car technology

Aston Martin Rapide review

(TELEGRAPH) - Billed as Aston Martin’s first four-door, four-seat sports car, the Rapide needs some context. The 1941 Aston Martin Atom had four doors and four seats, as did the 1976 Lagonda and the 1994 Lagonda Virage.

There’s also Uli Bez, Aston Martin’ chief executive’s work on the abandoned front-engined 989 Porsche project and there’s the fact that the Rapide is the first Aston not to be built in England, in this case Austria…

Oh, to hell with context, let’s just drive…

With an afternoon and a full tank, I headed off round the original Audi Quattro launch route, running through Banbury, Ledbury and into Wales.

More than 30 years after the launch of the seminal Audi, it’s still a stern test of machine. The Rapide wolfed it up and after almost four hours I arrived back with a sore bottom but thrilled to the core.

In high-torque DB9 spec, the Ford-derived, six-litre V12 has a hair-raising soundtrack as well as the ability to pick you up and hurl you at the horizon like a cricket ball.

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