The Aston Martin Rapide AMR Makes Little Sense But We Love It Just The Same

It’s been well over a year since Aston Martin revealed the Rapide AMR in concept form, but it’s at last as a bonafide production car. And it’s been worth the wait, as it’s damn near identical to the Geneva show car.

That means it gets a hilariously big gob full of mesh grille, huge 21-inch wheels and massive daytime running lights similar to those used on Aston Zagato specials. Subtle the AMR is not.

Under the bonnet is Aston Martin’s soon-to-be-retired 5.9-litre V12, here making 595bhp and 465lb ft of torque (up from 552bhp, while torque is unchanged), thanks to modifications to the intake system and ECU software tweaks. The gearbox software has been tweaked too. 0-62mph takes 4.4 seconds, and the top speed is 205mph.

To reduce lift, the AMR gets a new splitter, rear diffuser, boot spoiler and new side skirts, all made from carbonfibre. That new bonnets with its giant vents is made from carbon too, but don’t be fooled, the AMR’d Rapide is still a porky thing.

It’s a good job, then, that carbon ceramic brakes are fitted as standard. The discs are whoppers, too, measuring 400mm in diameter at the front, and 360mm at the back. They’re squeezed by six-piston calipers at the front and four-piston units up back, and the whole system is cooled via new, improved ducting.

The Rapide AMR sits 10mm lower than the S, retaining the three-stage adaptive dampers, although these have been “thoroughly reengineered” following extensive testing at the Nurburgring.

The final piece of the puzzle is a set of Michelin Pilot Super Sport tyres, fitted to the aforementioned 21-inch wheels. This is the first Aston Martin to get rims of that size, by the way.

All sounds fine and dandy, but isn’t making a hardcore version of what’s supposed to be the wafty, spacious, most genteel car of the range a bit…needless? Probably. But that doesn’t stop us loving the results.

It’s yours for £194,950, and is limited to 120 units. We’ll have ours with a racing stripe, please…