Aston Martin Vantage Roadster : First look

What a start to the year for Aston Martin. After the news broke in January that a consortium led by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll was to inject money into the company to save it from a potential collapse, less than two weeks later they announced the launch of the new Aston Martin Vantage Roadster.

The Vantage Roadster in numbers

• 3.7 seconds to 60 mph
• sub-7 seconds – hood operation time
• 190 mph Top Speed (Roof Up)  
•  503 bhp
• Prices starting from £126,950

Performance

As expected, the new Vantage Roadster shares the Vantage Coupe’s AMG-sourced 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 engine.

Additional weight and aerodynamic challenges mean the roadster is 5mph slower than the Coupe, and a fraction slower to 60 mph but this is unlikely to bother fans of the brand – or fans of those gorgeous looks. Aston Martin CEO, Dr Andy Palmer describes driving a convertible as “the true definition of the sports car experience, as it truly brings your senses to life” – very poetic. What he really means is that it won’t be quite as sharp as the coupe, but you won’t care….

The Vantage Roadster has a top speed of 190mph, with the roof up of course. With the roof down, you can still experience high speeds, but don’t expect to be able to hear the person you’re showing off to in the passenger seat.

The roadster gets a bespoke tune for the rear dampers, Adaptive Damping System software and ESP calibration to complement the undisclosed chassis changes made by Aston to ensure the roaster handles like a hardtop.

Design

Whilst the Vantage Roadster shares a lot of similarities with the 2018 Vantage Coupe internally, externally, the Vantage Roadster’s body has obviously changed a bit.

The lightweight fabric hood and chassis and exterior revisions mean that the roadster is a mere 60kg heavier than the coupe.

The low stack height of the hood means the rear profile is as seamless as a Bond girl’s stocking (Porsche 911, take note) and there is minimal impact on the boot size with a capacity of 200 litres – enough for a set of golf clubs. To mark 70 years of the Vantage name, Aston Martin now offers the option of the marque’s iconic “vane” grill alongside the Vantage coupes standard “hunter” grill.

The result is an athletic, compact design which we love. This is the way to build a roadster.

Technology

The Vantage Roadster’s new tailored ‘roof’ features a compact Z-fold mechanism, allowing the roof to come down in sub-7 seconds. That’s the fastest fully automatic retractable roof on any vehicle, according to Aston Martin. The real beauty of this, especially for we Brits, is that you’re only 6.7 seconds away from basking in that ever rare sunshine. Alternatively, you’re only ever 6.8seconds away from bringing the roof back up to escape the next sudden downpour.

Not much has changed inside from the images we have seen, and Aston Martin haven’t mentioned anything in the official blurb, so we will assume that nothing has really changed and that the cockpit design will continue to divide opinion.

Verdict

A true beauty on the outside, and a beast on the inside.

The Vantage coupe managed to blend Aston Martin’s signature square-jawed good looks with race-bred sportiness to challenge the 911 – and the roadster has got to be one of the best looking drop-tops on the planet.

Prices start at £126,950 for the Roadster, with first deliveries expected in July of this year – just in time to get the roof down.

If you wish to finance your own Vantage Roadster, click here for our finance calculator. Alternatively, scroll down and leave your details for one of our team to get in touch.

All images courtesy of Aston Martin Lagonda