RE: Aston Martin Rapide S revealed

[DonkeyApple]

Lightningman said:

Ideal how? Because it has 4-doors?

Well you've just set the bar pretty low. Using that logic, a Kia Picanto is also ideal.

IMHO, Aston lost their way a long time ago and have been treading water ever since. Unless they are very lucky - read huge financial injection / very beneficial strategic partnership - I fear the Aston many of us grew up lusting after will die, or continue to limp on in an undignified, smoke and mirrors PR, manner.

Sticking a V12 in your car doesn't make it a great one. Banging on about the link to 007 doesn't make it 'cool' and pulling the British card has less impact than when they could legitimately state they were. Of course, this is my personal opinion but as a previous customer and hearing similar comments from plenty of other ex-customers, I'm inclined to feel that Aston have lost their way and (like many other car companies) need to start treating their potential customer pool as intelligent consumers and not morons, swayed by pretty pictures, sycophantic journo reviews and flashy PR.

As much as I love the Rapide they should have used their resources to deliver an SUV under the Lagonda brand to secure volume sales and better revenues to firm up the business.

They can still do an SUV on someone else's chassis, Merc or JLR etc, and from there look to do a proper saloon under Lagonda as well.

[Carnnoisseur]

Like all of it apart from the rear quarter. The additional doors (whilst practical), just don't seem to blend that well.....almost like an after thought. Slightly harsh, but need to throw it out there....

[Zod]

Greenslade said:

I didn't think the Rapide was selling very well so why another model that looks the same as almost every other Aston - (aside from extra doors)
The really need to reduce their model range. That grill is awful
IMHO the best loking Aston was V8 Vantage from 06

The Rapide is their biggest seller. If you lived in London, you would not be surprised by that.

[Zod]

toppstuff said:

Utterly pointless car IMO.

Sales are woefully short of the original targets. They are rather polishing a poo here, IMO.

The bottom line is that thousands and thousands of Panameras have been sold for every Rapide. This is simply because, as a 4 door , 4 seater car, the Rapide does not work. It is too cramped. I attended a launch event and our efforts to take 4 grown men out for a hoon became so absurd we started laughing at the car. I don't think you are likely to buy one after that.

You've just made all of that up. You don't know anything about their sales targets. It is in fact their best selling model. I don't know quite how many they've sold, but say it's 1000. How many million Panameras has Porsche sold? Nowhere near millions, but it's irrelevant anyway, as Aston never set out to compete on volume with the hideous Panamera. They couldn't as they simply don't have a fraction of the capacity.

I'm 6'2" and I can sit in the back.

[NGK210]

Zod said:

...

I'm 6'2" and I can sit in the back...

...If the person sitting in the front seat is 5'2"

[whoami]

Zod said:

Greenslade said:

I didn't think the Rapide was selling very well so why another model that looks the same as almost every other Aston - (aside from extra doors)
The really need to reduce their model range. That grill is awful
IMHO the best loking Aston was V8 Vantage from 06

The Rapide is their biggest seller. If you lived in London, you would not be surprised by that.

I don't believe that's correct.

[g3org3y]

Funk said:

Good:



Bad:



They've actually made it uglier.

^Agreed. Needs to be broken up otherwise it just looks like a whale shark.

[Agoogy]

number plate or no number plate, that's the worst Aston detailing I think I've ever seen as it ruins the otherwise well resolved design.

I hope the dullards that complained of same-again Aston design are happy now...

[Zod]

whoami said:

Zod said:

Greenslade said:

I didn't think the Rapide was selling very well so why another model that looks the same as almost every other Aston - (aside from extra doors)
The really need to reduce their model range. That grill is awful
IMHO the best loking Aston was V8 Vantage from 06

The Rapide is their biggest seller. If you lived in London, you would not be surprised by that.

I don't believe that's correct.

From EVO a couple of months back.

[whoami]

Zod said:

whoami said:

Zod said:

Greenslade said:

I didn't think the Rapide was selling very well so why another model that looks the same as almost every other Aston - (aside from extra doors)
The really need to reduce their model range. That grill is awful
IMHO the best loking Aston was V8 Vantage from 06

The Rapide is their biggest seller. If you lived in London, you would not be surprised by that.

I don't believe that's correct.

From EVO a couple of months back.

That's peculiar as the first sentence in the Rapide section of the Aston V12 buying guide article in Evo states, "The Rapide has not been a big sales success for Aston".

We are either talking about two separate (and contradictory) articles or you've misread it.

[31mph]

Nice specs,

Horrible gaping grille.

[DB9VolanteDriver]

Neil1300R said:

Greenslade said:

I didn't think the Rapide was selling very well so why another model that looks the same as almost every other Aston - (aside from extra doors)
The really need to reduce their model range. That grill is awful
IMHO the best loking Aston was V8 Vantage from 06

The Rapide is currently the biggest selling model.

And where did you hear that crock of s%^# ? Unless you have figures to prove it, it is simply a fabrication on someone's part.

[MonteV]

Helicopter123 said:

Ze Germans still boss this sector.

Even this company.

[Zod]

whoami said:

Zod said:

whoami said:

Zod said:

Greenslade said:

I didn't think the Rapide was selling very well so why another model that looks the same as almost every other Aston - (aside from extra doors)
The really need to reduce their model range. That grill is awful
IMHO the best loking Aston was V8 Vantage from 06

The Rapide is their biggest seller. If you lived in London, you would not be surprised by that.

I don't believe that's correct.

From EVO a couple of months back.

That's peculiar as the first sentence in the Rapide section of the Aston V12 buying guide article in Evo states, "The Rapide has not been a big sales success for Aston".

We are either talking about two separate (and contradictory) articles or you've misread it.

Separate article and, of course, I can't find it.

[Evo]

Blimey you could park a Cygnet in that mouth.

[Neil1300R]

DB9VolanteDriver said:

Neil1300R said:

Greenslade said:

I didn't think the Rapide was selling very well so why another model that looks the same as almost every other Aston - (aside from extra doors)
The really need to reduce their model range. That grill is awful
IMHO the best loking Aston was V8 Vantage from 06

The Rapide is currently the biggest selling model.

And where did you hear that crock of s%^# ? Unless you have figures to prove it, it is simply a fabrication on someone's part.

The figures were posted up on one of the sub forums of PH a couple of weeks ago. Was quite surprised myself. If memory serves they were taken from an Evo article.

[Fire99]

Funk said:

Good:



Bad:



They've actually made it uglier.

:Yes: (Though would be even better without the integrated DRL's)
A stunning car has become a parody of itself.

[rcs5158]

I was fortunate to work within the Aston dealer network for a couple of years and you could always rely on the fact that every new car was elegant and attractive. I joined prior to the launch of the DB9 which is achingly beautiful, the Rapide in both concept and production iteration (series one) is a beautiful thing, and never meant as a direct competitor against more volume manufacturers. The kudos of driving the brand and the dynamics along with the option of 5 door practicality outweighed being seen as a quattroporte, panemera, xj etc rival. Anyone who has this sort of money to plough into a motorcar will invariably have a choice of more practical machinery. This though is a facelift too far, the grill is ghastly and very 2013 model year Ford, the wheels are very chintzy and all of this looks at home either in Dubai or LA, perhaps spinners can next be on the option list...........Aston was the final word in elegance, this unfortunately will spell the end of the Rapide, a 6 month old ex demo would be a far more tempting proposition.......sad day for Aston.!!

[ukmike2000]

Hideous and rather pointless - the footballers will love it.


Just to add some clarity to these reported figures of the Rapide's sales successes, howmanyleft.com reports only 54 Rapides were registered in the UK in 2012 compared with around 100 Vantage V8s and a further 100 Vantage V8 Autos.
It reports there is a total of 388 UK registered Rapides on the road at the end of 2012.

(From a quick totting up of the different models of Panamera it seems they registered just short of 700 Porsche Panameras in 2012 - 567 of them being diesels)

Edited by ukmike2000 on Wednesday 23 January 18:49

Edited by ukmike2000 on Wednesday 23 January 19:01

[DonkeyApple]

ukmike2000 said:

Hideous and rather pointless - the footballers will love it.


Just to add some clarity to these reported figures of the Rapide's sales successes, howmanyleft.com reports only 54 Rapides were registered in the UK in 2012 compared with around 100 Vantage V8s and a further 100 Vantage V8 Autos.
It reports there is a total of 388 UK registered Rapides on the road at the end of 2012.

(From a quick totting up of the different models of Panamera it seems they registered just short of 700 Porsche Panameras in 2012 - 567 of them being diesels)

Edited by ukmike2000 on Wednesday 23 January 18:49

Edited by ukmike2000 on Wednesday 23 January 19:01

Seems to suggest that the Rapide outsold the corresponding Porsche (Panamera Turbo) in the UK for 2012?

We also know that most sales are outside the UK.