Aston Martin Vantage Roadster 2025 review – the Ferrari Roma Spider's toughest rival

'The Aston Martin Vantage is the product to kill Porsche 911s.’ A bold statement, but bold is what Aston Martin wants to be; needs to be if it is to implement and deliver on CEO Adrian Hallmark’s new strategy. Adding the Roadster to the Vantage line-up certainly broadens the model’s appeal and adds to a range that Hallmark has plans to expand further (we've already seen the new DBX S and an upgraded variant of the DB12 has been spied testing), with trimline derivatives à la 911.. Although not to the same extent: where Porsche thinks nothing of offering 20-plus 911 derivatives across three body styles, Aston is sticking with two bodies and three trim lines, for now. 

Today’s ‘regular’ Vantage is already a special car. One with a desirability factor that’s now matched with a dynamic repertoire with no excuses. The new £181,500 Roadster needs to stick to the same path. Sharing the coupe’s wheel-at-each-corner, four-square stance, the new Vantage Roadster oozes the same muscular presence, providing the contrast expected between it and the svelte, more elegant open-top DB12 Volante. 

Its Z-fold eight-layer fabric roof, when raised, does mean you lose the coupe’s sleek roof-rear window-line and gain a longer rear deck area of bodywork running into the kicked-up tail. It exaggerates the Vantage’s short-wheelbase look and gives the illusion of pushing the cabin forward, too. But the car retains an aggressive advantage over Ferrari’s more sculptured Roma Spider and Porsche’s rather awkward-looking 911 Cabriolet.

Engine, gearbox and technical highlights

10

With the roof closed you wouldn’t know from inside that it’s one you can open, not only because of the quality of the finish inside, but also because the NVH isolation is on a par with the coupe. Unfortunately this also means the AMG-sourced 4-litre V8 remains less vocal when you press the starter button. The undertone of a V8 bassline is ever-present, but it feels like you’re listening to it from a well-insulated room next door. There’s less intrusive exhaust noise at a cruise than in the coupe, too. Power and torque remain the same at 656bhp and 789lb ft, while the 0-62mph time is a tenth slower at 3.6sec.

A lower windscreen header rail is the biggest change over the coupe. It acts as the car’s primary roll-over protection and, should you find yourself the wrong way up, your Roadster should be perfectly balanced as you extricate yourself. Hopefully you’ll never need to test the theory.

For the first time Aston Martin’s engineering team wasn’t required to take a Vantage coupe and cut it about to make the open car after the former’s development had been signed, sealed and delivered. Developed in tandem and as one, the Roadster’s requirements were engineered into the Vantage from day one. Chief amongst these was integrating the extruded-aluminium strengthening bar into the casting for the chassis, preventing the need for it to be bonded or bolted post-production and therefore eradicating the potential for any slack or loosening of the joints over time. While they were at it, the wiring tracks and the mountings for the speakers and seat belts were also integrated into the same casting to avoid additional fixing points. 

You’ll be hard pressed to identify any difference in rigidity between a Vantage with a fabric roof and an aluminium one. You have the same choice of drive modes and you still start in Sport, with the changes made to the damper and steering software minimal and set to be rolled out across the coupe for the 2026 model-year update. 

While its chassis is near identical to the coupe’s, there’s a softer transmission mount and some very minor geometry changes to take into account the 60kg weight gain. There’s also a fractional change in weight distribution between the roof being open (49:51) and closed (50:50). Compared to the outgoing Vantage Roadster the rear damper top-mount stiffness has increased by 30 per cent, and the front upper wishbone stiffness by 10 per cent to improve steering feel and give the drop-top the direct, linear responses the coupe enjoys. Its Michelin Pilot Sport S 5 tyres are the same specification as those fitted to the coupe (they were developed to work identically on both models) and when mountains mimic rivers their ability to telegraph back to the palms of your hands and backside what’s going on beneath is greatly appreciated. 

Performance, ride and handling

10

As with the coupe, the Roadster feels locked down from the moment you set off and only confirms its confidence with every mile. Its ride is on the firm side for what some may expect from an open-top car, but it allows the Roadster to retain the coupe’s alertness and direct approach to unpicking a road. Both the coupe and Roadster would benefit from a five per cent drop in ride stiffness, however.

It’s an immensely competent car, the Vantage Roadster, losing none of the alertness of the coupe and equally keen to reward and delight. On technical routes the linear steering makes your single input for a corner a smooth, satisfying process and allows you to place the car’s nose cleanly and precisely. Although on a few occasions during our test, winding the lock off wasn’t such a clean process, with some resistance to the initial unwinding of the lock requiring a little more encouragement from your wrists. It could be a quirk of our early build test car and solved with a software flash, as we’ve not experienced this in any of the coupes we’ve driven. 

Edge up to the tyre’s grip limit on quick sections of road and the Roadster portrays the same clear signals of the coupe, with initial push across the front axle blending into a gradual arc from the rear, requiring the slightest amount of corrective lock to hold the line, the e-diff providing an additional security blanket to work with.

The V8 conducts proceedings but doesn’t overly dominate, allowing you to enjoy a focused flow. Such is the quality of the calibration of the eight-speed ZF ’box that, while changing gears manually provides your inner old-school luddite with a sense of being more in control. If left in auto you’ll need to be trying pretty hard to arrive at the apex in the wrong gear. 

10

Unlike some big-engined convertibles that edge more towards comfort and GT-car attitudes, the Roadster feels more energised and closer in spirit to Porsche’s Boxster Spyder RS and GT3-based 911 Speedster. Not as raucous or single-minded but certainly more encouraging in terms of getting you to engage with it and enjoy its dynamic abilities rather than sitting back and luxuriating. Although you can do that too, you’d be missing out on what the Roadster does best, which is scorching around making the most mundane journey feel special. 

At speed on a motorway with the roof closed there’s a similar level of tyre and road noise as you get from the coupe, although on coarser surfaces the Michelins are a decibel or two louder (they run the same pressures as the coupe), and into three figures the wind starts to win the battle against the edges of the fabric roof. 

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Work on the car’s aerodynamics concentrated on roof-open behaviour, to maximise occupant comfort, although time was also spent optimising its closed performance so that it wasn’t necessary to cap the model’s top speed. To achieve this it had to pass the blow-out test, where both side windows are dropped at the 202mph V-max to make sure the rear window doesn’t let go or the roof make a break for freedom.

10

Some very British weather prevented any meaningful top-down driving, but driven thus there is some buffeting that finds its way between the raised side window and the side of the head restraints. Wind noise isn’t as obtrusive as in some rivals, however, and it feels like a roadster you wouldn’t think twice about dropping the roof for a day’s motoring, regardless of the route. 

With Aston Martin’s ambitions clearly laid down, models such as the Vantage Roadster play a crucial role in bringing new customers to the marque and making the most of those conquest customers buying a Valhalla who also want a weekend summer runaround. For those coming out of a Bentley Continental GTC the step up in performance and intensity might be too much, but for those in a 911 Turbo Cabriolet looking for more style to match their performance expectations, it nails the brief (bar the lack two rear jump seats, although they are next to hopeless in a 911 Cab anyway). 

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Crucially, the Vantage offers a more characterful alternative to the McLaren Artura Spider or a used Maserati MC20 Cielo. The former might have the Aston’s number in ultimate dynamics and pace and the latter for supercar looks, but the Vantage Roadster should be considered as a serious alternative to both. 

Interior and tech

10

There are new instrument graphics for the Vantage Roadster, as a result of customer and media feedback, which means the markings are now legible, you can see which gear you’re in and work out how much fuel you have left. It’s an update that will also be applied to the coupe and can be retro-upgraded to existing cars. The HMI screen on the centre console still requires a more legible graphics package, though.

It feels good to be behind the wheel of a modern-day Aston. There’s a cohesiveness to the interior design that immediately wraps around you and makes you feel you’re in something special. It makes a Ferrari’s interior feel a little thrown together, anything from Germany soulless and functional. 

The control jewellery you make regular contact with has nice weighting to it, further amplifying the integrity and quality Aston is striving to add to its products. However, Hallmark will want to bring the quality up higher still to match that of his previous employer based in Crewe. There’s no denying Aston has nailed the design of its interiors, now it needs to raise the feel and depth of material quality to step away from the likes of McLaren and Porsche. 

Price, rivals and specs

10

Your new Aston Martin Vantage Roadster will cost you £181,500 before you start to play with the options and with Ferrari’s Roma Spider starting at £210,313 that’s a healthy thirty grand to play with. Sticking with Italy, a Maserati MC20 Cielo starts at £252,000, which will make you think it’s not a natural rival until you see how much they depreciate and can be had for less than the Aston’s list price. 

Head to Stuttgart and Porsche will charge you £147,900 for a Carrera GTS Cabriolet (you’ll need to wait until the end of the year for a new 911 Turbo Cabriolet, AMG £171,252 for an SL63 with the same 4-litre V8. If you’re inclined to stay in the UK, you could also head to Woking, give McLaren £221,500 and walk away with an Artura Spider.