New cars: 2010 Aston Martin Rapide

Road & Track

Aston Martin calls the Rapide its “first production four-door sports car,” and this sleek sedan satisfies despite several shortcomings. “There’s nothing particularly advanced” about its hand-built, front-mounted V12 engine. Nonetheless, performance is first-rate, allowing drivers to “toss the car from corner to corner with vigor.” All told, not many automobiles “can match the sheer pleasure you get from an encounter with this beautiful Aston.”

Car and Driver

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This beguiling, maximum-performance sport sedan seems “eager to forge an emotional bond with its pilot.” Some design decisions are puzzlers: Rear doors open upward as well as out, and the cramped cabin makes ingress and egress “borderline gymnastic.” Still, this Aston gets our vote in the fun-to-drive category.

Motor Trend

The double-six-figure Rapide is “not just cash-the-401k, rob-a-bank, sell-a-kidney gorgeous,” it’s also a top-notch sedan “that can carry a couple of passengers in the rear.” With a bonded aluminum chassis and handcrafted elements throughout the interior, it strikes an “unexpectedly competent” balance between sportiness and luxury. Although its “prehistoric” satellite-navigation system and “haphazard ergonomics” are decided drawbacks, this is still a car “in which 007 would take his aged parents to church on Sundays.”