls Royce and Bentleys, there has in my eyes never been a good looking four door sports car . That was until the Aston Martin Rapide was introduced in 2010.
The Rapide is part of Aston Martin’s bonded-aluminium “VH” platform cars. In my opinion, the VH platform produced some of Aston Martin’s most beautiful cars in recent history. It was based on the DB9, a two door 2+2 grand tour that was launched in 2003. At the time, Aston Martin was considering tapping into the four door sports car market (note four door sports cars and not SUV’s which all the manufacturers have inescapably gone into today). Because Aston Martin was never a company that was swimming in cash, instead of investing in developing a brand new car, they decided to pull the DB9’s chassis longer in order to accommodate two extra seats and doors. As a result, they produced a beautifully sleek and sporty four door sports car – with a very low roofline and muscular rear fenders. The entire car is made up of aesthetically pleasing lines, which flow smoothly from one end to another. It also helps that Aston Martin kept the ‘swan doors’ found in its other VH models for all four doors on the Rapide. I particularly appreciated the fact that Aston Martin made the effort in designing parts unique to the Rapide, such as the headlights and front grilles, rather than simply keeping the original designs of the DB9.
Unfortunately, beauty in this case comes at a cost. The all-important rear seats and doors are rather impractical in the Rapide. Because of the low roofline, the headspace is really limited, and the rear doors are very small, making entry to the rear extremely difficult. Inside, the rear seats are also hopelessly narrow and uncomfortable, due to the humongous fixed centre console. For reasons I can’t comprehend, the centre console is disproportionately wide and tall and goes all the way from the front to the back, taking up much needed space in the rear. The positive thing is, however, that the rear seat can just about fit my toddler son’s baby seat. And because my family is not the heavy build type, we can fit reasonably in the rear, although it remains uncomfortable. However, as the car was intended as a grand tourer for the US and European markets, this was simply unacceptable and the Rapide was therefore a flop.
The Rapide uses the same 6.0 V12 engine that the DB9 uses, producing around 470HP. While that is not a lot for a 2 ton car, when driving spiritedly, you do not feel a lack of power. In the normal mode, the car drives very leisurely and comfortable, particularly with its traditional torque converter automatic gearbox. In a lot of ways it feels like a Mercedes S class type of car, but with much better looks. In the sound department, while it does have a growling V12 under the bonnet, unless you are really stepping on it, the exhaust note is actually quite tame in day to day driving.
The car really comes alive when you press the ‘Sport’ button, most notably with the change in throttle response. The best combination to go quick would be to go into Sport mode and also switch to the flappy paddle gear change, which is not bad despite the gearbox being just an automatic. While the car does transform in this combination, I do feel that Hong Kong’s narrow and twisty roads like Shek O is not really where this car belongs. The Rapide is just too long and heavy, and therefore ‘attacking’ tight corners in it feels extremely uncomfortable and unpleasant. The brakes, while large, are also not up to the job if you are really going for it. As such, I enjoy the normal mode with the automatic gearchanges the most. The comfortable and relaxed nature in this mode makes it a good place to be in. Being a grand tour, was this laid-back driving style what Aston Martin intended for Rapide owners? Maybe. But I feel a place like Hong Kong with limited highways (both in terms of distance and speed) was never really the type of place the Rapide was intended for. With those looks, however, I could care less.
See below my review video of the car (special thanks to Mrs. InstacarHK for some of the camera work!)