The Aston Martin Rapide is the English super car maker’s entrant into the four door high luxury segment market. The Rapide features a unique passenger arrangement and a pair of rear doors. Originally introduced as a concept at the 2006 NAIS in Detroit, a further refined Rapide production concept debuted at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show with road going versions released in early 2010. The Rapide is powered by Aston’s 6.0 Liter V12 lifted directly from the DB9, and makes 470 HP and 443 lb-ft of torque just like the coupe, not to mention that it will take the $200,000 super sedan from 0 to 60 MPH in just 5.1 seconds and reach a top speed estimated to be around 188 MPH.
The GT sedan seems to be the hottest ticket on the market these days with Italians selling Quattroportes and now the Germans getting in on the action with the new Panamera, but the coachbuilders of England have not had anything to boast about until recently when they began work on a fast four door of their own in the $200,000 price range.
When the Aston Martin Rapide arrives in showrooms it will be wearing a $199,950 price tag and will come complete with the new car smell from Aston’s Austrian facility. With over 200 man hours being deidcated to each Rapide and an estimated first year production run of 2000 units, give or take a few, the English craftsmen will deidcate 18,333 and a third days to making Rapides. With the hand built sports car experience that Aston Martin’s employees have gained from over the years will certainly play in the new Rapide’s favor.
Aston Martin has announced the price tag for the 2010 Rapide and yes, you might have to sell your organs to afford one. To have the opportunity to drive home with one, you’ll need around £139,950, or if your currency is of the Benjamins kind, around $230,000.
Yes, ‘steep’ may be an understatement but once you consider what the Rapide has to offer, then the price tag becomes a little justifiable. For starters, the car has a 6.0 Liter V12 engine which, incidentally, is the same one powering the Aston Martin DB9. With that much power under its hood, the Rapide is expected to come with 470hp and 443 lb-ft of torque, with a 0-60 mph time of just 5.1 seconds and a top speed of around 188 mph.
In addition to that, the Rapide also comes with a Bang & Olufsen sound system, heated memory seats, dual-cast brakes with an adaptive damping system. According to Aston Martin, the Rapide is scheduled to be delivered around March of next year and is expected to attract over 2000 sales every year. For a quarter of a million dollars, the 2010 Aston Martin Rapide can be yours. The question, are you willing to spend that much for one?
When the Aston Martin Rapide was introduced to the world at last month’s Frankfurt Motor Show, a lot of people left with high hopes for the new British supercar.
Now it looks like Aston Martin is hard at work to give the people exactly what they want.
The British automaker recently released a new video of the Rapide undergoing a series of high-speed tests at the company’s Mira facility in Warwickshire, England, followed by another run, this time at the world-famous Nurburgring Nordschleife. Finally, the Rapide heads off to the Italian boondocks for another run of powertrain testing.
It’s been a while since we last saw an Aston Martin being taken out for a test run and judging by the video we just saw, it looks like the Rapide is as good as advertised; maybe even better than we all initially thought.
Powered by a 6.0-liter V12 engine with a mouth-watering 477 horsepower and 600 Nm of torque, the Rapide is capable of accelerating from 0-60 mph in just a little over 5 seconds and a top speed of 190 mph.
Even if everyone already knows exactly what to expect from the new four door Aston, and was already know what it will look like, the Prodrive owned automaker has not announced anything saying that the 2010 Aston Martin Rapide is official yet. So whenever another rendering or spy shot of the car surfaces, it is still big news. The all-new Aston Martin Rapide is set to be unveiled sometime in 2010 and will be priced in the $200,000 range.
The Rapide is built on the automaker’s VH (Vertical/Horizontal) architecture, the same construction as the DB9 and will be powered by a 6.0 Liter V12 engine that will be tuned to deliver a maximum output of 470 HP and a peak of 443 lb-ft of torque. The mighty power plant will be mated to an example of Aston’s Touchtronic automated manual transmission, which provides the functionality of a normal automatic transmission via the push buttons mounted on the dash as well as offering a manual mode that takes full advantages of the wheel mounted paddle shifters.
With the recent – and well-documented – struggles of the auto industry, car makers have been a little more reluctant attending car expos. But that doesn’t seem to be the case with the Frankfurt Motor Show.
One of the world’s biggest motor shows is expected to draw the best of the best car brands and their latest toys. A line-up of brand-new autos set to be unveiled at the Motor Show includes the Ferrari 458 Italia, the revamped Porsche 911 Turbo, the Mazda MX-5 Superlight, and now, Aston Martin is joining the fun with the highly-anticipated launch of the Rapide.
It seemed like ages ago – three years, in fact – when the Rapide became the talk of the town during the 2006 Detroit Motor Show and despite the long wait, Aston Martin’s new crown jewel is once again expected to be the one of the toasts of Frankfurt.
Aston Martin has also released the price of the Rapide, which is expected to be around £110,000 in the U.K. The car, which some scribes have called the Vantage’s little brother, is about £25,000 cheaper than the car James Bond made famous in Die Another Day. That’s tremendously good news for fans of the Rapide, a lot of who have waited three long years for the car’s official release.
