Aston Martin Rapide storms the desert

If you asked last month what the greatest invention in the history of the world was, we would not have said fire or the wheel or the Wright brothers' airplane. We'd have told you it was air conditioning. Because last month, we were in Kuwait, a place so hot that even the Kuwaitis--who probably have the best air conditioners on the planet--get the hell out of Kuwait in the summertime.

Can't say we blame them. Last month, the ambient-temperature gauge on the chase truck we had with us read 54 degrees Celsius. That's 129 Fahrenheit to you and me. To quote the great thinker and philosopher Paris Hilton, that's hot.

What was in Kuwait? First and foremost, once you get out of Kuwait City, there is an unfathomable amount of sand. Like Lawrence of Arabia sand. It's not the grainy stuff you see in hourglasses and on the Hawaiian resort beaches that's all glittery and white, good enough to put in the hallway ashtrays of the finest hotels. This is mostly khaki-colored dust that sticks to your teeth, nostrils, ear canals and anywhere else not hermetically sealed. It's like Baja without the cactus.

And there are camels, too.

But we were not there for the sand or the camels. We went for the Aston Martin Rapide, the fabulously svelte four-door production version of which Aston will reveal to the world at the Frankfurt motor show

in September. Engineers were doing final calibrations on drivetrain cooling and air conditioning, and they invited us along despite, or because of, the incendiary temps. (Second prize: two trips to Kuwait!)

Even though it was still a verification prototype, the last step in development before the production cars, there was nary a fault to be found in this beautiful car. Engineers pointed out what they imagined were flaws in things such as interior trim pieces and door gaps. But unless someone told you to look for those things, you'd simply be bowled over by the sheer presence of this car.

When you see it as we did, on the road, you can't help but think that Aston has crafted a splendidly proportioned “four-door coupe,” as designers call it. The Rapide gains almost 11 inches in wheelbase and more than 15 inches overall compared with the DB9, but it barely looks it. It's a car with the convenience of four real doors but the uncompromising visual flow of a coupe. The look succeeds effortlessly, like that of its main competitors, the Mercedes-Benz CLS and the Maserati Quattroporte, with none of the hemming and hawing that explain more “controversial” four-doors such as the Mazda RX-8 and the Porsche Panamera.

Aston Martin
The Aston Martin Rapide arrives in the second quarter of 2010.

We didn't get to drive the car--the press introduction won't be until January or February--but we did spend a day riding along with all of the computers, wires and technicians and came away with more than a notion of the Rapide's performance potential.

Earlier rumors had the Rapide's engine output surpassing that of its DB9 forebearer with which it shares the 6.0-liter V12. But engineers confirmed that the new car would have the same 470 hp at 6,000 rpm and 443 lb-ft of torque at 5,000 revs as the DB9. Regardless, it did not feel as if it was lacking.

The transmission will be the Touch-tronic 2 mounted at the rear, connected to the engine by a torque tube. The suspension will have two settings, both of which felt wonderfully firm to us--the difference being that the softer one allowed more travel over bumps and potholes. However, settings were far from finalized.

“This is version six or seven,” said vehicle engineering manager Simon Barnes, who seemed less bothered by the heat than any Englishman since the aforementioned Lawrence of Arabia. “We'll be at version 50 by production.”

Steering ratio has been cranked up from the DB9's 17:1 to 15:1, so that the car does not feel longer in the wheelbase, Barnes said. The Brembo disc brakes are co-cast with an alloy inner and cast-iron outer. They sit inside 20-inch wheels wrapped in bespoke Bridgestone rubber.

Inside, room in the front seat felt gran-touring snug, not like more upright, full-size sedans such as the BMW M5 or the Mercedes E63. Front-seat space was about as ample as that in the DB9, with which the Rapide shares much of its “vertical/

horizontal” structure and drivetrain.

That structure keeps getting better each time they make a new vertical/horizontal model. The Rapide chassis requires 28 kilonewtons of force to twist one degree, while the DB9 takes only 26.

Aston Martin
The Aston Martin Rapide is being tested in the desert of Kuwait.

“The guys are getting cleverer at what they can do with the platform,” said Barnes.

In back, once you have negotiated the decidedly smaller ingress aperture, there is more or less room for a real, live adult; admittedly, a shorter adult would be happier than one who shared our freakishly long torso. Kids in back will have no legitimate reason to complain (come on, kid, your daddy's rich and your momma's probably good-looking). Aston has tested the full range of Britax and Recaro children's seats and found that they all fit, too, eliminating that point in the “Shall we buy a Rapide?” argument.

With a curb weight of 4,290 pounds, 410 pounds more than the DB9, the Rapide should move out smartly. While there are no official estimates for 0 to 60 mph, we'd guess less than five seconds would be easy. Not bad for a “sedan” and within the ballpark of the CLS and the Quattroporte.

Aston plans to make 2,000 of these a year, a third of which (that's 666--yikes!) will come to the United States. Expect a sticker price of about $250,000. (OK, maybe that constitutes a logical reason for not buying one.)

The Rapide won't show up in dealerships until early in the second quarter of 2010, a couple of months later than first reported. But take it from us--when the car does

arrive, the air conditioning will work splendidly.

By Mark Vaughn