Aston Martin Vantage Roadster

In this month's magazine, we tackle the question that has vexed mankind for many years. Aston or Ferrari?
You'll have your own feelings on the subject - which we want to hear about here - but if you're still sitting on the fence, this gorgeous drop-top might be enough to swing you to the Aston camp.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Aston Martin Vantage Roadster.

Roadster. The very name implies spare and fuss-free design, a visual lightness that leaves the driver exposed as the centre of the action, and of attention.

Due to be unveiled at next month's Los Angeles Auto Show, the Roadster should hit the UK sometime next year.

It doesn't have quite the individuality or sheer suave impact of the fastback Vantage, but just look at it. The Roadster is a beautiful mix of aluminium and leather, and best of all it looks genuinely small - the real 'baby Aston' the V8 always promised to be.

For our money it might just be the most beautiful Aston of recent times.

Too often, chopping the top off a fastback messes up the visuals - the screen has to rake too far back and the rear end gets bloated and bulky. But Aston has done a stunning job with the Roadster.

The roof rears upwards from underneath a solidly hinged tonneau cover, which is plushly trimmed and shaped into a pair of whooshy-looking fairings behind your heads. Not that Aston pretends these improve aero, mind.

And it's supposed to be an all-weather everyday-use car, not one of Aston's collector specials, so the roof is fully weatherproof and has a glass rear screen.

Although there's no word on performance as yet, Aston is claiming that the Roadster will drive like its hard-top brother, so let's remind ourselves: a 4.2-litre V8 putting out 380 horses and seeing off 60 in under five seconds.

There's even the option of a flappy-paddle version of the six-speed box, which should solve that irksome gearshift of the Vantage.

Of course, the Roadster is going to benchmarked against the absurdly high standards of the 911. But it might just be better, in its own way.

The Vantage is never going to be as sharp as Porsche's surgical scalpel - it's just too, well, British. But it can provide more of an all-senses driving experience.

Drop the top, let in the engine noise and experience the best of British. Ferrari who?

© Source: original article on topgear