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" Owning an Aston Martin must be like marrying a supermodel, in that no amount of jealousy from friends or stares from strangers will keep doubt from eventually creeping into your heart. In some cold, hollow moment, you&amp;#039;ll ask yourself: Is she really as talented and elegant as everyone says? Or do we applaud her other qualities simply because she&amp;#039;s so damn pretty? (Also: My God, I am going bankrupt maintaining this relationship.) Take the new Rapide S, a refreshed version of, and replacement for, the four-door Rapide that hit the market in 2010. It uses a 550-hp version of Aston&amp;#039;s 5.9-liter V-12\u2014a substantial 80-hp gain over the old Rapide&amp;#039;s 5.9. Torque is a whopping 457 lb-ft, 14 lb-ft more than before. The output bump is due in part to dual variable valve timing, larger throttle bodies, and flow-optimized combustion chambers. The extra horses punch the car to a claimed top speed of 190 mph, 7 mph faster than before, and Aston says 60 mph arrives from a stop in just 4.7 seconds.  And yet those numbers are easily bested by the Porsche Panamera Turbo S and Bentley Continental Flying Spur, both of which, like the Maserati Quattroporte, are better at transporting a pair of ordinary-sized people in the back. (The Aston&amp;#039;s fold-down rear perches, while appropriately posh, are two heavily bolstered sport seats bisected by an imposing console and driveline tunnel. They&amp;#039;re not suited to large people or long hauls.) And so, with a $202,775 base price, the doubt sneaks in. But it shouldn&amp;#039;t. The aluminum-chassis Rapide is composed and incredibly agile, especially given its 4387 pounds and 117.7-inch wheelbase. Blasting at near-felonious speeds or enjoying the expressive steering on a mountain road, glimpsing the back seats in the mirror is startling because you feel like you&amp;#039;re in a smaller car. With a 48/52 front-to-rear weight distribution, as well as an engine mounted 0.7 inch lower than the old Rapide, the S feels remarkably balanced and planted.  And the sound. Oh, the sound. Plant your foot, and the 48-valve V-12 howls like God&amp;#039;s own dog; slap a well-timed downshift via the ZF six-speed&amp;#039;s flappy aluminum paddles, and it wails and crackles like you lit the dog&amp;#039;s tail on fire. Aston was smart to keep the sheetmetal tweaks to a minimum. Like its predecessor, the Rapide S is aesthetically unchallenged in the four-door-rocket-limo category. The taller, full-face grille is the most prominent cosmetic update; it adds a welcome but not overpowering dose of aggression. There&amp;#039;s also a new, more substantial rear spoiler, a new carbon-fiber splitter, and optional 20-inch, 10-spoke wheels. The interior is a luxuriously appointed haven of hand-stitched hides, glass knobs, and a complete lack of artifice. If it looks like leather, it&amp;#039;s leather; if it looks like carbon fiber, it&amp;#039;s carbon fiber. Glass is glass, metal is metal, snozzberries are snozzberries, and so on.  So should the Rapide S buyer worry about falling short on test-track bragging rights? Not at all. The best cars are more than the sum of their spec sheets. You buy the Bentley sport sedan because the studio just picked up your overall deal, and you buy the four-door Porsche because your spreadsheets have jumped to life and commanded you. But you buy an Aston Martin for just one reason: You want to feel like James Bond. And this is the only car in the world that can give you that feeling, even while taking the kids to soccer practice. 2014 Aston Martin Rapide S   Price: $202,775  Powertrain: 5.9 liter V12, 550 hp, 457 lb./ft.; RWD, six-speed automatic  Weight: 4387 lbs (mfr)  0-60 MPH: 4.7 seconds ((EST) TOP SPEED 190 MPH (MFR))  Top Speed (mfr): 190 MPH  Fuel Economy (city/hwy): 13/19 (MPG)  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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