2013 Aston Martin Rapide S - Plus Rapidement

V12 creates sweet Aston Martin music

Aston Martin loves to call its new Rapide S a “four-door sports car.” It’s hard to imagine the English firm trying to draw comparisons to the awesome third-generation Nissan Maxima, also marketed under that title, but the phrase keeps coming up. Aston uses the term often enough that the absence of Nissan’s little “4DSC” sticker on the driver’s side rear window is kind of disappointing.

Aston Martin loves to call its new Rapide S a “four-door sports car”

Fortunately, the Rapide-related disappointments pretty much end with that little heartbreaker. Besides, while the term “four-door sports car” might have been adequate for the old Nissan, the Rapide S might more aptly be called a four-door supercar.

Hyperbole? Maybe, but on looks alone, it is clearly in a distinct class from other high-buck super sedans.

Sure, there are a lot of other of attractive performance sedans out there, but none of them look anywhere near as lovely.

The front seats are extremely comfortable and plenty supportive

The first Rapide looked long and lithe. This new one is still long, but it trades a little of the old elegance for a dab of brutality. That perfect coupe roofline now terminates with a neat ducktail spoiler, and then there’s the front fascia.

Sharp-eyed readers may have noticed that the front of the Rapide S has a much bigger mouth than the old one.as you’ve heard if you’ve already read anything about the Rapide S, this is at least partially because the recently humorless Europeans have become obsessed with protecting pedestrians – even the ones who walk into traffic.

So, the Rapide S gets an aluminum grille that collapses backward in the event of an impact. The result is that should you or your mistress – pull a “Bonfire of the Vanities” in your new Rapide S, the poor kid you hit should fare well enough to testify at your trial.

Yes, the engine has been lowered, but more importantly, it’s magnificent. Aston’s Gen 4 AM1 engine is up 80 hp and 14 lb-ft of torque on the last version. That’s 550 hp and 457 lb-ft for those keeping score at home. The torque comes on a bit earlier, too, and according to those who’ve driven the outgoing car, that’s where the biggest difference in driving character comes.

The first Rapide looked long and lithe

Sure, 550 hp might not mean what it used to, but it’s still plenty. When you’ve downshifted twice before entering a tunnel, the noise swallows everything. From intake to exhaust, the V12 breathes and crack and roars like an out-of-control house fire. When you hit daylight, you don’t want for more power, you want for more tunnel.

Even without the sound, the V12 is good enough to get you and yours down the road as fast as you like – so long as it’s less than 191 mph. From a stop, 60 comes up in about 4.7 seconds.

Just like the new Vanquish with which it shares its engine and basic architecture, the Rapide s gets a three-mode adjustable suspension.

Drivers can select normal, sport or track modes, but in the real world they’ll likely stick with normal, as the softest setting is more than firm enough for spirited romps.

Build quality is top-notch. If you need confirmation that the era of indifferent British-car building is in the past, go sit in a Rapide S.

The front seats are extremely comfortable and plenty supportive. The Bang & Olufsen stereo is excellent. And the nav system works.

Some find the push-button transmission fussy, but it really isn’t. Some of the people who don’t like pushing a button to select drive also complain about having to take the key from their pocket and insert it in the dash to start the thing. These kinds of complaints are likely to elicit an eye roll or two when uttered aloud.

The rear seating area is about as beautiful a piece of leatherwork as you’re likely to see anywhere. It’s soft and feels like leather. It smells like leather. But it’s fitted so perfectly that it looks like it was sprayed on.

From the driver’s seat, it certainly feels special enough to be counted among the supers

A warning to rear-seat passengers possessing a broadness of beam: Enter feet-first, lest you be wedged against the door handle so tightly that you’ll have to ask a fellow passenger to help pry you out. He’ll tell people about it.

The rear seats fold flat, which adds some welcome utility – though not as much as, say, the mind-blowing Rapide-based station wagon that Bertone brought to Geneva earlier this year.

So, is it a supercar?

Well, it’s a little heavy compared to most supercars. It’s got a two-mode, six-speed automatic when everyone knows that for some reason you need at least eight forward speeds to be “super” these days. Of course, it goes without saying that we’d accept a four-speed if it came with a clutch instead of a torque converter. Is 190 mph and 4.7 seconds to 60 still supercar pace?

At right around $200,000, it could be argued that it has a supercar sticker.

From the driver’s seat, it certainly feels special enough to be counted among the supers. Of course, these days the definition of supercar is pretty nebulous.

One thing’s for sure: Calling the Rapide S a four-door sports car feels like selling it short.