• Aston Martin Rapide S not crash tested by Euro NCAP
• Two Isofix mounts in the rear hidden by a removable seat section
• All the basic safety kit but no autonomous tech or LED headlights

Like most high-end cars the Aston Martin Rapide has not been tested by Euro NCAP, so it’s hard to say how it’d fare in a crash, but it does come with all the basic standard safety kit including two Isofix mounts in the rear.

These are accessed by pulling a small section of the seat away, which is a bit alarming at first but means you won’t damage the upholstery by ramming the legs of your childseat under the seatback.

Basic safety kit includes traction control and front and side airbags for front-seat passengers, plus a slew of stability systems designed to keep you pointing in the right direction.

Notable in its absence though is autonomous tech like emergency city-braking, adaptive cruise control, and lane-keep assistance, or even brighter LED headlamps.

• Decent headroom all round, front passengers have more legroom than rear
• Doors open out and up to aid getting in and out – they look very dramatic
• Bootspace isn’t world-beating but you’ll be able to pack a good amount of luggage in

Headroom is reasonably good all-round but more restricted in the rear. This is largely down to a hunkered-down seating position front and back, plus a stepped roofline in the rear which frees up space.

The back seats are reasonably capacious once you squeeze in through the small door opening, and passengers aft are separated by a lofty transmission tunnel. Space is plentiful up front although you’ll feel cocooned in by the tall centre console.

There isn’t a huge amount of storage space, with just a single small and ineffective cupholder and cubby in the centre console up front, and two cupholders plus a larger storage box in the back. The door bins are long but also a bit narrow and shallow, so anything larger than a small bottle of water will be better in the boot or rear footwell.

Rear-seat passengers also get their own air conditioning controls, which can be overridden using the front switches on the centre console.

Visibility out of the Rapide is hampered by the sleek design, which features reduced-height side windows and a steeply raked windscreen. Rearward vision is at least boosted by a reversing camera, but it’s far from the highest definition unit we’ve seen.

That elegant and sleek design does a good job of minimising the dimensions of the Rapide – but this is a long car measuring more than five metres from bumper to bumper.

Still, it’s not overly wide so on the road it feels relatively petite. You’ll only notice its size when you come to reverse park it in a supermarket parking bay.

Slinky four-seater coupes with an additional row of chairs don’t usually offer huge amounts of luggage space, but the Rapide is not too bad – its 317 litres puts it on par with a supermini.

There’s enough room back there for three or four overnight bags but the floor itself is stepped rather than flat, so you’ll have to think carefully about how you pack it – Aston Martin will sell you a set of bags that fit precisely, making the most of the available room.

Thankfully the hatchback tailgate opens fully so getting things in and out is easy enough, although it has to be lifted manually as there’s no powered option.

You can also pay extra for folding rear seat backs, which free up a bit more room for longer items when you only need to transport one passenger.