When the weather is what it is, which is warm, it is important to have the wind in your hair as often as possible. There are cheap ways to do this, such as going for a run, or walking to the top of a large hill. There are elegant ways to do this, such as riding a bicycle along the beachfront, licking an ice cream. But the best way is to drive around in an Aston Martin Vantage Roadster.
It’s about time that Aston shaved the roof off the Vantage, a car that is beautiful to behold as a coupe, but has been crying out for a drop-top ‘Summer’ version. Aston Martin has not disappointed, with the Roadster looking every bit the part of elegant, luxurious and, crucially, English sports car. You will want the roof down as often as possible, so it is helpful that it only takes 6.8 seconds to do so, the fastest mechanism on the market, according to our friends from Gaydon.
The verdict on the Vantage coupe was almost universal acclaim across the board. Country Life’s own Toby Keel described it as ‘the fusion of love, joy and metal you’ve been waiting for’. But a convertible, despite looking the same, is often a very different car.
Or well it used to be. Not so in the Vantage Roadster, which apart from ever-so slightly different transmission mounts, and about 60kg of extra weight, is pretty much exactly the same car (with a folding roof of course). This is a result of lots of clever bits of engineering, from the integrated roll protection system (created by something called castrusion), to the z-frame folding roof and everything in between. The stats are the same as the coupe, which if you’ve not heard those before, are the following — 202mph top speed, 665hp, 0-62mph in 3.5 seconds. With the roof down, that is quite a lot of wind.
Translated onto tarmac, that performance and those numbers turn into something quite special. Make no mistake, the Roadster, when you want it to be, is a sharp snarling beast of a sports car. The power is seemingly limitless, the roar from the 4-litre twin turbocharged V8 is astounding and rich, and the acceleration is almost instant. It is a tremendous amount of fun to drive.
Through the winding roads of the eastern Alps, there simply wasn’t a better place to be than behind the wheel of the Roadster. The grip from the massive custom Michelin tyres was seemingly endless, providing a 'point and shoot' experience that allows you to be brave — to drive.
It’s important to remember just how powerful this car is. This kind of performance in a car that it would be fair to describe as ‘small’ is not to be trifled with. But the engineers at Aston have your back, with various driving aids doing just enough to keep you in control, but at no point ever overwhelming you.
When you drive the Roadster and start to really drive it, it almost feels like the car is coaching you to get better, to be braver. It’s a car for the driver, a perfect 50:50 balance with power. The kind of achievement that makes you proud to be British. It's best enjoyed in manual mode, flicking around at the top of the rev ranges, so you can hear that engine sing.
But you cannot drive around forever. Sometimes it is simpler and more dignified to cruise. Under the stewardship of executive chairman Lawrence Stroll and CEO Adrian Hallmark, Aston Martin are intent on repositioning the brand in two ways — more performance and more luxury. The performance part certainly seems to be in the bag, but what of the comfort?
The interiors of the Vantage Roadster certainly look and feel like an improvement over the last version and are similar to the DB12 in terms of GT-esque comfort. Lots of pleasing leather, a functioning and easy-to-use infotainment system, and good, chunky, expensive feeling stalks and switches. Visibility is good, even from the rear window when the roof is up (not that anything behind you will be able to keep up).
On the road: Aston Martin Vantage Roadster
Price: £175,000
Top speed: 202mph
Power: 665hp
0-62mph: 3.5 seconds
MPG: 23 (WLTP Combined)
Perhaps the biggest improvement is a simple one — a pre-programmed shortcut that allows you to turn off the driving aids that were notoriously irritating in the DB12 and the original coupe release. It’s not much, but it shows that the people at Aston Martin are listening to customer feedback. It’s important to take your fans with you.
When you get to the bones of it, the job of the convertible is to have fun. It is supposed to be a car that you are looking for an excuse to drive. You will not need to look for many in the Vantage Roadster. Whether it's going to the shops, picking up a friend or just going to the beach, you will struggle to have more fun on four wheels than in the Vantage Roadster. But perhaps the best excuse of all, is just that it's a sublime space to feel the wind in your hair.
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