After the Coupe version, the British luxury automaker Aston Martin is set to introduce a new take on the favorite Aston Martin Vantage with the Roadster drop-top model. With the coupe version launched in 2018, the two-seater Roadster is ready to join the luxury family. A common name among the NFS fans, the Vantage is a treat to both the eyes and heart with a jaw dropping exterior and a powerful under-the-hood performance.
The Vantage Roadster shares the same AMG-sourced M177 4.0 L twin-turbo V8 engine, producing 510 ps and 685 Nm of torque. It comes with a rear mounted eight-speed automatic ZF, enabling the rear-wheel drive Vantage to go from 0-97 km/h in 3.7 seconds. Top speed that can be reached is around 306km/h, just a little shy of the coupe. Being a convertible, changes had to be made in the chassis to ensure that the rigidity is not compromised. To retain the Vantage’s dynamic ability, new shear panels have been made.
Matt Becker, the Chief engineer of Aston Martin, adds: “Convertible sports cars are often seen as compromised when compared to their Coupe equivalents, but the Vantage Roadster remains absolutely dedicated true to its mission of delivering precise, agile and expressive handling dynamics combined with stonking straight-line performance,’’ and in a jovial manner he added, ”And of course, there’s the added dimension of driving a great-sounding sports car with the roof down.”
Honing the drop-top roof, the Vantage Roadster is just a game-to-reality designed car. Offering a Z-fold mechanism, the roof can be lowered in just 6.7 seconds while being raised in just 6.8 seconds. There are few inherited features like the adaptive dampers, dynamic stability control, dynamic torque vectoring and electronic rear differential from the Vantage Coupe, but with a few tweaks to fit the Roadster. The rear dampers have their own unique tuning and the Adaptive Damping System software and ESP calibration. The debut brings in some new features such as the iconic ‘vane’ radiator grille, new alloy wheel designs, and of course the option of having a seven-speed manual transmission. There a few drive modes that have also been introduced specially for the Vantage Roadster like Sport, Sport+ and Track modes.
Prices for the Vantage Roadster start from £126,950 in the UK, with the deliveries scheduled to start from the second quarter of this year. The Vantage is set to be displayed in the Geneva Motor Show next month.
Vantage Roadster has a “tremendous breadth of ability and feels equally at home on road or a race track.”