2008 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster

Aston Martin's rooflines are some of the hottest numbers in car couture—they're low cut, tight fitting, and steaming with sex appeal. Cutting off one is like shearing the blond locks off a Barbie doll. Alas, the lovely V-8 Vantage goes headless with the new Vantage roadster, on sale now and priced for the still-working rich at $126,400. Aston is simply being prudent. The Vantage counts among its rivals the Porsche 911, the Mercedes SL, the Jaguar XKR, and the BMW M6. All are offered with put-away tops. Indeed, Aston expects half of Vantage production to be roadsters. Recall that the Vantage shares its all-aluminum, glued-and-riveted VH chassis with the larger two-plus-two DB9 and DB9 Volante (Aston's other convertible). Intent on preserving the Vantage's much-applauded handling, Aston stiffened it for sun-scooping duty with 44 pounds of additional bracing. The major change is to the longitudinal box sections at the cockpit's perimeter. They are extruded with thicker walls and extra webbing inside. To fight steering-column shiver, gussets on the door posts tie them more securely to the fire wall, and a thicker brace stretches from the fire wall to the prop-shaft tunnel, a fix that so pleased Aston it's being added to the coupe. The extra structure, including two underbody shear panels that lace together the front- and rear-suspension subframes, helps the roadster approach the Vantage coupe's torsional stiffness—and it actually surpasses the DB9 coupe's, says Aston. During a drive in southern France, the Vantage roadster was jiggle-free as it galloped through corners with confident handling, slack-free controls, and the juiciest exhaust snort this side of a Ferrari's. The cammy 4.3-liter V-8 only lacks bottom-end torque, the big power not arriving until after 4000 rpm.