Normally aspirated engines can be fairly difficult to extract meaningful extra power from, but Aston Martin have really pulled out all the stops with the Rapide S, liberating an additional 80bhp from the 5,935cc V12, lifting peak power to 550bhp at 5,750rpm. Torque rises from 443 to 457lb/ft at 5,000rpm. Naturally, increases in power and torque lead to even swifter performance and the Rapide S shaves 0.3 seconds off the Rapide’s 0-62mph time, which drops from 5.2 seconds to just 4.9 seconds, while top speed climbs, meanwhile, to 190mph.
The engine has been lowered by 19mm, dropping the car’s centre of gravity and improving turn-in. The engineers at Gaydon have also recalibrated the car’s dynamic stability control (DSC) in line with its significant increases in both power and torque. Then there’s the latest Gen4 iteration of Aston Martin’s Adaptive Damping System (ADS). The system now offers three distinct settings: Normal, Sport and Track, with the character of each being tailored to the nature of the Rapide S. Most tellingly of all, Aston Martin now refers to this model as a “luxury sports car”.
The Rapide S also benefits from a number of styling revisions that go beyond just the normal grille, bumpers and lights facelift. Having said that, the most noticeable change is, indeed, to the grille, with a larger one-piece item mirroring the look of the One-77 supercar. There’s also a different rear-end styling treatment with a flicked-up rear deck, revised alloy wheel designs and an optional carbon exterior pack which features a front splitter, rear diffuser, mirror caps and rear lamp infills.
One thing that hasn’t changed significantly is the amount of space inside the car. A six-footer sitting behind another will have trouble slotting in without sitting splay-kneed. Additional practicality is delivered by the two rear seats now folding flat at the touch of a button. The cabin is beautifully finished and has been spruced up a bit with a piano-black interior pack for the fascia, transmission tunnel centre plate and door handles. A darker surround in the instrument binnacle and steering wheel and tan or grey blend headlinings strike all the right notes for this class of vehicle.
Where do you begin to start with the equipment included with the Rapide S? Clearly, you’d be within your rights to expect a decent amount of gear when paying this much, but there really is a lot to take in. As standard, the car’s finished with the usual leather chairs and walnut fascia trim, parking sensors, cruise control, memory seats and powerfold door mirrors. Then it gets interesting. The Bang and Olufsen 1,000W stereo isn’t going to leave you wanting. There’s iPod connectivity, Bluetooth, USB and AUX-in, a tracking device, satellite navigation, a boot-mounted umbrella and a glass key to start the car.
Options include diamond-turned 20in alloys, the carbon exterior and piano-black interior packages, semi-aniline leather upholstery, a twin-screen rear seat entertainment pack, a colour-keyed steering wheel and alternative brake caliper paint finishes. With a few options added, it’s likely that most cars will roll out of dealerships costing in the region of £160,000 to £170,000, which stacks up competitively against the likes of the Ferrari FF and the Bentley Continental GT Speed.
By any objective measure, the Aston Martin Rapide is extremely expensive to run. It’s hard to know just where to start when cataloguing the costs. Depreciation is the big ticket item and at the moment there aren’t any big four-seater cars that hold on to their value particularly well, so that’s no particular slur on the Aston. Nevertheless, you can expect your new Aston Martin to drop around £65,000 in value over 24 months of ownership.
Fuel economy has improved marginally with the latest engine development. Expect a combined economy figure of 19.9mpg and top band VED taxation thanks to emissions of 332g/km. Insurance is a top-of-the-shop group 50. Finding production cars that are costlier to run is actually fairly tricky, but this sort of sensational presence and ability comes with a commensurate admission fee.
The Rapide S changes the script when compared to its predecessor. Aston Martin has realised that this is not a car that’s going to sell to the same people who value the space served up by a Porsche Panamera or a Maserati Quattroporte. The Rapide was and is a sports car that can seat adults in the back every once in a while and is now being billed as such. The additional power now makes the Rapide S look even better value than before and it’s still the best-looking car in its class by some significant margin.
The latest revisions have given the Rapide S a more-extrovert persona and it’ll need it in a division in which there’s a stack of top-drawer talent. It remains a car that falls between the stools of dedicated 2+2 like the Bentley Continental and a proper spacious four-seater like the Panamera or the Quattroporte. An anomaly it may be, but an achingly beautiful and desirable one, nevertheless.