Aston Martin has unveiled its Vantage Roadster locally this week, with pricing from $314,635 before on-road costs.
It joins the Vantage Coupe in the line-up, which was launched in 2018 and is priced at $299,950 before on-roads – or $14,685 less than the soft-top.
The new Roadster is armed with the same 4.0-litre 375kW/685Nm twin-turbo V8 sourced from Mercedes-AMG as the coupe, paired with an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission driving the rear wheels. There’s no seven-speed manual option in the drop-top, unlike in the coupe.
It can race from standstill to 100km/h in 3.7 seconds with the roof raised, just 0.1 seconds slower than the Coupe. Top speed is 306km/h.
There’s additional strengthening to support the Roadster’s unique roof mechanism, which adds a modest 60kg to the kerb weight compared to its fixed-roof sibling.
It’s the fastest power-folding convertible top on the market, and can be lowered in a bewildering 6.7 seconds and raised in 6.8 seconds at speeds up to 50km/h.
Although it’s been treated to added bracing and chassis revisions, the Vantage Roadster shares the same adaptive damping, torque vectoring, and electronic rear differential as its hardtop brother.
However, the soft-top gets a unique tune for the rear dampers, as well as bespoke software for the adaptive suspension system and ESP.
Even the Roadster’s three chassis modes – Sport, Sport+ and Track – have been specifically tuned for the car, and work in concert with the powertrain modes of the same name.
The low stack height at the rear allows for a reasonable boot capacity of 200 litres (down from 350L in the coupe), leaving room for at least two soft bags or a set of golf clubs. There’s an optional golf umbrella that tucks neatly away under the boot lid itself.
To celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the Vantage nameplate, buyers can option the brand’s iconic ‘vane’ grille instead of the track-inspired ‘hunter’ grille the Coupe has worn since its launch in 2018.
While this example in Atlantic Blue with Black roof is the only car in Australia at the moment, buyers can choose between seven other roof fabric colours including Titan Grey, Atlantic Blue, Grey/Silver, Bitter Chocolate, Bordeaux Red, Sandstorm and Black/Silver.
Rivals are few and far between, but those closest is the Porsche 911 Carrera S Cabriolet ($296,500 before on-roads) with a 3.0-litre twin-turbo in-line six-cylinder engine making 331kW of power and 530Nm of torque. It can accelerate from 0-100km/h in 3.9 seconds, and has a top speed of 306km/h.
Jaguar has its 2019 F-Type SVR Convertible priced from $315,942 with a 5.0-litre supercharged V8 sending 423kW and 700Nm to all four wheels. It can sprint from 0-100km/h in 3.7 seconds, while top speed is 314km/h.
Customer deliveries of the Vantage are expected to begin during Q1 2021.
