We’ve already seen spy shots of the new Rapide a couple of times, but now it’s official:
the new Aston Martin Rapide S. And what a brutal beauty it is:
Up until day, the big question was: would the new Rapide be a sportier “Rapide S” to be placed next to the regular Rapide, or would it just be a new “Rapide”, replacing the existing Rapide. Well, it turns out it is a bit of both. It is called the “Rapide S” and it will replace the old Rapide.
I did not expect they would go this route, as it is not consistent with the naming of the Vantage and Vantage S models. Or… could this be sign that the regular Vantage (without the “S”) will soon be dropped, keeping just the Vantage S in the product line up. (Personally, I think this would be a good idea. IMO the regular Vantage has become quite obsolete with the arrival of the Vantage S, especially now they’re becoming more and more similar in both looks and performance.)
Anyway, I digress… back to the Rapide S!
What’s new in this Rapide v2.0?
Well, the Aston press release sums it up as “More Power, More Beauty, Same Soul”.
More Power
The Rapide S uses the new AM11 6.0 litre V12 engine, which gives it an enormous boost in power compared to the old Rapide: 81 extra horses and 20 extra torque thingies!
- Power: 558 hp (up from 477 hp!)
- Peak torque: 620 Nm (up from 600 Nm)
- Top speed: 190 mph = 306 km/h (up from 188 mph)
- 0-62mph: 4.9 seconds (down from 5.2 seconds)
Pretty impressive numbers for a 4-door sports car!
And as Uncle Ben once said: with great power comes great responsibility.
So the rest of the car has also been tweaked to handle all the new horses: the big V12 sits 19mm lower under the bonnet, lowering the centre of gravity and thus improving the handling. The Adaptive Damping System has been tuned to be more sportive too, with 3 settings: ‘Normal’, ‘Sport’ and ‘Track’.
Amazingly, even with more power, the CO2 emissions drop from 355 g/km to 332 g/km. Nice for the environment, and very nice if you live in a country like the Netherlands where the consumer price heavily depends on emissions.
More Beauty
Obviously a sportier new Aston comes with a sportier exterior. The spy-shots had already told us it would it would get a new front splitter and a higher boot lip spoiler. But the new official photos show something that comes as a surprise: the enormous full grille.
Just look at it!
The old Rapide already had a big grille, as it extended under the “license plate bar”. But now the entire bar is gone, leaving a huge gaping mouth and making the front look very aggressive. I do wonder where and how the front license plate will be mounted…
Not mentioned in the press-release, but it looks like the Rapide S will get new diamond-turned rims too, with black painted insides. Nice!
Need your Rapide to be even sportier looking? Then the Carbon Exterior Pack is just the thing for you: carbon fibre front splitter, carbon fibre rear diffuser, carbon fibre mirror caps and carbon fibre rear lamp infills.
Surprisingly, there’s no announcement of a CF pack for the interior. Instead, the inside gets an optional Piano Black Pack (including the facia, transmission tunnel center plate and door handles).
Finally, there’s a new leather option: Duotone perforated red and black leather.
Same Soul
In my opinion, the only way to experience the Soul of an Aston is to go drive it yourself.
But that will have to wait until the first Rapide S becomes available for a test drive. I promise I will be the first in line 🙂
For now, a video will have to do.
Alas, no engine sounds or even footage of the car driving…
Want one? The Rapide S is available to order starting next month.
More pictures of the new Rapide S:
