Like it or not, Aston Martin’s most significant claim to fame over the past couple decades has been its cinematic association with MI6’s most volatile agent. But let’s save the somewhat tired 007 jokes for a moment, because the latest Aston Martin Vantage roadster couldn’t be any more alluring if Daniel Craig or Ana De Armas were in the passenger seat. Despite sharing a lot of its architecture with the previous Vantage, the new droptop requires barely any “British charm” to be used as an excuse for flaws.
Indeed, the 2026 Vantage roadster is a wholly realized product, doing away with the old convertible’s slightly muted personality in favor of sharper handling, insane speed, and better ergonomics. Add to that a comprehensive suite of styling upgrades and you end up with one of the most desirable Aston convertibles of all time, one that seamlessly blends bona fide driving excellence with all the pizzazz we’ve come to expect from Newport Pagnell’s best.
A Great Starting Point
I shouldn’t be too hard on the previous Vantage. The two-seater has been Aston’s driving-dynamics tip of the spear since its 2006 debut, and the second-generation model was as good or better than its predecessor in nearly every way. And although the roadster was necessarily dulled by nature of its added weight and marginally reduced structural rigidity, it was still a pretty thrilling ride.
So when Aston Martin announced that the 2026 roadster would be substantially more powerful and quite a bit stiffer than before, I knew I was in for a mighty sweet treat, in this case a drive from the heat of Palm Springs to the crisp, thin air of Idyllwild. Then, I’d head back the long way, cutting up some of Temecula’s nicest, sweepingest roads before plunging back into the desert.
Don’t Call It An AMG
The 2026 Vantage roadster differentiates itself from its predecessor the moment you turn over the Mercedes-AMG supplied twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 nestled under the hood. AMG and Aston have been engineering partners for about a decade now, but the British brand has always retained full control over the tuning and behavior of the V8, specifying its own intake, turbochargers, exhaust, and even the firing order of the engine.
The newest iteration is more aggressive than ever, and with 656 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque – increases of 153 and 85, respectively – it damn well better be. The sharp bark the V8 emits on startup fools you into thinking you’re in an AMG product, but the Vantage roadster’s burbling exhaust at idle and crescendoing wail through the rev range gives it far more personality than the outgoing model. Meanwhile, the power the V8 provides is, as the typically understated Brits might say, sufficient.
My time in the car was blessed with motorists who considerately bowed out of my way as I raced toward Idyllwild, and each passing zone provided an opportunity to bury the gas pedal into the deep, tan carpeting. Doing so prodded the rear-mounted eight-speed automatic transaxle to drop a couple gears and punch the car forward with eye-straining swiftness (although I did note some brief hesitation when requesting downshifts from the wheel-mounted paddle shifters).
Even at extra-legal speeds, the Aston is able and willing to add 30 miles per hour to the speed readout in seconds, and it seems to accelerate with the same ferocity from 50 to 100 as most cars do from 0 to 30. Speaking of, Aston Martin says the Vantage roadster will do 60 in 3.5 seconds, with an identical top speed to the coupe at 202 miles per hour. There’s more than enough to punt yourself into critical license endangerment without even trying, and it’s thrilling as hell.
The Perfect Mountain Mobile
The speed is but one ingredient in the Vantage’s sports car recipe, and when the road turns to ribbon, the 2026 Vantage droptop resembles the coupe more than its immediate predecessor. By analyzing the old roadster when subjected to varying conditions – bumpy roads, constant-radius corners, complex ess bends, etc. – Aston Martin found key areas to reinforce the chassis without adding unnecessary weight. The result is a structure that’s 10 percent stiffer overall and around 30 percent stiffer at the suspension pickup points, despite adding only about 130 pounds of weight compared to the coupe.
That added stiffness makes for much more exciting responses to the steering wheel, with the Vantage roadster darting toward the apex with almost unnerving alacrity – you’ll overshoot the first corner until you get used to it. The snappy, feelsome helm is a bit twitchy on broken or grooved pavement, but it’s worth it, especially since no amount of frost heaves or potholes I experienced on California 243 could upset the suspension.
Thanks to the added structural rigidity, Aston Martin says the Vantage coupe’s Bilstein DTX adaptive dampers port over almost unchanged, with only slight retuning needed for the roadster’s weight balance of 49 percent front and 51 percent rear – the hardtop is an even 50/50. Those suspenders keep the two-seat Aston on an even keel in hard cornering, and the lack of body roll and slight rearward weight bias helped me achieve a transcendent flow state, threading corners together like only the best sports cars can. I’ve driven the previous roadster on these same roads, and the new one comes alive in a way its predecessor just couldn’t match, as fabulous as it may be.
You’ll remember that I said the roadster weighed more than the coupe, yes? Well, although Aston Martin hasn’t released specific figures yet, some napkin math suggests the droptop Vantage will tip the scales at nearly 4,000 pounds. But if you told me the roadster weighed a lot less, I’d believe you. Whether it’s clever engineering, black magic, or sheer dumb luck, this Aston handles.
Vanity Muscles For The Aston Martin Vantage Roadster
In addition to its brilliant performance in the mountains, the Vantage roadster leaves nothing on the table when it’s time for a top-down cruise from stoplight to stoplight. Despite its modernized appearance, the new sports car looks much more “Aston Martin” than the old one. Part of that comes down to the new front end, which does away with the old Vantage’s polarizing sport-style front grille in favor of the more typical inverse-wing design.
Today’s Vantage rides on the same 106.3-inch wheelbase, but it’s 1.1 inches longer and 0.3 inches wider than before, slight gains that nonetheless give the new car some leggy grace. There’s also some brilliant cohesiveness to the design. Viewed from above, the hood’s fluted contours seem to continue invisibly through the passenger cabin before reappearing on a pair of crisp stiffening ribs on the trunk’s sheet metal. And the ducktail trunk contour and razor-thin LED taillight design elements – carried over from the previous Vantage, but slightly refined – deliberately ape the shape of the iconic Aston Martin front grille.
The gorgeous exterior gives way to an equally lovely cabin, one that does away with the avant garde, weird-for-weird’s-sake dash of the old roadster. The new design favors horizontal lines and contours that fall away toward the passenger, and despite being identical in terms of measurements, the interior feels wider and less claustrophobic than before. My tester’s classic Centenary Tan upholstery coated the seats, dashboard, door panels, rear bulkhead, and even the windshield pillars in supple leather, giving the cabin a lush, old-world vibe that looks, feels, and even smells like Aston should.
The interior also houses a less glamorous, though far more useful, alteration. Gone is the old Vantage’s 8.0-inch touchscreen and clunky, Mercedes-sourced COMAND clickwheel, replaced by a 10.3-inch display running Aston’s latest software. This is the company’s first fully independent go at an infotainment system – prior models once used equipment borrowed from Volvo – and it works wonderfully. Better still, the Vantage now has wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
Despite ergonomic gains, at the end of the day, it all comes down to how special the Vantage makes its driver feel. And with gorgeous curves, an aggressively planted stance, and a cabin that’s a delight for the senses, one comes away from the smallest Aston Martin feeling very special indeed.
This Or That?
With as many improvements as it has, don’t be surprised to learn that the 2026 Aston Martin Vantage roadster is an expensive proposition. Pricing hasn’t officially been announced, but considering the 2025 coupe is $50,000 more expensive than its 2023 equivalent, don’t expect the roadster to give you any change back from $200,000.
Things get worse once you add options. If the extras cost the same on the 2026 roadster as they do on the 2025 coupe, then my tester had nearly $80,000 tacked on to the final total. The most egregious offender might be the gorgeous, luminescent California Sage paint – it’s part of the “Provenance” range that costs more than $20,000 on the Vantage coupe. The carbon ceramic brakes are a $14,400 add-on, and bronze caliper paint is another $1,900 on top of that.
That 280-some-odd grand will go really far at a Porsche dealer, where the 911 Turbo Cabriolet starts at $210,000 but benefits from comparatively reasonable options pricing – when was the last time anyone said that about a P-car? But kitting out a Turbo with premium paint, ceramic brakes, and its fanciest interior only amounts to about $250,000, and you’ll end up with a car that has more cabin room and much quicker manufacturer-claimed acceleration, at 2.8 seconds to 60.
But those attracted to the brio and panache of an Aston Martin will never be satisfied with a Porsche’s clinical precision or its relatively common appearance. The Vantage roadster buyer’s day starts with a snarling V8 roar and ends with a slow cruise down the Sunset Strip, and nothing less will do. Luckily, the parts in between will now be more exciting than ever.
