• Fuel economy a promised 21.9mpg
• Big tyres and frequent servicing required
• Make sure you budget properly

It’s unlikely you’ll be looking at Aston Martin Rapide running costs under the same microscope as a diesel company car but it’s worth pointing out that this is not a cheap thing to run.

For a start it’s quite thirsty, promising only 21.9mpg, and that’s providing you are quite careful. We averaged 18mpg during our test which included a fair bit of mixed driving, with motorways and B-roads tackled in equal measure.

Make sure there’s space in your budget for additional costs, such as servicing and tyres for those enormous wheels. The process of slowing a two-tonne coupe down also means you should also factor in reasonably regular replacement brake pads.

While the Aston Martin Rapide excels in many areas, its environmental impact is not one of them. A fulsome 300g/km of CO2 puts it in the highest first-year VED car tax band.

Expect to pay the top-rate tax in your first year due to the Rapide producing the same CO2 as three diesel Passats.

• Hard to judge reliability record
• V12 engine has seen service elsewhere
• Only one recall way back in 2014

A hard thing to judge considering the relatively low-volume, hand-built nature of the Rapide, but if anything does go wrong with your car, you should be well looked-after.

The 5.9-litre V12 has found service in quite a few cars so should have been whittled down to the point of good reliability by now.

Elsewhere the Rapide has only had one recall, and that involved the transmission switches causing the car to revert to neutral. However, this was in 2014, so shouldn’t be a problem any more.