Aston Martin Rapide S

📸: Photo courtesy Zombiedrive.com

Two hundred miles per hour. Long the holiest of Grails for performance-minded enthusiasts, exceeding this velocity used to be limited to a very select few. It is still limited these days, but the number of production cars capable of achieving this speed is remarkable. So remark we will, over the next few days, as we look at the amazing bounty of beautiful automobiles that can meet or exceed this mark.

First up is a four-door, which is mind blowing in itself. Aston Martin has a long, glorious sporting history, but no one was expecting them to release a sedan capable of exceeding 200 mph. The 552 horsepower Rapide S is reported to achieve 203 mph.

📸: Photo courtesy Forbes.com

Looking much like a stretched Vantage, the Rapide S carries all of the traditional Aston styling cues, which makes sense as it is based on the DB9 sport coupe.

📸: Photo courtesy Carsguide.com

This rear quarter view shows a nice stance and a slightly chunky body (but nowhere near as bad as Porsche's Panamera). The Rapide S was first introduced in 2013, but only the models made after 2015 feature the 8 speed automatic transmission and the claimed top speed of 203 mph.