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Test Drive @ Miller Motorcars: Aston Martin Rapide
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: Miller Motorcars Greenwich ::: 2010 Aston Martin Rapide
OUR salesman has been at this all day.
“We’ve had two people get tickets already,” he notes, keeping the Aston well within the speed limit.
It’s Saturday afternoon and Miller Motorcars has sent out a mass invite to sample the 2010 Aston Martin Rapide. Appointment blocks are 30 minutes and ours is at 1PM. Thanks to traffic, we show at 1:14.
Patiently, Miller’s rep. greets us. His speech pattern registers low and level and his manner’s neutral in a way that’s surprising for a man in his forward-leaning profession.
He drives us off the lot and into Greenwich, Connecticut – a tightly packed suburban community sandwiched between two highways (I-95 and the Merritt Parkway) a secondary road (Rte 1) and Amtrak/MetroNorth rail lines that all run parallel to Long Island Sound towards New York.
The town’s crowded interplay between commercial and residential zoning means that even narrow, twisting back roads that cut through forest see constant traffic.
Cutting north into the hills, we approach a slight right-hand bend that leads into a Y-intersection – all clear.
He gives notice that he’s going to take the turn abruptly so that we can get a sense of the Rapide’s “balance.”
In goes throttle, velvet V12 music plays through twin exhausts, here comes the turn, metallic door handle is clasped, he spins the wheel right, and – we’re through to the adjoining road.
He’s smiling. And so are we.
These are the perks of being an Aston Martin “sales specialist”.
It’s a vocation more than a job, and as an automotive enthusiast it seldom gets old. The salesman’s worked for Miller for four years and, yes, he gets a company car.
The salesman pulls over so that Schnookums can get wheel time. She takes us through hill and dale; enjoying the sensation of piloting a four door coupe that’s longer than an M6 but surprisingly lower, tighter, and much more in-sync with the road.
Conversation is limited and stays centered on the Rapide. We’re here to experience the machine and the sales rep’s job is to let the Aston do the talking.
My turn.
Ingress & egress are a little tricky in this coupé
I’m gentle at first – registering the feel of the small leather bound helm. I’m peering out from a cabin where a low suede headliner meets an even lower windshield that overlooks (again) a low, long bonnet.
We’re entirely encapsulated in exotic richness – it’s our own cavern of firm hides and the right amount woods and visual technologies (the pop-up GPS stays stashed under Tamo Ash panel). In essence, it’s more Maserati than Bentley.
I ask if anyone else has made any association between the Rapide and the Lagonda. Miller’s rep. chuckles, “No.” He remembers how much trouble Aston’s first four-door gave customers. That said, he marveled at the uniqueness of the old concept.
We’re taking turns a bit faster now and helm feedback registers more Porsche 911 (danke, herr doktor) than big British GT. The go pedal feels very odd under foot and even odder when, after planting it – for one MISSISSIPPI – nothing at all happens.
The 470hp V12 builds speed briskly and the auto shifts smartly but with a starting weight of 4,300 lbs plus three adult occupants, you can’t help but feel as though the engine’s a little taxed.
The Aston’s V12 produced not the violent, raucous V8 or V10 surge of an AMG Benz or M Bimmer, but rather the smooth application of silken power.
I comment on how all cars seem to be heavy nowadays and Miller’s man agrees. I flash on the surprising litheness of the e32 and e38 7-series.
Our test drive ends just as quickly as it began.
“We’ll be getting our own demo soon,” the salesman says. “If you come back, we’ll spend a longer time with the car.”
Judging by the commendable sales experience – gladly.
2010 Aston Martin Rapide & Aston’s Golden Era
- 2010 Aston Martin Rapide a far cry from original four-door attempt
- Imaginative 1980s Lagonda = wierd science
- Rapide better blend of Aston heritage with extended platform function
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd
SPEAKING of German cars in the 80s, time in its kind haze tricks us into the belief that Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW could do no wrong in that Go-Go decade.
It was a lean era of rightness and tightness, maximum attitude with just the right amount of – everything. Engineering connected driver to car in a way that technology has since displaced.
British cars did not share in that golden era. In fact, the 80s were a despicable time for marques like Jaguar (XJS-C) and Aston Martin (Lagonda).
-shudder-
These were the dying days of British Leyland, union strikes, dismal quality control, financial woes, and nonsensical forays into technologies too advanced to be safely implemented – touch panel shifting, anyone?
Perhaps that’s why – these two decades on – Aston Martin is now enjoying its own seminal period of perfection. Where ze Germans have taken their eye off their A-game and given into pork and brand extension, Aston has – except for the wrongful Toyota city car gamble – kept focus.
Granted, product can always be improved and the V8 Vantage on up to the One-77 are no exceptions.
But, all things being right as rain, Dr. Bez & Co. now peddle the world’s most beautiful cars; the 2010 Rapide “four door sports car” included.
The last time Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd built a low-slung, ahead-of-its time four door, it was walloped by the dual curse of poor sales and core-client backlash.
Add salt to this wound: the old Lagonda was starkly different from other Astons of its day.
Aside from being a severe 80s geometric interpretation of what the future held for cars, the Lagondas were overpriced and overstuffed with hardware that failed often and expensively. What made Aston “Aston” seemed cast aside in favor of the starkly modern.
Creative, though it was, the Lagonda belly flopped.
Fast forward and in contrast the Rapide’s entrance onto the world stage (officially) at Frankfurt and previously in concept in 2006 at Detroit has been met with almost universal praise for hitting the mark.
Credit for this initial success belongs to the Rapide’s smart inclusion of Aston heritage and a carefully weighted, but not stilted balance of future elements that will compromise the 2+2+hatch luxe coupé segment which the 2010 Rapide and the Porsche Panamera inhabit.
With first deliveries set for early next year, we’ll wait to see whether quality and performance meet early praise and truly cap Aston’s current golden era.
