The Aston Martin Rapide might just be a classy guy’s wet dream; a car blessed with a handsome look, a big engine and two extra doors for the convenience of either the mates or the family to fit in. But all in all, the Rapide might be a bit too classy for ones liking, and it is never a sin to spice things up a bit. And for that, Aston Martin now presents to us the meaner and angrier Rapide S.
This just might be a hunch, but it is safe to assume that the ‘S’ stands for Sports as this new Rapide does not run nor look like the old one. For starters, the new S is given a more menacing look with the new front bumper and a larger grill. And to not ruin the good look it carries, Aston Martin had only done subtle changes on the other parts of the bodywork like to the rear decklid. They also offer a new Carbon Exterior Pack for those wanting the smartly-woven material replacing the major exterior trim pieces.
And things just get better under the hood. The 6.0-liter V12 engine will no longer have to make do with 470 horses to gallop with as it is already being fiddled with to produce 550-horsepower and 457 lb/ft of torque, shaving off 0.4 seconds from the old 0-100 time of 5.3 seconds.
The engine also now sits 19mm lower than before, giving the Rapide S better handling especially with its new adaptive suspension called the Adaptive Damping System. Found on the new Vanquish and DB9, the ADS offers three different settings; Normal, Sport and Track, giving out the most from the 550 horses available.
Not much change were done to the interior, except for the new piano black interior pack and the Duotone perforated red and black leather offered for the Rapide S. While there are yet any words on the pricing, it will most probably be in the range of USD 200,000 (RM 608,000) and will be available for orders starting next month.
