Aston Martin Vantage Roadster is powered by a twin-turbo V8.Special fabric top lowers quickly and stows away seamlessly. Deliveries of the Vantage Roadster are expected this spring.

Aston Martin has just rolled out a new Vantage Roadster to join the Coupe in Aston?s most driver-focused model line. Propelled by a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8, and mated to an eight-speed ZF transmission, the drop top is quick enough to sprint to 60 in 3.7 seconds. And that’s not the only fast thing it does. The Vantage Roadster can go from top up to top down in less than seven seconds.

Honestly, when I first saw pictures of this thing, I thought it was a Ferrari Portofino. That’s not a bad thing. The Portofino is a very attractive car, as is the Vantage. And I suppose both of them are aimed at the same sort of buyer; it’s fast enough but it has tons of style.
Aston Martin Vantage Roadster Specs

The performance that the Vantage Roadster is capable of throwing down is largely thanks to that 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8. The engine, with dual variable camshaft timing and water-to-air charge cooling, cranks out 503 ponies and 505 lb-ft. of torque with a top speed of 190. They don?t say if that vMax is with the top up (I expect it is), but I’m sure doing nearly the double ton with the top down is an experience.

Yes, it has a rear mid-mounted, eight-speed ZF automatic to handle the ratios, but you won’t notice the lack of shifting when you’re cruising down ...