Two years after introducing the Vantage Coupe, now the Aston Martin Vantage Roadster joins the lineup. Yes, it’s fast, with a top speed pegged at 190 mph. The convertible Vantage is also quick, with a 0-60 time of 3.7 seconds, according to Aston Martin. It still has a 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V-8 with 503 horsepower mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission. But that hardly matters, does it?
Just look at it.
All right, I’ll fully admit I’m a sucker for Aston Martin’s design, and long have been. If I were to throw up a poll at the bottom of this post, how many of you would agree with me on that one? You know what, let’s do that — give us your opinion in the poll below on what you think about the Vantage Roadster’s looks. Beyond the styling, though, the 2020 Aston Martin Vantage Roadster also has a slick roof-folding arrangement.
You’d expect the Roadster to be significantly heavier than the coupe, but the extra mass isn’t quite as bad as you might expect. The car is indeed 60 kilograms (or 132 pounds) heavier, and that did affect it’s acceleration times by a couple tenths of a second. It’s still remarkably quick, though, both with its acceleration and actually in lowering its roof as well. Aston Martin says the Z-fold mechanism ensures “rapid operation”, down in 6.7 seconds and up in 6.8, at speeds up to 31 mph. Even if you’re not one for roof speed snobbery, that actually is practically useful if you suddenly wind up driving your Vantage Roadster into a torrential downpour.
Performance matters too
Sadly, there’s no option for a seven-speed manual transmission here, not that anyone would buy it in the first place. It does still have dedicated drive modes as you’d expect, ranging from Sport to Sport+ and Track modes tuned specifically for the Vantage Roadster. Aston Martin also shares the coupe’s adaptive damping, stability control, dynamic torque vectoring and electronic rear differential with the convertible.
The 2020 Aston Martin Vantage Roadster will go on sale in the second quarter of this year. Here’s the bit that may hurt the most: the price. For some perspective, the Vantage Coupe starts at $152,995 for the 2020 model year. On that basis, the convertible’s $161,000 price tag may not seem too bad, but that does mean I’m even farther away from ever owning one. Oh well, I’m one of those few weirdos who’d want the seven-speed manual anyway, which will be available beyond the limited edition AMR.
Now, with the Aston Martin DBX also on the horizon and Canadian fashion mogul Lawrence Stroll’s effort to reinvigorate the brand, we’ll see how the Vantage Roadster delivers.
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