The V12 Vantage Roadster is back | GRR
Aston Martin’s smallest car with the company’s biggest engine has gone topless, just as its predecessor did in 2013. Also like that car, the new-for-2022 Vantage V12 Roadster is heavier but virtually as fast as the coupe, boasts wonderful looks, will undoubtedly sound good with the top down and is being sold as a limited-edition model. And yes, you guessed: they are all said to be accounted for.
Telling prospective buyers they can’t have one is a guaranteed way of boosting a car’s desirability, as are the inevitable “last ever V12 Aston” headlines. But there’s already appeal here in spades for fans of Aston’s Porsche 911 rival.
As with its sister V12 Vantage coupe, which provides everything here bar the folding top, the new Roadster is a breed apart from the regular V8 Vantage. That difference is sure to be reflected in the new model’s price, which is not specified but sure to be north of the V12 coupe’s £265,000 – and thus twice as much as the Vantage convertible with mere V8 power.
A hefty chunk of money then, but a hefty chunk of car and you do get everything that you would in the coupe: the wide body with its 40mm wider tracks and lightweight panels, the extensively revised suspension with 40 per cent stiffer springs and adaptive dampers, a stiffened version of the extruded and bonded aluminium chassis, standard carbon-ceramic brakes and recalibrated steering.
There are also aero tweaks around and under the body that are claimed to increase downforce to 216kg, which Aston says is 10 times what’s on offer in a standard V8 convertible. Presumably that’s only achieved with the optional rear wing, but Aston says even without the appendage aero balance is maintained thanks to clever underbody airflow management.
The headline is of course what’s under the bonnet. It’s Aston’s glorious quad-cam V12 in its latest 5.2-litre twin-turbocharged form, mated to an eight-speed ZF automatic. With forced induction, what it might lose on purity of sound it makes up for with extra power. The previous Vantage Roadster was a V12 but never in turbo form.
The outputs are exactly as the V12 coupe, so 700PS (522kW) at 6,500rpm and 753Nm (555lb ft) of torque at 5,500rpm, all delivered to Michelin Pilot 4S rubber on 21-inch rear wheels via a mechanical limited-slip diff. This is a 200mph convertible that can despatch 0-62mph in 3.6 seconds, just a tenth behind the coupe.
That’s just two-tenths quicker to 62mph than the V8 Roadster, but then the V12 does weigh more – 110kg more – and inevitably it also weighs more than the V12 coupe. Aston is keeping mum on what, if any, extra strengthening was required, but presumably it needed some.
At a quoted kerb weight of 1,855kg, the Roadster weighs in at 60kg more than the coupe – in optional lightweight spec. Carbon body and interior packages, lightweight wheels, carbon seats and gear paddles and absence of motors to power the seats and steering column that are needed to get it down to that weight not only save a good few kilos, but probably add many tens of thousands to the price.
The two-seat cabin is exactly as the coupe’s, so pretty nice in standard form and able to be customised in all manner of luxury ways by bespoke service Q. One change over the coupe is a smaller boot: the canvas Z-fold roof and associated electric mechanism takes capacity down from 270 to 200 litres. It’s probably not a deal breaker for your typical owner.
Marek Reichman, Aston’s chief creative officer, likens the V12 Vantage Roadster to a “living, breathing, driving sculpture with a level of control that sits at the fingertips".
Will traditional convertible buyers see it that way, or will 700PS and track-honed ability be over-egging the Vantage mix for owners more at home in Casino Square than the pitlane? All 249 that are being made are sold, so obviously not.