Aston Martin Vantage Roadster review

Honing the ‘entry-level’ Aston produced spectacular results. Are they diminished in drop-top form?

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Last year we were treated to a heavily revised Aston Martin Vantage, and now there's an open-air version: the Roadster.

This car has the potential to be really quite special. When we say the Vantage was heavily revised, we mean it. Compared to the previous model, power skyrocketed. The chassis also gained complex new electronics and suspension hardware, not to mention a far more serious contact patch. 

All this has now been translated to the Roadster – and with minimal dynamic compromise, according to the Aston. What we'll now discover is whether that's really the case, and whether the Roadster justifies its £180,000-plus asking price.

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DESIGN & STYLING

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Eyebrows were raised when an Aston Martin engineer, speaking at the Austrian launch of the new Roadster, suggested the spring and damper rates had been carried over wholesale from the coupé unaltered.

For something without a proper carbonfibre tub, this would be irregular. When you lop the top off a coupé, the body often then needs to be dramatically strengthened, adding heft to a car whose axles are already no longer singing in perfect unison because torsional stiffness has plummeted. Custom suspension rates are devised to claw back some precision and cohesion – or at least enhance the perception of those attributes.

As it happens, the Vantage Roadster’s rear dampers do run recalibrated software, but the change compared with the coupé is minimal and the front axle hasn’t received any attention at all. So is this conversion a rush job? Budgets biting, perhaps? Nope. The Roadster simply doesn’t need special treatment, apparently.

So meagre is the weight gain over the coupé and so stiff is the aluminium chassis (thanks in part to the fact it was developed from the outset with both derivatives in mind) that from a dynamic standpoint the coupé and convertible are essentially the same. Given how keen and fun-loving the coupé is, that will be music to the ears of those in the market for a rip-snorting drop-top that really handles.

Here’s another surprising stat: 6.8sec. Not the 0-62mph time, thankfully. Rather the time taken for the ‘Z-fold’ fabric roof to arc through its full scope in either direction. It really is a rapid bit of mechanical choreography. The Porsche 911 Cabriolet needs 12sec and Ferrari’s Roma Spider a little longer still.

What makes the Vantage Roadster all the more impressive is that the weight gain from the roof mechanicals and all the other structural additions is also the lowest of this trio, at 60kg. Opt for a Roma Spider instead of a coupé and you’re carrying 72kg more; in the 911 Carrera GTS Cabriolet, 80kg. Mind you, the Vantage is the heaviest outright.

Of course, much of the above was also true of the previous Vantage Roadster, introduced in 2021. Where this new version markedly differs from its predecessor concerns the driveline and vast contact patch, both of which are, like the suspension rates, transplanted directly from the current coupé.

That means you get a 656bhp (up 153bhp), 590lb ft (up 84lb ft) twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 from Mercedes-AMG, driving through a ZF eight-speed torque-converter and an electronic limited-slip differential, all overseen by a stability control system with a superbly lenient midway setting before, should you turn it off entirely, you’re given access to a multi-stage traction control system.

It’s also worth noting that the Roadster now hits the same 202mph V-max as the coupé (and reaches 62mph only a tenth slower) and is fitted with the same 73-litre tank, for a touring range of 450 miles.

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INTERIOR

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What you don’t get is the same carrying capacity. The coupé’s hatchback boot opening gives it a boot bigger than that even of the new Vanquish; if you open up the Roadster’s bootlid, you will find notably less luggage space, if not so little as to be routinely problematic. And in any case, as we shall soon highlight, the tighter cavity comes in handy because it means you can wedge your belongings in more tightly.

Elsewhere the cabin is as per the coupe, which to say seriously well screwed together and conspicuously lavish in its materials, be they carbonfibre, leather or metal. Overall, this is easily now the most special cockpit in the class, and avoids ergonomics pitfalls, such as the Ferrari Roma Spider's strangely short driver footrest, which saps a bit of comfort on longer journeys. 

Aston has also improved the legibility of the Vantage’s digital dials – chiefly in regard to gear and engine speed – and added a shortcut button for the ADAS settings on the broad transmission tunnel. The same changes are being made to the coupé.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

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The Roadster’s visual muscle writes an almighty cheque, but it’s one the driving experience mostly cashes, especially when the roof is stowed away. The experience is – hold the front page – as per the coupé, only with added hell breaking loose behind you.

Through mountain switchbacks there remains a faint nose-iness to the balance that wouldn’t be so apparent in the sharper Roma or 911, but the Roadster’s ability to remedy this with throttle is unparalleled. And while even in Sport+ mode there are flashes when the body works the Bilstein DTX dampers almost painfully hard, in general the Roadster has the control to keep everything hanging together, however far you push it.

It’s an open-air muscle car with oodles of polish: Pontiac GTO meets Caterham Seven, with all the luxury.  

As for refinement? It’s difficult to comment reliably when Austria’s roads are so good, but you would expect the Roadster to feel very similar to the coupé in the UK. Which is to say not immune to road roar but generally easier company than the equivalent 911.

Aston could certainly have dialled the Roadster back a touch, making it more the riviera cruiser that the look hints at, but there’s the DB12 Volante for that, and there is merit in offering a model every bit as dynamically capable and exciting as the Vantage coupé, only in convertible form. It’s an unapologetic have-your-cake-and-eat-it play.

MPG & RUNNING COSTS

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The Roadster costs £181,500, compared to the £165,000 of the coupe. That's a fairly typical premium for open-air motiring in this class, and more broadly the Aston looks reasonably priced compared to its chief rivals from Porsche, Ferrari and Maserati. 

As for economy, the official claimed figure is 23.0mpg. You can expect to do a better than on the motorway – and obviously far worse if you give twin-turbo V8 its head and really start to enjoy yourself. Tyres won't come cheap either. The new Vantage and is Roadster sibling have ane normous contact patch, with 325-section rears. Given how much the car loves to get a little bit out shape, you might be coming in for new boots sooner than expected.  

VERDICT

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As somebody who generally veers towards the fixed-head option, I’d find it fairly hard to look past this drop-top. The handling is 2% less crisp, sure, but if you’re looking for the last word in synaptic delight, the 911 GTS is more grittily communicative anyway and the Roma more fluid, whichever the derivative.

Anyway, that's not why you buy the Vantage, although it is a fine-handling car. You buy it for the looks, the noise, the sweetly doled-out oversteer, the cabin opulence, the long-distance capability and sense of satisfaction this car imparts. The coupé knits together those elements to lovable effect and, for a price, the Roadster takes the whole show up another notch still.

Richard Lane

Richard Lane, Autocar
Title: Deputy road test editor

Richard joined Autocar in 2017 and like all road testers is typically found either behind a keyboard or steering wheel (or, these days, a yoke).

As deputy road test editor he delivers in-depth road tests and performance benchmarking, plus feature-length comparison stories between rival cars. He can also be found presenting on Autocar's YouTube channel.

Mostly interested in how cars feel on the road – the sensations and emotions they can evoke – Richard drives around 150 newly launched makes and models every year. His job is then to put the reader firmly in the driver's seat.