2026 Aston Martin Vantage Roadster First Drive: The Car They Meant To Make

The average sports car buyer might think that, because coupes always hit the market before convertibles, the coupe also comes first in the development process. Yet on every media launch program, automakers always insist that the entire model lineup plan always included a convertible from the get-go. And no surprise there, since modern machines can't just chop the top off, and instead require years of engineering before actually hitting dealer floors.

In fairness, convertibles have taken big strides over the past few years, as retractable hard tops, weight savings, and easy operation all made the prospect of open-top motoring all the more palatable. But I'm still—unabashedly—not a convertible guy. In fact, there's only one car that I've ever preferred as a convertible: the Maserati MC20 Cielo. And even the Cielo was really more of a Targa, while the reason I actually liked it more than the coupe that preceded it was because Maserati attempted to recoup lost rigidity by using a different carbon layup for the monocoque, which then allowed for much softer suspension settings (while only sacrificing the engine bay's view in the meantime).

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More typically, I hate convertibles because I love climate control, don't enjoy excessive wind and tire noise, and typically believe that designs I like tend to get ruined. The latter, however, certainly does not apply to Aston Martin's new Vantage Roadster. Early press pics revealed an absolutely stunning convertible that sacrifices none of the class and muscularity of the coupe, from just about any angle. So I gladly took up Aston Martin's offer to host me on a recent media drive program, curious to learn whether I could live with this latest convertible given the amount of sun that toasted my face on the high-speed roads around the deserts and mountains of Palm Springs.

I loved the Vantage coupe when I took a loaner last year. Spicy and sexy and ridiculously raucous, the Vantage borders on true exotic supercar status despite its $191,000 starting price tag coming in below a 911 Turbo. More recently, a friend also let me go for a spin in a 2006 V8 Vantage, which then put Aston's enormous strides over the past two decades into even better perspective. And surprise surprise, as Aston Chief Creative Officer Marek Reichman presented his latest masterpiece in person, he emphasized that the plan for this generation always included a Roadster variant (though why it's not officially dubbed a Volante, I cannot confirm).

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But I caught up with Reichman later in the day, hoping to dive deeper into a little comment he made that morning. Specifically, he said the Roadster design actually came first—something I've never heard another OEM representative confirm, in my admittedly limited experience with convertible launches.

"When you start your investment," Reichman told me, "We always start with the convertible, 'cause it's the most complex in terms of engineering and getting the chassis stiff. That's by intention. So it's not concurrent, it's first."

This strategy makes sense especially in today's era of overwhelming power and the unbelievable chassis stiffness needed to harness the grip of modern tires. Why not start with a solid base for a convertible, then only make it better for the simpler coupe? And the Vantage Roadster's lines still stay strong, yet somehow sleeker than the more aggressive coupe—with both the top up and down. Even for an affirmed convertible hater like me, I needed to give Reichman some credit.

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"It was finding the neatest solution from a side view profile that hid the fact that there's a roof there at all," he explained. "You've got all the area behind the seat, which in the hatches are two plus zero, and it's a bench. If you imagine taking that firewall out, which we did initially to create this, and then put it in for stiffness in the coupe, that was the reason for the coupe being a hatchback in the first place. We knew we could store the soft top and get the deck as low as possible."

Folding or unfolding the Vantage Roadster's top takes only 6.8 seconds, a huge plus given that I constantly put the roof up and down while pulling up to stoplight, depending on the angle of the sun. The z-fold design of cloth essentially turns into a little panel behind the cockpit, while adding just 133 pounds all in versus the coupe, despite using eight layers of insulation. Aston even claims the Roadster's interior therefore drowns out more high-frequency noises versus the coupe's solid roof. Okay, something to test with a microphone maybe.

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Unlike the MC20, Aston therefore didn't need to counteract a reduction in rigidity. The exact same suspension hardware only employs a revised tune for the Bilstein rear shock dampers to compensate for slightly more rear-biased weight distribution. The subtle difference barely showed up while I drove out on streets and freeways, so instead I focused on the sound. Contrary to the claims, the interior seemed ever so slightly more tonal, as the whistle and whine of wind mixed with the hum of tires and other cars at freeway speeds in particular.

Turning up into the mountains, I finally found some room to unleash all of the AMG V8's 656 horsepower and 591 lb-ft of torque. The sheer shove of such a brutish engine combines with a deeply tremulous exhaust note in the convertible perfectly, but as usual, I wanted to fiddle with Aston's nifty adjustable traction control modes. First I started in Sport+ and Track, until I turned the ESC off via a button, whereupon turning the drive mode dial brings up discrete levels one to eight, plus off.

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The drive mode dial itself, as well as the rest of the burled metal switchgear, marked a big improvement for Aston's interior over the past two years, as well. The textures should serve as inspiration for the rest of the industry, in fact, even if the Vantage Roadster featured a bit more piano-black plastic that I'd need to replace with carbon fiber trim in my own car. 

Exactly how much that would cost me is unclear. The convertible will undoubtedly be more expensive than the coupe–chatter earlier in the year hinted at a roughly $15k premium over the hard top–but ongoing tariff uncertainty means Aston hasn't confirmed MY26 pricing yet. 

Surprisingly, Sport is also the softest drive mode: having driven a DB12 and a Vanquish in the interim, I expected to find a GT further to the left. But I needed to focus more on that traction control programming anyhow, and whether I noticed any difference in body roll or grip from the rear end. The Roadster also uses a different transmission mount, though on public roads I never hit anywhere near the kind of pace that might reveal any such effects. 

Instead, for better or worse, I settled into enjoying the very familiar tail-happy nature of the Vantage, albeit with a very slightly noticeable difference in the roll couple between the front and rear axles—as if my shoulders were flexed up a bit.

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Only a slight dullness at the edge of steering carries over as a downside for the driving dynamics, but as a plus, the engine's soundtrack beefs up for the Roadster with the top down. Oh yes, even more burble and bang to serve as all the more incentive to risk sunburn more regularly. And I also felt occasional moments of claustrophobia starting to creep in with the top up, since visibility seems slightly more restricted than I remember on the hatchback coupe.

Trunk volume also decreases to seven cubic feet. Not that the Roadster can't handle a couple of backpacks or smaller weekend bags, but that number in real life seems much smaller than the unexpected utility of the coupe. And surprisingly, the seat position controls also gave me fits, something else I don't remember on the coupe.

Obviously, this review tracks toward my original, admittedly preconceived premise: just buy the coupe. But for those convertible fans out there, Aston built a great convertible, if not one that's somehow different enough for me to justify the slight lifestyle inconveniences that a soft top introduces. And one major convenience the rest of the world gets to enjoy that the United States will not, the ability to fold the roof back with just the key while walking up, makes for a huge bummer. Doing so on a hot day might just set the Vantage Roadster up a notch in the pantheon of great convertibles.

And that's saying something. I recently drove the new 992.2 Porsche 911S, and found that while the Cabriolet delivered more character at most times, even modest five percent weight gains made a noticeable difference while ripping up the same roads in back-to-back drives versus the coupe. A Boxster loaner shortly thereafter reminded me to just go for a Cayman, too, since I only put the top down happily at night. Maybe a Bentley or Maybach's cruiser mentaility makes more sense for drop-top comfort, but I still just want control over my climate more. And Ferrari's 296 GTS comes nearer to the MC20, just with the frustrating Ferrari controls... Okay, you get the point.

Especally because the Vantage coupe surprised me so much last year, I find the convertible a tough pill to swallow. And part of that impression perhaps comes down to the fact that Reichman and Aston's engineering team worked on the Roadster first, then took all the pros and applied them to the coupe. Maybe I'm reading between the lines a little bit, as he explained the process to me.

"Your basic investment," Reichman wrapped up, "technology, investment, chassis, stiffness, output, the Roadster is first. And then everything else goes back off that. And it can only get better, then, for the coupe, 'cause the coupe can be even lighter and stiffer."

Essentially, everything that went into the Roadster also helped to make the coupe so great. And now, a few things debuting on the Roadster will also apply retroactively to the coupe, too, including a larger gearshift indicator in the gauge cluster, plus a shortcut to quickly turn off annoying ADAS system interventions. 

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Still, I can admit that perhaps a Vantage Roadster makes sense for the Aston cognoscenti who plans to strictly seek out those rare moments of open-top motoring bliss as much as possible. But on those days, I also suspect I might prefer the DB12 Volante anyway, and stick with the Vantage coupe to let out my hard-charging moods.