The key was a bit like Cinderella’s slipper. Made of glass, it was a beautiful and weighty thing, both physically and symbolically. Aston Martin’s winged logo was embedded deep in its crystal form – a subliminal underscoring of the brand’s out-of-reach reputation. Whoever had the good fortune of possessing it would be granted access to one of the world’s more exclusive experiences, which, for me, amounted to a weekend with the $204,995 2015 Rapide S.
The key is just the starting point for the update to one of the British automaker’s bestsellers. Not only does it unlock the doors, the handles of which glow to avoid unseemly groping, it unfurls the mirrors, which instinctively retract whenever the Rapide S is begrudgingly put to rest.
Don’t let its four doors fool you. True to a car whose first and last names are synonymous with speed, the Rapide S is a sports car in a tailored sedan suit. Its aluminum, or, as Aston Martin spells it, aluminIUM, and composite body panels are fitted to its extruded aluminIUM body structure – the better to display its elegantly elongated saloon profile and musculature.
In an era when Ferrari, Lamborghini and so many other premium performance automakers are playing a game of how low can they go, in terms of an engine’s number of cylinders, the Rapide S is one the increasingly rare sports cars to be powered with a naturally aspirated, and gloriously overkill, V-12.
Front mid-mounted with the scantest bias toward its nose, it is quite the brute. Even the lightest touch of the accelerator is enough to catapult it forward, which is what the rear-wheel-drive Rapide S is wont to do even without touching the most tempting of its buttons – sport – and the companion control next to it that stiffens the suspension.
Engaging the fun buttons help jettison drivers to 60 mph in a mere 4.2 seconds – a half second faster than the outgoing model. For the first time since its introduction in 2010, the Rapide can indoctrinate drivers into the 200-mph club. Where they will choose to do such a thing without the experience ending with an impound and a bail bondsman is on them. Aston Martin has simply provided the tool.
It’s the excessive V-12 that makes the Rapide S shockingly responsive for its weight. As a whole, the four-seat saloon feels solid and substantial, similar to the Maserati Ghibli. If the majority of Aston Martins are fleet-of-foot British rugby players, the Rapide S is an NFL running back. Its alacrity defies its generous proportions and general heft.
Helping the Rapide S go more quickly and reach an even faster top speed are changes to the gear ratios that can shift at indiscernibly quick speeds. The gears shift in just 130 milliseconds — far faster, even, than James Bond, kicking it in to high gear to evade certain death.
Its 552-horsepower power is now accessed with a new eight-speed Touchtronic III automatic transmission that can be left to its own devices or operated with paddle shifters that offer a new twist. Pull and hold the left, or down shift, paddle, and it instructs the car to pick the lowest available gear when the driver hasn’t braked as hard as they probably should have careening into a corner at speeds far exceeding the posted limit.
Like most premium sports cars, the Rapide S can be operated in various modes. Drive and Drive Sport are accessed through a single button that glows red when activated. Decommission it, and the light fades like the tail lights on this Aston Martin as it blazes past the plebeian legions.
Even drivers who opt not to operate in sport mode officially may be treated to more sport-oriented shift points anyway. Driving at all aggressively prompts its Adaptive Drive Recognition to learn how the car is being driven and adjust the shifting accordingly. For better or for worse, the lessons learned are reset each time the ignition is turned off and the doors are locked. It starts anew each time the driver brings the beast to life, making it something of a game to see what the Rapide S will interpret and adjust on its own.
Despite a mere two-horsepower increase from the outgoing model, the Rapide S is up-fit with even larger front brakes. They are now a platter-esque 15.75-inches in diameter with six-piston calipers that engage progressively with a distinct bite that kicks in when the car senses you really mean it.
While most of the enhancements to the Rapide S are under the hood, there are a handful of tweaks to the design, including a new collection of dramatic, 10-spoke, forged alloy wheel designs and new colors, including the Diavalo Red that had only been available previously on Aston’s Zagato. New interior colors include a bluish black and, shockingly, pink. My test car lacked the one-two punch of a police-bait red exterior and pink leather. It was trimmed in a more understated shade of pearlescent white and, on the inside, with a new headliner that combined soft-touch Alcantara with black quilted leather.
It is difficult to convey with words the overwhelming olfactory experience of the Rapide S. Swing open the doors, and its interior beckons, at first, with the scent of intensely aromatic leather, and, once the doors have been closed, a glove-like cabin.
While the performance of the Rapide S is certainly appropriate for 007, its interior has more of a Miss Moneypenny appeal. The only obvious plastic I found was ringing the sole cupholder and the piano black housing for its center console, which mirrored fast-moving dapples of trees and whatever other environment I was driving through. From dash to door panel to bucket seat, the bulk was otherwise leather with matte metal accents. My test car was outfitted with bolstered and perforated leather seats that were ventilated as well as quilted. The royal quilting carried throughout the car, even to the cargo area, where the fanciful diamond pattern reflected in the rear window on a sunny day.
There are aspects of gadget master Q as well. The foremost set of speakers for the 100-watt Bang & Olufsen stereo system rise from opposite corners of the dash, sprouting like mushrooms whenever the ignition is turned on. Ditto for the small center console display screen that tucks away into its leather envelope but likewise lifts from its nesting grounds to provide navigation or, more critically, parking assistance with the help of a rear-view camera.
The front end wasn’t so low as to need a lift button, though the doors are designed in recognition that gleeful inhabitants might fling them a bit wide. They angle up to avoid making contact with a concrete curb.
As its fastback profile hints, there is a cargo hold. And it boasts the largest trunk space of any Aston Martin. Arranged in two steps, it appears to fit two sets of Aston Martin golf clubs and possibly even a third in a small stowage area just behind the two rear seats.
Those seats are bucketed and bisected with individual climate controls and an armrest that doubles as storage for the pair of wireless headphones and a remote control to operate the pair of screens embedded in the flip sides of the front seat head rests. The rear seats are quite cozy. Unlike Aston’s DB9 and other GTs, you can actually have legs. Just hope that if the rear passengers’ are long that the legs attached to those in the front are short. A short torso will also help. The headliner, while shaped to make more headroom for those in the back, is probably best for smaller adults or large children – all of whom will enjoy luxuriating at mach speed.
