Aston Martin Vantage Roadster Review

The heartbeat of Aston Martin’s sports car range got that little bit faster this year with the ushering in of the new Vantage Roadster.

Joining the Vantage Coupe, this convertible model boosts the emotional appeal of a model celebrated for delivering a concoction of performance, dynamics and everyday usability.

Motoring Thrills

Testament to the design, engineering and execution of this awesome open-top two-seater, the Vantage Roadster shares the Vantage Coupe’s commitment to motoring thrills. Powered by Aston Martin’s 4.0-litre twin-turbo 510PS V8 engine and joined to an eight-speed auto ‘box, the Roadster accelerates to 60mph in a mere 3.7 seconds. It’s also capable of 190mph with the roof up.

Careful development of structural panels and chassis components ensures the Roadster retains the heady dynamic ability and athletic character achieved in the Coupe. Sharing the same Adaptive Damping, Dynamic Stability Control, Dynamic Torque Vectoring and Electronic Rear Differential, it benefits from specific dynamic refinements. These include a bespoke tune for the rear dampers, Adaptive Damping System software and ESP calibration.

Breadth of Ability

As you’d expect from a sports car, a selection of Sport, Sport + and Track chassis modes – also tuned specifically for the Roadster – give you control of its dynamic character and behaviour. This offers you the ability to progressively heighten the car’s responsiveness and excitement. Essentially, the Roadster has a vast breadth of ability and feels equally at ease on road or race track.

While the Vantage Roadster mirrors the Coupe’s tactility, pace and cornering performance, the design of the body is very much its own. The fabric hood features a compact powered Z-fold mechanism that ensures rapid operation. It can be lowered or raised in under seven seconds at speeds of up to 31mph. Indeed, the roof of the Roadster has the quickest full operating cycle of any automatic automotive convertible system.

Double Dividend

An impressively low stack height pays the double dividend of allowing Aston Martin’s design team the latitude to create a seamless rear profile with minimal impact on the Roadster’s boot space. In fact, with a luggage capacity of 200-litres, it’s possible to carry a full-sized golf bag and accessories.

What’s more, the introduction of the Roadster sees a bunch of new options kicking in across the Vantage range – but you may need car finance for all that! To celebrate the 70^th Anniversary of the Vantage nameplate, Aston Martin is introducing the firm’s iconic ‘vane’ grille as an option. It’s available on both the Coupe and the Roadster as an alternative to the track-inspired ‘hunter’ grille featured on the Coupe from its launch in 2018. There ‘s also a new line-up of optional alloy wheel designs in a choice of finishes. If you’re an enthusiast, you’ll also welcome the manual seven-speed transmission being offered as an option on the Coupe. This was initially only available in the limited-edition Vantage AMR.

Dedicated

In a nutshell, convertible sports cars are often seen as compromised when compared with their Coupe equivalents. But the Vantage Roadster remains dedicated to its mission of delivering precise, agile and expressive handling dynamics combined with stonking straight-line performance. And, naturally, there’s the added dimension of driving a great-sounding sports car with the roof down.

The Vantage Roadster costs from £126,950 in the United Kingdom, which is, of course, the birthplace and HQ of Aston Martin.