RE: Production-ready Aston Martin Rapide E revealed
Discussion
Can't help feeling that for a new car, it has a bit of an "old" feel about it, and the upcoming offerings from Porsche and the like will be a better proposition.
Then again, Aston's have rarely traded on being the best car around and maybe there will be enough people interested but suspect that the price will be horrendous.
I wonder how many Tarafs they actually sold in the end....
Then again, Aston's have rarely traded on being the best car around and maybe there will be enough people interested but suspect that the price will be horrendous.
I wonder how many Tarafs they actually sold in the end....
A lot of negative comments about old design and rehashing an old car with an electric motor dropped in where the V12 used to sit. From an aesthetic point of view though you can hardly call Tesla revolutionary, ground breaking or even pretty. Let's not forget that this is exactly what Tesla did to start with too. They took an old Lotus, ripped the engine out and threw in some batteries and electric motors and people went oooooh, aaaaah. To an extent, I agree with the comments as let's be honest, although it is still a thing of beauty, the Rapide has been in production for almost 10 years. However, Andy Palmer has been quoted as saying the Rapide E is more of a test bed for the tech going into the forthcoming AM fully electrical SUV and the Lagonda brand of motors. A bit cheeky some might say but hey, the reality is, we have a highly desirable electric car for a niche market which will probably only appreciate in value. If I had the required disposable income, I know I'd rather have this than a Tesla any day of the week. But then, as an Aston fan, I am a bit biased.
Meh. Aside from the limited availability and the price, the biggest problem is that it appears to be rear wheel drive. With 'leccy motors delivering max torque at zero revs, AWD is a must for powerful electric cars, as Tesla has demonstrated. This thing will be an exercise in frustration whilst it spins its rear tires at the slightest provocation.
720S and a Model X would be a much better bet for the money.
720S and a Model X would be a much better bet for the money.
sgtBerbatov said:
Difference between Tesla and Aston Martin though is that the windows on an Aston Martin won't freeze shut in the cold weather.
I love Aston, but these things are hardly mass produced, I'm sure they'll come with their own little bundle of idiosyncrasies. The Aston is over four times the price remember. The Tesla will kill it on tech and infotainment. The windows freeze shut on my Transit too annoyingly. The less said about the shut lines and panel gaps the better.
sgtBerbatov said:
Plus the Aston looks so much better
Agreed, prior to the max power tweaks and gopping grille it was undoubtably the most handsome four door saloon on earth.
sgtBerbatov said:
If you can afford the Aston Martin you aren't going to be driving this as your daily.
So it's a special car then, that should be an event to drive. So you'll be wanting the V12 (saving a cool quarter million in the process). You can use the change to buy a designed from the ground up EV to satisfy your environmental predilections. A Model X say, ticks the SUV box requirement for the three bay oak garage. Still leaves more than £100k to spend though. A lightly used 570S should do it.Fire99 said:
First impressions are a car that I would expect Jaguar to produce.
Thankfully Jaguar did the exact opposite. A clean sheet of paper, innovative design and after Tesla the first mainstream manufacturer to market with a credible pure EV.ShemsuHor said:
A lot of negative comments about old design and rehashing an old car with an electric motor dropped in where the V12 used to sit. From an aesthetic point of view though you can hardly call Tesla revolutionary, ground breaking or even pretty. Let's not forget that this is exactly what Tesla did to start with too. They took an old Lotus, ripped the engine out and threw in some batteries and electric motors and people went oooooh, aaaaah.
Tesla had no choice other than to do it that way. They had to initially prove the tech before becoming a car manufacturer. They had to prove an EV could have both performance and range. They started development in 2004. By 2008 they had a car on the road with a 150+ mile real world range and a sub 4 second 0-60 time. The fact that now in 2019, with the concept proved, European manufacturers are still playing catchup to an upstart American saloon from 2012 is a little absurd.Aston Martin have no problem buying engines from Mercedes, and rightly so. Mercedes spends over £2bn a year on R&D. So why are they wasting valuable time and resources developing an EV platform when they could just buy a better one with none of the hassle.
If you know a bit about electric vehicles you'll no doubt have heard of Rivian. This is their 'Skateboard' chassis. Ask them nicely and I'm sure they'll be happy to sell it to you.
With a heavy truck or SUV body on top it'll do sixty in three seconds with a range of 400 miles. All Aston have to do is add a coach built body and interior to die for and tune the dynamics to make it drive like it should. Churn these profitable Model S killers out at £150k along with a sub £200k SUV and let your R&D guys focus on giving us truly groundbreaking masterpieces like this instead.
Edited by B17NNS on Tuesday 16th April 16:30
B17NNS said:
If you know a bit about electric vehicles you'll no doubt have heard of Rivian. This is their 'Skateboard' chassis. Ask them nicely and I'm sure they'll be happy to sell it to you.
With a heavy truck or SUV body on top it'll do sixty in three seconds with a range of 400 miles. All Aston have to do is add a coach built body and interior to die for and tune the dynamics to make it drive like it should. Churn these profitable Model S killers out at £150k along with a sub £200k SUV and let your R&D guys focus on giving us truly groundbreaking masterpieces like this instead.
That's a heavily embellished description of vehicle development. If it was that easy, and made 30% profit they'd be doing it. (I have no idea what AM are making on these btw).With a heavy truck or SUV body on top it'll do sixty in three seconds with a range of 400 miles. All Aston have to do is add a coach built body and interior to die for and tune the dynamics to make it drive like it should. Churn these profitable Model S killers out at £150k along with a sub £200k SUV and let your R&D guys focus on giving us truly groundbreaking masterpieces like this instead.
Rivian's vehicles don't even exist yet. I wish people could not use concepts as examples of what is possible. Case in point, the $35000 model 3 that no one can buy. 2 years ago people said Tesla had "done it".
Edited by mstrbkr on Tuesday 16th April 20:01
RobDickinson said:
Tesla have delivered 35k model 3s.
The promised 35k SR Model 3 does not exist. What they are doing is delivering some range limited SR+ models to existing order holders, stopping the base model from being ordered online and jacking the prices up again by including autopilot.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff