Aston Martin Vantage Roadster review

Prices start at £175,000 – a £10k lift from the coupe. As tested, the one in our images was a shade over £240,000. That’s a £15,000 paint job you’re looking at. Carbon ceramic brakes ought to be standard in our opinion – nope, a £10k extra. The B&O hi-fi is almost £7,000 and you can add a semi-detached house’s worth of carbon fibre if you’re not careful.

The Roadster isn’t short of rivals. AMG SL, Roma Spider, Maserati GranCabrio, Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet… there’s a huge amount of talent in the circa-£200k super-sports drop-top arena.

Aston’s Q department will happily relieve you of more cash in exchange for ultimate personalisation. The online configurator alone could cost you hours. Days. If you’re reading this while procrastinating on study leave, don’t go anywhere near it. It’s more addictive and even more likely to end in tears than turning off the traction control.

What about running costs?

Aston claims 23mpg. You’ll get teens as an average and single-digit troughs when clogging it. But thanks to a 78-litre tank, you’ll manage around 300 miles. With CO2 emissions at 279g/km, the Vantage Roadster is going to be a very tough sell on the company car list, with so many rivals now offering far less charming, but massively cost-effective electrified alternatives.