Aston Martin Rapide S

Among all the car brands and models the current market offers, there are lots of very traditional ones and many others which have received much bigger changes through their history. Dealing with this tradition – or its lack – is one of the automakers’ several struggles when creating a new vehicle, because making right or wrong decisions imply receiving excellent or terrible acceptance. After studying press and public’s opinions for Rapide, Aston Martin now gives it the half-age facelift trying to hit the best possible formula.

There are very few brands like Ferrari or Lamborghini, which prefer to stabilish an identity among its cars by implicit items such as the colors, the engine sound or the overall shape of several external parts. On the other hand, the English automaker here referred is much more similar to Porsche, for example. Since Aston Martin maintains even some of the car names through decades, it’s not hard to expect its vehicles to have very little changes. The problem with that is these cars have started to look too much like versions of a single vehicle, even with their size and price differences. So the automaker decided to follow the path of applying small facelifts, in order to avoid the expenses of new projects too early and only give a different look to cars which, as a matter of fact, have already been approved by everyone when it comes to the other aspects. The four-door’s name received the “S” as standard, not as a new trim level. The biggest external update is at the front grille, which changed the two-part design for a bigger single element paired with a new hood. Besides, the aerodynamics was improved with a new rear spoiler. Aston Martin has managed to make its luxury sedan look young again, not as a whole new model but with an interesting renewed impression, pretty much like what Porsche Panamera will receive with its own facelift, planned to the next months.

But a luxury sports car isn’t made only of style. The sophisticated part is made with an improved acoustic treatment and lots of items such as the Carbon Exterior package, which brings rear diffuser, rearview mirror caps and tail light surrounds using the mentioned material. Not to mention the Piano Black package for the interior, sports perfored two-colored leather seats and all the custom options for colors and materials which are usually offered by the high-end automakers. Besides, the performance part is taken care by the V-12 5.9L engine, which is now mounted in a lower position to meet the current European safety regulations. It was improved to achieve 550 hp and 457 lb-ft, an 80-hp and 14 lb-ft increase from the last phase: Aston Martin states its 0-60 mph time became 0s4 better, with the top speed getting to 190 mph – the consumption rate stays at 14.3 l/100 km, though. The driving has borrowed the Adaptative Damping System from DB9 and Vanquish, allowing the driver to select between three modes: Normal, Sport and Track, but operates along with road condition detectors in order to always find the best possible combination of the driving settings.