Not everyone is a fan of roadsters and convertibles, and that is fine. But if there’s one car to make everyone fall in love with topless cars, it might very well be this.
After teasing the car on Twitter a few months ago, Aston Martin has now finally unveiled the gorgeous Vantage Roadster, finished in this gorgeous blue paint job and tan interior. Please give us a moment while we clean up our drool.
Under the hood of the topless Vantage is the same 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 engine as seen in most modern Aston Martins, capable of churning out 510 hp and 685 Nm of torque.
Mated to an eight-speed ZF automatic gearbox, the Vantage Roadster reaches 100 km/h from standstill in just 3.7 seconds, onward to a top speed of 306 km/h (190 mph) with the roof up.
Although being a convertible, the Vantage Roadster only adds 60 kg in weight compared to its Coupe brother, thanks to a new Z-fold roof mechanism.
Aston Martin also claims that the Vantage Roadster has the fastest full operating cycle of any automotive convertible system, able to lower its roof in just 6.7 seconds or raised in 6.8 seconds, at speeds of up to 50 km/h.
Of course, there is still a luggage space penalty, as with every other convertible. Boot capacity is down to 200 litres, from the 350-litre capacity of its hard-top counterpart.
However, Aston Martin still claims that the boot is large enough to stow a full-sized golf bag and accessories – in other words, still capable of ferrying the rich retired man to the golf course.
Removing one of the main structural parts of the car also means that Aston Martin had to make some minor chassis revisions to the car to maintain rigidity.
New structural shear panels and chassis components has been added to the Roadster to retain its dynamic ability, to the point where the British sportscar maker is confident enough to say that there is “no compromise to feel or refinement.”
The Roadster also shares the same Adaptive Damping, Dynamic Stability Control, Dynamic Torque Vectoring and Electronic Rear Differential as its Coupe brother, but tuned specifically to suit the Roadster’s characteristics. The driving modes – Sport, Sport+, and Track – have also been tuned specifically for the Roadster.
Along with the debut of the Vantage Roadster, Aston Martin is also introducing a range of new options across the Vantage range (which includes the Coupe) to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the Vantage nameplate.
These include the company’s iconic ‘vane’ grille – as an alternative to the track-inspired ‘hunter’ grille, and a range of optional alloy wheel designs and finishes.
The Vantage Coupe also now get the option for a seven-speed manual transmission to appease driving enthusiasts, being initially only available in the limited-edition Vantage AMR.
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