New cars: 2010 Aston Martin Rapide
What the critics say about the $199,950 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
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
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.”
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Why ‘anti-Islam’ bikers are guarding Gaza aid sites
In The Spotlight Members of Infidels MC, who regard themselves as modern Crusaders, among private security guards at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites
-
China: Xi seeks to fill America’s void
Feature Trump’s tariffs are pushing nations eastward as Xi Jinping focuses on strengthening ties with global leaders
-
Rebrands: Bringing back the War Department
Feature Trump revives the Department of Defense’s former name