Aston Martin Rapide

Expert Review by Maxabout

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Exterior

Colors

Aston Martin Rapide is a high-performance, 4-door, sports saloon which was first arrived in the world market in early 2010. It was the first 4-door saloon by Aston Martin after their discontinued Lagonda, from which Rapide derived its name. The new saloon was based on Aston Martin DB9 and also shares the same VH platform. Now recently, a facelift and redesigned coupe-cum-saloon version of Rapide with the name of Aston Martin Rapide S was released by the company in the world market. It is marked as the most beautiful 4-door sports car with an assertive new look, full sporty DNA, a powerful engine and a supremely refined and sumptuously clothed interior by Aston Martin with the tagline, The Power of Luxury.

The exterior of Aston Martin Rapide S is a purest combination of beauty, power, soul, poise and luxury with its breath taking proportions, exquisite details and irresistible looks. It has got four doors, a stylish and newly designed bonnet structure, a new rear flip, a new and large full-face aluminum front grille, an all-new carbon fiber splitter, a rear diffuser, a new body colored front bumper, a DB9-esque spoiler, engine lowered by nearly 20mm to lower the car's center of gravity, a more pronounced rear wing, a large options for caliper colors (black, gray, red, silver and yellow), extruded bonded aluminum VH body structure, extruded aluminum door side-impact beams, clear LED rear lamps, aluminum, magnesium alloy and a composite body, standard 20-inch 20-spoke silver painted alloy wheels with Bridgestone S0001 245/40 front and 295/35 rear tires, body colored ORVMs and door handles, a fully-catalyzed stainless steel exhaust system with dual active bypass valves and single bi-xenon headlamps with integrated LED side lights and direction indicators.

Rapide S has a length of 5020mm, a width of 2140mm and a height of 1350mm as its dimensions and a large wheelbase of 2989mm for a stable and comfortable ride. It has a weight of 1990kgs and a fuel tank capacity of 90.5liters. Also, present the optional carbon fiber exterior pack which decorates four parts which includes center section of the front splitter, rear diffuser, rear lamp in fills and side mirror caps, wheel options which includes 20-inch multi-spoke alloy gloss black painted wheels with diamond-turned finish, 20-inch 10-spoke alloy silver painted wheels with diamond-turned finish, 20-inch 10-spoke alloy black painted wheels with diamond-turned finish and 20-inch 20-spoke polished alloy wheels, the magnum silver rear lamp in fills and model badge.

Aston Martin Rapide S is a rear-wheel drive with an all-alloy, front mid-mounted, AM11, 5,935cc, 5.9L, 48-valves, quad overhead camshaft, naturally-aspirated V12 engine which produces a maximum power of 550bhp at 6,750rpm and a maximum torque of 620Nm at 5,500rpm and is mated with a rear mid-mounted 'Touchtronic 2' 6-speed transmission with electronic shift-by-wire control system, an alloy torque tube with carbon fiber prop shaft, limited-slip differential and 3.46:1 final drive ratio. It has a top speed of almost 306kmph and reaches 0-100kmph mark in just 4.9 seconds with CO2 emissions of 332g/km.

Aston Martin Rapide S has got 398mm diameter, dual-cast disc brakes with 6-piston monobloc calipers at front and 360mm diameter, dual-cast disk brakes with 4-piston monobloc calipers at rear along with the standard gray painted brake calipers at both the wheels. These are supported by the safety features like a Dynamic Stability Control with Track Mode, Anti-lock braking system, Electronic Brake force Distribution, Emergency Brake Assist and Traction Control. Also, it has got a 3-stage Adaptive Damping System with Normal, Sport and Track modes. The suspension system consists of independent double wishbones with anti-dive geometry, coil springs, anti-roll bar and monotube adaptive dampers at front and independent double wishbones with anti-squat and anti-lift geometry, dual-rate coil springs, anti-roll bar and monotube adaptive dampers at rear.