02 February 2009 - 11:00
Rapide arrival
Just the thing for a frozen, snowy Monday morning: Aston has shown off the definitive, definite production version of the Rapide, its four-door supercar set to launch in 2010.
Looks good, eh? In fact, we reckon the production Rapide looks even better than the concept we saw a few years ago – no mean feat, that.
Aston design director Marek Reichman tells us that the Rapide is ’98 per cent different’ from the concept – take a look at the more muscular lines and cleaner front end.
The Rapide should be truly practical, too – well, practical by the standards of four-door supercars, at least. Sharing a structure and mechanical package with the DB9, but stretched some 30cm, the Rapide measures just over five metres long and features a proper pair of folding rear seats. For transporting your flat-pack wardrobes and all, we guess.
The Rapide will feature an uprated version of the DB9’s 6.0-litre V12: expect a power output of around 490bhp to cope with the Rapide’s extra weight. Though Aston hasn’t released any performance figures, expect a 0-60 time in the 4-and-a-half second region, and a top speed around 180mph. Yes, that’s a whole lot quicker than yer run-of-the-mill Quattroporte S.
It’ll be a whole lot more expensive than yer run-of-the-mill QP S, too – the Rapide is expected to cost around £140,000 when it goes on sale next year.
Pricey, yes, but cheaper than a DBS… and with enough passenger seats for three-fifths of Girls Aloud. Or two Cheeky Girls and the telly weathergirl of your choice. The possibilities are endless…
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@deejay: u r right with that thing, but diffrence is between porsches and astons always looking near-by-the-same: the astons look hot, think of angelina jolie having a handful of copys, that hot! the porsches don't, they look like awkward copys from jennifer aniston, the basicversion is quite nice to look at, but the copys look a bit weird (cayman) or just plain ugly (cayenne). besides that, on this pic the rapide looks a bit odd as well. probably cause it's white, probably cause it's a stupid virtual pic. just because some marketing-silly-ass said: "we can't send them a photo of a real one, it wouldn't look real!" or something...
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perfect lots like a true 4seater ideal for taking the kids to school in !!!
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Looks badass. Totally! Wow either this or the Estoque would be sweet
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I dont mean to sound a little harsh or obtuse but I rather liked the sleek black concept car that was shown on www.carwalls.com . But this car looks good too . As for Lambosareforeva's , I agree with him . But I like the estoque better , and I 'd rather go for a DBS or DB9 because I always liked them better than any other aston . What about the one-77 . It has a V12 7.3 litre engine with a mean look too .
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just one more british car..
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Better than the Panamera.
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lovely!the lights look like scissors.i don't know why but that's what they look like to me.
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Deejay commented on this article
10 February 2009
I don't mean to sound a little obtuse, but Clarkson has a go at Porsche for their cars looking all the same...
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