Thanks to my buddy Albert for the tip, I got to see the Aston Martin Rapide in the flesh yesterday.

Apparently, this car have been making the rounds as it was at Bev. Hills AM dealership couple of days ago and this time, it was at the Newport Dealership for one day only.

My wife and I were running some errands in Newport Beach and when I got the word that this first ever four-door sports car from Aston Martin will be at the showroom, we just had to swing by.

Here are some pics I took.

First shown in 2006 as a concept car, this four-door, high performance sport saloon is now popping up on dealers lot to tease those who aren’t affected much by the recession. Aston Martin has set the base price for the Rapide in the United States at $199,950. But with extra options , the price will shoot up from there.

Even with the extra set of doors, the Aston Martin Rapide has a roof like those of a coupe. The silhouette is so smooth with a contour that flows with the marque’s familiar shape.

All this power is handled by a six-speed Touchtronic 2 auto tranny letting the driver decide whether to change gear automatically or manually via the steering column-mounted magnesium paddles.

The front end is unmistakably Aston Martin. At the heart of each Rapide pounds a hand-built 6.0 liter V12 engine putting down 470 bhp with a matching 443 lb.ft. of torque. The numbers are descent in these times but for a well balance car such as this, I’m sure it’s fine.I still wish it had more TQ though.

The rear end is very civilized and clean with slightly smoked clear tails. And no, that’s not Sean Connery in the pic, LOL.

One of my favorite features on any Aston Martin cars are the hips. And the Rapide sure does have them child-bearing hips.

The Rapide is an amazing car for anyone that’s willing to fork out an extra $70G more than a more powerful Panamera Turbo. But from a pure design point of view, I feel that there is no other 4-door out there that is better looking than this model. It can be so classy but yet be so sporty all at the same time.

Much props goes to Aston Martin’s Director of Design, Marek Reichman who led the in-house design team responsible for this model.