Aston Martin Rapide

It may be famous for traditional sports cars, but Aston Martin has broken with tradition by launching a four-door model. Like the new Porsche Panamera, it’s designed to be a large luxury sports car, rather than a traditional saloon, but still offers useful practicality. It’s strictly for four passengers and those in the back are particularly well catered for. There are two hand-trimmed individual sports seats plus a personal face-level heating and air conditioning system. An optional rear entertainment system is available which includes two LCD screens fitted in the back of the front seat heardrests. This comes with a six DVD changer and a Bang & Olufsen sound system. It’s practical too, with one-touch automatically folding rear seats and a maximum boot space of 750 litres. Peformance is a key Aston tradition and the Rapide is no exception. Power comes from a hand-built 6.0-litre V12 engine producing 470bhp which gives it a 0-62mph time of just 5.3 seconds.