Aston Martin Rapide S review: the four-door for families who refuse to compromise on the badge
3.8/5motorssouq Editorial Team
Buy a Rapide S if the four-door layout genuinely matters to your daily life and you still want a proper V12 soundtrack on the way to school drop-off. It is a far rarer sight than an equivalent Bentley or Mercedes-AMG four-door, which is its whole appeal, but rarity here also means limited local parts and service support.
Pros
- 552 hp 6.0-litre V12 with genuine straight-line pace for a four-door
- Rear seats fit two adults comfortably for a real causeway run, unlike any two-door Aston
- 8-speed Touchtronic 2 automatic is a meaningful step up from the original car's gearbox
- Rarity in the Gulf means it draws attention no equivalent four-door will match
Cons
- Nearly 2 tonnes of weight makes it noticeably less agile than a two-door Aston
- Frameless rear doors and low roofline limit rear headroom for taller passengers
- Fewer specialists locally have deep Rapide-specific familiarity than for the DB9 or V8 Vantage
- Low sales numbers mean patience is required to find the right used example
Stretch a DB9 platform, add two rear doors and a proper back seat, and the Rapide is roughly what results — an Aston Martin V12 sports car wearing a longer, more practical body. The original 2010 car was well received but slightly underpowered for its size; the 2013 Rapide S fixed that with a 6.0-litre V12 making 552 hp, up from 470, along with a new 8-speed automatic to replace the original 6-speed.
The result is a car that is genuinely quick in a straight line — 0–100 km/h in around 4.4 seconds — while offering rear-seat space that, while not limousine-generous, comfortably fits two adults for the causeway run to Saudi Arabia in a way no two-door Aston can match.
The trade-offs
At just under 2 tonnes, the Rapide S is noticeably heavier than the DB9 it shares components with, and it shows in how the car changes direction — competent rather than thrilling. The frameless rear doors and low roofline that give it its coupe-like silhouette also mean rear headroom is tighter than the exterior dimensions suggest, particularly for taller passengers.
It was never a big seller, even by Aston Martin standards, which makes it a genuinely rare car in the Gulf. That rarity cuts two ways: it will draw attention nobody else's four-door will, but it also means fewer specialists locally have deep familiarity with it compared with the more common DB9 and V8 Vantage.
Buying one in Bahrain
As with any V12-era Aston, insist on documented cambelt and cooling-system service history, and factor in that this car will need a UAE trip or a specialist import of parts for anything beyond routine work. Given how few were sold new, expect the used-car search itself to take patience.