Snaking up the mountain pass, whispers of cloud drift past us, pines that run the palette from moss green to emerald stand alert from shady woods, forming arboreal battalions. This is a landscape of silence; yet, at this very moment, it is punctuated by the mightiest roar. This is the 4.0 V8 engine of the new Aston Martin Vantage Roadster, the latest iteration of the Coupe (in layman’s terms, it now comes in convertible form). The two-seat, two-door £175,000 machine is, even for someone accustomed to the safety box of a family SUV, a dream to drive. The thrust of the engine as the car manoeuvres around the immaculately maintained Austrian pass roads is thrilling, but unlike some of the more highly tuned supercars, this doesn’t feel like it will run away with itself; more a smooth steed than an untamed beast, yearning for escape. If I had that spare £175K, this might very well be my second car — so comfortable is the ride.
Behind the Wheel of the Aston Martin Vantage Roadster
22nd July 2025
SPHERE editor Jemima Sissons puts the sleek new Aston Martin Vantage Roadster through its paces, navigating Austria's alpine passes and considering whether she can justify a second car
We have come to the spring flower-strewn pasturelands and peaks of Austria, basing ourselves at the new Rosewood Schloss Fuschl, with its breathtaking view of Lake Fuschl. Here, the sound of woodpeckers is joined by the gentle purr of fishing boats and the hum of fishermen’s chat. The handsome castle has had a varied past, but since 2024 has been turned into a sumptuous 98-room lakeside chalet hotel with a swim-in, swim- out pool, spa and walls replete with Old Masters. The crystal-clear lake beckons for a morning dip to start the day, followed by a vitality-packed breakfast of bircher muesli and avocado, spinach, nettle and barley juice.
The procession of brand new cars rolls into the driveway, inching along against the backdrop of the handsome citadel and dramatic hills. The design is a thing of beauty, with a swan-wing opening, sleek frameless doors and signature full-length LED taillights. It is also intuitively crafted inside, with a larger driver information display than previous models, wireless phone charging, a smart new Bowers and Wilkins music system with 15 speakers, voice control and an SOS emergency call system (something of a relief, as I eye up the precipitous curves).
Settled into the armchair-like leather seats, we take to the road. The car packs a punch, galloping from 0 to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds. The front engine rear drive can hit a high of 202 mph. It slips seamlessly through the eight gears (my co-driver uses the manual gears at a racing pace during his drive; I play it safe with automatic — still swift enough for me). Despite the threat of rain, the skies remain perfectly clear and our roof comes down in the speediest time on the market — 6.8 seconds. Top down, the wind whistling over my Boss hat (an Aston Martin brand partner) and snaking past patchy remnants of snow as we fly by Hitler’s infamous retreat, Eagle’s Nest, my steel grey ride deftly attacks the curves, in its rather fun Sports Plus mode (avoiding the rather racy “Track” mode, which offers a more F1 experience than “Sunday Spin”). We pause for a pit stop at the picturesque Gut Steinbach hotel, enjoying Schnitzel and cured river trout, decompressing from our 90-minute spin, and soaking in the sunsoaked view of out-of-use ski jumps and cows munching lazily on knee-high grass.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the first open-top Aston Martin Vantage models, launched in 1950, which featured larger carburettors and a higher compression ratio to boost power from the 2.6-litre twin-cam engine’s 105bhp to a formidable 125bhp. The new direction of Aston Martin under chairperson and part owner Lawrence Stroll is to position the brand within the ultra-luxury market, sitting somewhere between Bentley (which “slows down time”) and the Italian muscle motorcars like Ferrari and Lamborghini, which, according to Aston Martin, “speeds up time.” The vision is to blend luxury, design and performance with a complete redesign from the ground up, including this new model.
“The Vantage Roadster is a fully reinvented experience that has all the benefits of the Coupe, delivering a roof-down driving experience like no other,” says Aston Martin Chief Executive Officer, Adrian Hallmark. Chief Creative Officer Marek Reichman has once again worked his magic, creating a car engineered “for real drivers.” “I start with the driver and build around it,” he says. Reichman has designed a larger grille at the front with more aero direction, a new 21-inch wheel, increased muscularity at the back and an “almost impossible” front angle of the windscreen. “This new Vantage Roadster is a sculptural masterpiece,” he says. “The resonant roar of its engine brings its simple yet refined surface design to life, creating a connection that’s impossible to ignore. Its form exudes beauty, its athletic stance conveys predatory intent, and its sound delivers a visceral, sensory experience.” Alongside this model, the other much anticipated launch is the fearsome Valhalla, which is being billed as the “ultimate drivers’ supercar,” for those who want to join the queue for one of the 999 available soon for a cool £850,000. As we return to base, we very reluctantly hand over the keys and bid goodbye to our beautiful base — and wheels — that have cossetted us for this memorable weekend.
