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At long last, the wait for a new four-door Aston Martin is over. The British automaker officially unveiled its new 2011 Rapide at the 2009 Frankfurt motor show, ending a three-year long tease.

This week we've been blessed with an overabundance of terrific sports coupes, from an Aston Martin V8 Vantage at the very high end to an affordable Hyundai Genesis coupe. To my mind, though, this retina-searing yellow Nissan 370Z sits at the perfect cross-section of value and performance.inline_mediumwraptextright29441613/reviews/editors_notebook/0908_2009_nissan_370z_sport0908_05_z+2009_nissan_370Z_sport+2010_hyundai_genesis_coupe_38_track.jpgTrue

The only car I can really compare this Vantage to is another Aston Martin. Perhaps Aston is stealing a few potential Porsche 911 or Audi R8 buyers with the V8 Vantage, but I'd be worried about losing DB9 sales to the slightly smaller, slightly cheaper Vantage. Inside, the cars are virtually identical and, though the Vantage is much cheaper, Aston Martin's own web site lists it as just .3 second slower to the 60 mph mark. The DB9 will theoretically do 190 mph to the Vantage's 180 mph, but that's not good for much more than bragging rights.inline_mediumwraptextright29425200/reviews/editors_notebook/0908_2009_aston_martin_vantage_v80908_11_z+2009_aston_martin_vantage_v8+front_three_quarter_view.jpgTrue