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Open-air theatre comes with command performance of Aston-tuned AMG V8

What is it?

Another entertaining Aston Martin arrives, then.

It was always the plan that this Vantage Roadster, a drop-roof version of Aston Martin’s most sporting car, would turn up at the same time as the DBX, its least sporting car. A spot of yin and yang, perhaps. Yes, see the SUV, but also don’t forget we still make sports cars. As if we would. The Vantage Roadster is all you’d expect a drop-topped Vantage to be, plus a little bit more, which we’ll come back to.

Among the expected things are an all-electric soft hood that adds some 60kg to the Vantage’s kerb weight but otherwise you get largely the same platform, mechanicals and interior that do a fine job in the coupé, which we already like a great deal.

There is the same 503bhp 4.0-litre V8, sourced from Mercedes-AMG but with Aston tuning, driving the rear wheels through an eight-speed transaxle automatic gearbox and electronically controlled differential (you can spec a seven-speed manual, too). In the coupé, those give the aluminium structure a 49:51 weight distribution front to back, while the roadster shifts another 1% rearwards.

One suspects of more significance is that the centre of mass is higher, too. So in come retuned damper and spring rates, giving increased rear roll stiffness. There are also new rear subframe mounts, and the steering has been remapped mildly.

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What's it like?

If the aim was to make the roadster drive much like the coupé, I’d say Aston has managed it, albeit with a just-noticeable drop in body rigidity. The company says the Vantage is its most aggressive, predator-like model but these things are relative when you’re in the ballpark of something as brutally accelerative as a Porsche 911 Turbo, or as wild as Jaguar’s fastest F-Type, or perhaps even harbouring thoughts of a mid-engined McLaren Sports Series model.

In that company, the Aston doesn’t seem so aggressive. (Aston’s forthcoming mid-engined supercar should remedy that.) The interior gets a lot of lovely leather and the odd less lovely plastic and feels as much like a grand tourer as a sports car. I don’t know why more car makers don’t do what Aston does with the gear buttons: they’re mounted high on the dashboard, freeing up space here for a last-gen Mercedes infotainment wheel on the transmission tunnel. From your viewpoint, the bonnet dips away from you, there’s a high window line and the Aston sometimes feels a bigger car than it is.

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Its dynamics, though, remain as charming and well sorted as in the coupé. Because the brawny engine is out the front, developing its 505lb ft from just 2000rpm, there’s a GT-ish demeanour to the way it feels. You’re not at the pointy end of something, but pleasingly in the middle.

The ride is composed – and the three ride modes are sufficiently supple that, even in the UK, the hardest one is acceptable on a smooth surface. It steers with a natural feel and weight, and measured speed too, at 2.4 turns between locks. And when you get into the realm of handling, it does the lovely thing that Astons do rather well: lets you turn in to a corner with reassuring responses and drive out with the broad powerband troubling the rear tyres as little or much as you choose.

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Should I buy one?

Everything as noted, then, perhaps bar three things. One, the hood cycle – open-close or vice versa – takes less than seven seconds (up to 31mph), which is remarkable. Two, you can consider the claimed 1628kg ‘dry, lightest options’ weight to be more like 1780kg full of fuel, given we weighed a coupé at 1720kg. And lastly, there’s a new grille.

What Aston calls its ‘vane’ grille, it is reminiscent of its classic grilles of old. It requires a new bumper, too, so it’s quite a big investment. I think I’d just become used to the initial track-inspired rowdy one, but if you like your Astons to be more traditional, well, the classic one suits the car’s predictable demeanour well enough.

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PRICES & SPECS

Matt Prior

Matt Prior
Title: Editor-at-large

Matt is Autocar’s lead features writer and presenter, is the main face of Autocar’s YouTube channel, presents the My Week In Cars podcast and has written his weekly column, Tester’s Notes, since 2013.

Matt is an automotive engineer who has been writing and talking about cars since 1997. He joined Autocar in 2005 as deputy road test editor, prior to which he was road test editor and world rally editor for Channel 4’s automotive website, 4Car. 

Into all things engineering and automotive from any era, Matt is as comfortable regularly contributing to sibling titles Move Electric and Classic & Sports Car as he is writing for Autocar. He has a racing licence, and some malfunctioning classic cars and motorbikes. 

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Comments
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ChevronB8 23 September 2020

Dear God, that nose.

I guess, under the circumstances that was the best AML could do....
I mean, Revenant Automotive have already beaten them to the punch offering an aftermarket nose that is far, far better looking...
martin_66 24 September 2020

You’re right!

ChevronB8 wrote:

I guess, under the circumstances that was the best AML could do.... I mean, Revenant Automotive have already beaten them to the punch offering an aftermarket nose that is far, far better looking...

i've never heard of Revenant Automotive but just had a look on their website and you are absolutely right - their replacement front end is so much better than the one Aston fits to their car.  I worry that it is a bit timid for the modern generation, or a bit too similar to the previous Vantage, but it is a vast improvement on the standard offering.   

Now, if only Revenant could sort out the rear end, which on the standard Vantage looks like a dog's dinner......

Digsy 23 September 2020

Quality control?

Some of the panel gaps on that test car are shocking.

little_ted 23 September 2020

highlights

The car just needs the little details, the interior has the chrome detailing as otherwise it would look too dark and boring and the exterior needs it too. The designer has said he feels the shape of the car is soooo good it doesnt need it well I'm sorry he's wrong. Chrome leading edges on the bars across the grill, chrome strips along the bottom of the windows and chrome details at the edge of the exhaust tips and its job done!