2026 Aston Martin Vantage Roadster Gets Even Hotter

[Marenda Jaseph]

The wide and rowdy Aston convertible can drop its top almost as quickly as it can dust the competition.

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Any good linguist will tell you that language is a changeable thing, a river of tumbling words reshaped through time and use. It's called semantic drift—the movement of a word's definition over decades or centuries. "Awful" went from being used in reverence to being used negatively. "Awesome," originally a description of terror, became a compliment. "Roadster," initially used for windowless and roofless American two-seaters, now comes into play with any droptop when "convertible" doesn't sound tough enough. Prewar Ford purists may hate that last one, but based on modern definitions, it's clear that Aston Martin's 2026 Vantage is a pretty awesome roadster.

The Vantage, never a design we'd describe as soft or weak, was made even more muscular and wide-mouthed when the coupe was redesigned for 2025. Now, the roadster joins its fixed-roof sibling with the same broad, squared-off stance and burly twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8. Historically, sporty models have suffered in convertible form, taking on weight and chassis flex while losing the purity of their design. Aston Martin avoided some of these pitfalls by designing coupe and convertible in parallel, which allowed the engineering and design teams to incorporate features to counteract the structural and aesthetic downsides of taking a little off the top.

The Vantage's bowed lines and big shoulders leave it quivering with pent-up energy like a big savanna cat crouched over a herd of antelope. One can imagine it panting impatiently in a parking spot, waiting to spring into action. The redesign is less delicate than the previous Vantage—perhaps slightly less pretty—with heavy fenders and that gaping maw, but it's still a striking car from any angle. We turn plenty of heads on our drive and catch more than one mountain dweller along the forested curves of Idyllwild, California, mouthing "wow" as we drive past.

The Vantage roadster is almost all hood, with just enough rear-quarter real estate to house a set of fat Michelin Pilot Sport S5 summer tires (275/35ZR-21s front, 325/30ZR-21s rear.) The design work on the roof is obvious from the side, where the so-called Z-fold top disappears behind the seats without the telltale lump seen on many other two-seat convertibles. Not only does this Z-fold setup allow for a smaller stow—as opposed to the commonly used K-fold convertible top, which stands straight up before folding—it's also incredibly fast. The roadster can drop or lift its cover in just under seven seconds at up to 31 mph. That's nearly as quick as an NHRA Pro Stock car runs a quarter-mile, and it's way quicker than we can list off the various ways you can customize your Vantage purchase.

The Aston Martin configurator offers hours of entertainment, with 13 different shades of silver and white, five different reds, 15 different purples and blues, and 18 different greens, including our example's satin California Sage. There are five different colors for the roadster top, four different styles of 21-inch wheels in a variety of finishes, and seven different tones for the six-piston front and four-piston rear brake calipers that clamp optional carbon-ceramic rotors. That's just the exterior.

With a roofless car, the interior needs to be equally ready for public viewing, and Aston went with standard 12-way heated seats wrapped in vibrant leather and accented with a choice of carbon fiber in colored tints or satin-metal finishes. Physical buttons pepper the console, but the Vantage has modern conveniences like a 10.3-inch touchscreen, phone mirroring, and an optional Bowers & Wilkins sound system designed specifically for the Roadster.