Testing out Aston Martin's new Vantage Roadster built to be a true “driver’s car”

Aston Martin’s stylish Vantage Roadster is the coolest new convertible on the block, says Simon de Burton.

I’m struggling to come to terms with the fact that it was all of 20 years ago that I first clapped eyes on the first “modern era” Aston Martin V8 Vantage. It’s a day I won’t forget, partly because the marque’s CEO of the time – the eccentric but brilliant Dr Ulrich Bez – began our meeting by proudly showing me a slice of wedding cake from the marriage of Prince (now King) Charles to Camilla Parker Bowles.

Charles’s long-standing patronage of Aston Martin had earned Bez an invitation, and he was convinced the cake was destined to become a priceless memento. But more memorable for me was the incredible shape of the new “baby” Aston, which had flowed from the pen of star designer Ian Callum Taught. 

Compact and sinuously beautiful, it was intended to launch the marque into a future where it would be a little less reliant on its affiliation with James Bond and the nostalgia of its one-two victory at Le Mans in 1959. If any car was going to make that possible, it was the new Vantage.

At around £80,000, it was the most affordable – if that’s the right word – Aston Martin to date. It also eschewed the idea of Astons being GT cars designed purely for hairy-chested men by being specifically intended to appeal to women too. The controls no longer demanded Herculean strength and the exterior colours – which included Cool Yellow and Brilliant Blue – were complemented by options such as bamboo door cappings, crystal-topped controls and tactile technical fabrics.

With its practical hatchback and unfussy mechanicals, the Vantage was built to be a daily driver and, with its shamelessly febrile exhaust note, it led where a new generation of sports and GT cars followed. The only problem was, said Bez, “that the shape is so perfect that we honestly don’t know what we could do to improve it”.

But after 12 years in production and almost 25,000 units (compared with the mere 18,000 cars Aston built from 1914 to 1994), everyone had caught up – meaning the Vantage had to be redesigned for 2017, a task that fell to Aston’s chief creative officer, Marek Reichman.

Making the Vantage even more appealing was, as Bez observed, a tall order – but Reichman pulled it off spectacularly, initially with the second-generation car and, last year, with another, fully reworked version of the coupe that has now been joined by the equally appealing Roadster. Like its hard-top sibling, the Roadster gets a four-litre, twin turbo engine hand-built at Mercedes-AMG’s factory in Affalterbach, a motor that produces 656 horsepower and delivers 800 Newton metres of torque – the sort of power once associated only with large commercial vehicles.

Horsepower-wise, others make bigger numbers. But, after driving the new Roadster on Austria’s twistiest and most scenic roads, I can safely say that there is no comparable convertible that combines such glamour and animalistic performance with such a giant fun factor. If two people and a minimum of luggage needed to blast through France, Spain or Italy to get to a marina in Saint-Tropez, Ibiza or Portofino, a Vantage Roadster is probably the car to do it in.

Although it matches the coupe’s 325km/h top speed, you might want to take the scenic route to enjoy the journey to the full, because this has been built to be a true “driver’s car” in the old-fashioned way. There’s no hybridisation offering electric motors to set you going in silence, just that mighty V8 with its snarling exhaust note. The electronic driver aids, meanwhile, are less nannying than most – meaning you need to be on your mettle when using the performance which strengthens the connection between car and driver.

Inside, Luddites such as me will be comforted to discover “old fashioned” (and tactile) engine-turned switches for starting the engine and controlling the cabin temperature, exhaust note, suspension settings and so on. A 10.25-inch, console-mounted “infotainment” unit probably won’t impress more serious tech types, but it navigates and makes it easy to appreciate the optional Bowers & Wilkins sound system, which has enough oomph to make itself heard above the exhaust growl and roof-down wind noise.

Speaking of, the Roadster’s roof is impressive. Not only does its clever Z-fold mechanism allow it to drop down in a mere 6.8 seconds, but its double-glazed rear window and eight-layer construction kept the car warm and quiet when Austria’s late spring weather suddenly turned. It can be specified in black, blue, red or black and silver to complement the multiple Vantage paint options – which, for the convertible, are joined by three new hues (Satin Iridescent Sapphire, Iridescent Sapphire and Bronze Flare).

Regardless of colour and roof up or down, it’s an undeniably good-looking car which, just like the original Vantage, leaves one wondering what could be done to improve it. That, of course, is a question that Reichman and his team have probably already answered…

Specs: ASTON MARTIN VANTAGE ROADSTER
Engine: four-litre twin turbo V8 petrol
Power: 665PS/656bhp/489kW at 6,000rpm
Top speed: 325km/h
0 to 100km/h: 3.6 seconds
Torque: 800Nm at 2,750 – 6,000rpm
Gearbox: eight-speed automatic with manual paddle shift
Weight: 1,805kg
Price: from £175,000

First published in the September 2025 issue of BOAT International. Get this magazine sent straight to your door, or subscribe and never miss an issue.