“Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow,” I can’t help but say aloud to myself. Sometimes, and not all that often, you become absolutely stuck for a word to clarify what you are feeling and yet the simplest expression can suffice. Speeding along the narrow and twisty roads of Provence, with the roof down, I am trying my best to come up with a better word. I double declutch down from third to second keeping the revs high, the butterfly flaps open, the exhaust singing at full volume and as I accelerate through the slightly cambered beautifully undulating turn, I give up my search, for this word will do just fine.
At first glance, the Aston Roadster is a beautiful looking creature and like all Aston Martins, this Roadster is hand-assembled and hand-finished. Its short overhangs, taut curves and menacing grimace are all carried over from the coupe and indeed it sacrifices nothing in the aesthetics department when compared with the coupe. I would even go so far as to say it looks better; the coupe always seemed a little too hatch-back for my liking. The wonderful interior is carried over as well, save for the removal of the roof and the addition of some elegant ‘speed humps’ that are leather-lined accents on the electric roof cover that hide the pop-up rollover protection.
Aston Martin showed true brilliance in bringing the press to Gordes. Not so much because it is a unique and charming location where all buildings are made of stone, all roofs have terracotta tiles, stone walls are used instead of fences and there is not an electricity or telephone cable in sight because they are hidden underground. No, the sheer genius was in finding a location with an assortment of roads from highways, smooth and rough B-roads to a stunning hill climb that reached 1,400m above sea level.
The aforementioned ‘hill’ is called Mont Ventoux and is dubbed the ‘Giant of Provence’. It is famed for being one of the toughest legs on the Tour de France but for drivers it is a fantasy ride with few equals. The day we spent flying up Mont Ventoux and back down again was probably the most testing day for the baby Aston. The car coped admirably well and the fact it managed almost every situation it was thrown into was a big plus. But all was, sadly, not perfect.
My biggest concern was that the lack of torque in the low revs. This necessitates always keeping your revs high so as to extract the most from the engine. The engine itself is a 4.3-litre unit with 380bhp that revs to 7,000rpm. Squeezing out a lot of revs from a naturally aspirated V8 is no easy task and yet I was left disappointed by the lack of grunt – especially when you consider that this is considerably more expensive than a Porsche Carrera S. It seems a shame for the Vantage to have a perfect chassis, suspension set-up and brakes and yet be let down by such a lack of power. What is needed is either an increase in horsepower or a further thousand or so revs, which will stop you from always hitting the rev limiter.
Think about this: the original V8 Vantage that ran from 1977 until 1989 had 438bhp and could dash to 100km/h in 5.4 seconds. Significantly the new 2007 model has 58 less horsepower and only beats the old model in the sprint by 0.8 seconds. Thankfully a sportier version will be available in 2010, so for those looking for real brute force, you need to wait a few years.
My second surprise was the lack of headroom within the cabin. I am 1.95 metres, which is probably taller than the average driver, but there was only a finger’s width between my head and the roof when closed. Also the seats did not have enough lateral support, so perhaps the thinking was to fit the heavier customers but not the taller ones. In any case, the interior is so beautifully appointed in the red leather with white stitching that you can forgive almost anything.
In the interest of objective journalism, I decided to try out both transmission options and thereby make my decision. The first to be put through its paces was the standard fully manual 6-speed transmission. This was a lovely short throw unit that was perfectly suited to the car. The second and pricier option was the steering column mounted Sportshift transmission. The speed of the shifts may not have been as fast as Ferrari’s, but the Sportshift was developed by the same manufacturer and it is a very decent offering. You don’t get the awkward idling apparent in the Vanquish or the head-jerking gear changes that symbolises Maserati’s Cambiocorsa. However, you must master how to smoothly change gear.
The smooth Sportshift gear change is achieved by gauging your throttle inputs at the moment of changing gear and though this comes with time, my final preference remains with the manual shifter. I found my frustrations with the Sportshift transmission most exacerbated during the to-ing and fro-ing of the photo shoot, because I needed to wait a few seconds every time I wanted to activate the reverse gear. I came to the hard realisation that the only way to perform a quick three-point-turn, or a perfect gear change for that matter, is to stay with the standard manual gearbox. But, I was told by the team at Aston Martin Middle East that they expect almost all the V8s ordered to our region to have Sportshift transmissions, so perhaps people just prefer the easier option over the more rewarding one.
Speaking of sales, it seems Aston Martin will sell more Roadsters than any other car in its entire history. Given that it has been granted independence since being sold off by Ford, it seems that it is through these sales that future funding for research and development will be created. For this fact alone, I hope the V8 Vantage Roadster is a raging success, especially here in the Middle East, as now almost a quarter of the company is owned by two Kuwaiti investment funds, Investment Dar and Adeem Investment.
Back to France. As we near a village, I immediately lift off the throttle and bring the revs back down below 4,000rpm so as not to scare every living being within a three kilometre radius. I start the roof closing mechanism which will operate at up speeds of up to 50 km/h and I look over to the gunmetal aluminium fascia and press the D button thereby activating the fully automatic transmission. I sit back and admire the subtle alcantara- lined A pillars, the sumptuous leather upholstered dashboard, the charming crystal glass starter button and the eccentric reverse swinging rev gauge. Small touches that leave a big impression. The Vantage Roadster’s aim is not to bowl you over but to slowly and surely win you over. This it does without fail.
I am truly impressed by this car. It is fun to drive and yet has everyday usability. It is a car that flatters the driver and makes you feel indomitable. It does not rely on its electronics because it has perfect grip even with the traction control switched off. The brakes do not suffer much fade even when tested well beyond regular parameters. Its beauty is boundless both on the inside and the outside and you can even choose your very own one-off colour schemes, should you so desire.
But the crowning factor is, of course, that buying an Aston Martin guarantees you the exclusivity never achieved with a Porsche, Mercedes or BMW. And this is what Aston knows how to do best, it produces an Anderson & Sheppard to everybody else’s Hugo Boss.
