Rapid Network

Aside from its stunning styling and looks, you may be wondering what all the fuss is about the Aston Martin Rapide. You might say that it is a competitor to the Porsche Panamera and the Maserati Quattroporte however, the Rapide's price tag is far, far higher than its two rivals coming in with a price tag of over two hundred thousand dollars. The Aston Martin CEO has dubbed the Rapide as the worlds first four-door super-car - a pretty grand claim when you consider it is not nearly as quick as the Porsche Panamera Turbo.

The Rapide shares its six liter, four hundred and seventy horse power V12 engine and six speed auto gear box with the DB9, and can muster a 0-60 time of around five seconds. The Rapide's weight distribution, low center of gravity and its immensely rigid chassis meld together to form a true four-door sports car.

The Rapide is actually more of a Grand Tourer to drive than a thoroughbred sports car and the steering feels correspondingly light. However unlike high-end luxury sedans such as the BMW 7-Series or the Mercedes S-Class there are none of the meandering side to side motions that you might experience whilst cornering. In the Rapide the suspension can be tightened up even further to give a very firm ride. Engage sport mode and you can increase throttle response and the six speed transmission holds the revs even higher making acceleration sharper.

The Rapide is the type of car you could drive around in all day-long - as long as you are in one of the front seats. Despite being a four door the back seats are fairly snug, although to be fair they can actually seat an adult passenger in relative comfort. The interior is drowned in leather and everything within the interior that looks like metal is metal - no cheap plastic trim sneaking in here. Most of the dash is in common with the Aston Martin DBS and as well as the room for rear passengers there is a surprising amount of boot space, almost on par with an everyday sedan.

It is difficult to know where exactly the Aston Martin is going to fit in to the market. Considerably more expensive than its main rivals but without the performance gain to match the higher price, the Rapide is most likely to rely on exclusivity as its main draw to potential buyers - a limited production run of around only three thousand means prices and desirability will remain high for years to come.