While other four-doors are sober and serene, the sexy Rapide S is flat-out berserk. Shaped like a fighter-jet canopy, built from aluminum panels so pretty they shouldn’t be painted, and powered by a thumping 5.9-liter V-12 that sends 550 hp to a six-speed automatic, this stunner will tear to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds. It’s big, but the low roof limits headroom in back. Let’s cut to the chase and talk about the Aston Martin Rapide’s single biggest bone of contention: the relatively tight proportions of the rear seats. The fact is that if you are over six feet tall and the person driving is of a similar height, you will struggle to get comfortable in the back of the Rapide – despite the seats themselves being beautifully sculpted and trimmed in ultra-high-quality leather.

Not even the ability to individually control the air conditioning system from side to side will make up for the lack of knee room if you are over six feet tall – and that could well be a defining issue for some owners.So it’s not a limousine—take something else to the Oscars. It doesn't matter; every trip in the Rapide is a red-carpet event.

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Although outright performance is far from the Aston Martin Rapide’s raison d’etre, it’s still an extremely quick car. Not as bombastic or obviously fast as a Porsche Panamera Turbo, perhaps, but still rapid enough to silence anyone lucky enough to climb aboard and experience its performance first hand.

Any car that can reach 60mph from rest in less than five seconds and 100mph in just 11.2sec is always going to feel impressive in a straight line, especially when enjoyed from one of the rear seats.

Aston Martin has been canny with the way it has designed the Rapide’s suspension system to seemingly be all things to all men, depending on what sort of mood you’re in or what sort of journey you’re on.

For on the one hand the Rapide plays the role of supremely refined, smooth-riding luxury car as well as anything in the class if left in its standard set-up. Press the Sport button, however, alongside another button that stiffens the suspension dramatically, and the Rapide suddenly becomes a quite different kind of car – one that feels very close to a full-blown sporting GT.

There are just two issues we have with the Aston Martin Rapide, one of which is more serious than the other. The first is its price, which looks worryingly high beside that of the Porsche Panamera. The second is the relative lack of space provided by its rear seats and to a lesser extent its boot. Although those rear quarters are sumptuously trimmed, spacious they are not – especially if anyone approaching six foot tall is attempting to sit behind someone of similar build. At least Aston offers a range of child seats for the Rapide, which is more in keeping with the passenger space in the back.

In the end, the space issue is something that will either put people off simply because they are too tall to fit into the car, or it won’t bother them one iota because they do fit the car.

starting Price: £149 995.....Top speed:184mph 355g/km...

Ohhh My Father this is what I call An Automobile.