2022 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster (Accidental) Quick Review

Quick Review Series

Welcome to our “Quick Review” series where we aim to provide a quick (mostly objective) overview of cars we’ve driven (for at least a short period of time) and consumer-focused insights that help regular people decide if a specific car should be considered when looking to buy a new automobile.

These aren’t designed to replace thorough research or reading more in-depth reviews in automotive publications (like Motortrend or Edmunds) but rather provide an easy to digest jumping off point when looking for a new car.

TL;DR

• We accidentally rented a friggin’ Aston Martin to take to Monterey Car Week.

• We Loved:

  • Stunning looks

  • Great engine note and plenty of power

  • Sporty but has a comfortable ride

• We Hated:

  • Interior quality doesn’t match the exterior beauty (or the sticker price)

  • Road noise

  • Infotainment is almost comically outdated

  • The seats

• Verdict

  • Drop dead gorgeous but leaves something to be desired in terms of tech, interior quality, and (somewhat) driving dynamics. More of an “arriver’s car” than a driver’s car.

Intro

I would like to begin this review by reassuring you (and my boss) that I absolutely did NOT intend to test an Aston Martin.

Perhaps a bit of backstory will help make my case. The adventure begins in Los Angeles, California. As car enthusiasts, whenever possible, we make the annual pilgrimage to Monterey for Car Week. For those unfamiliar with the event, think of it as a car enthusiast’s combination of Disneyland and the Superbowl, all in the idyllic setting of the Monterey Peninsula in California. There are several expensive car shows throughout the week, ultra exclusive auto auctions, and the most insane cars you can dream of just driving around town. You’ll see so many multimillion-dollar cars around that “normal” Porsches, Lamborghinis and Ferraris almost become boring.

For an event like car week, arriving in a Toyota Corolla just doesn’t quite cut it (and would also make early morning drives to Big Sur much less enjoyable), so I wanted to rent something at least a little interesting. Between the roundtrip drive and additional driving while in town, I expected to cover nearly 1,000 miles over the three-day weekend, rendering Turo (with its daily mileage limits) mostly nonviable. I was, however, surprised to see that Enterprise Rent-A-Car offers some decidedly upscale options.

I (mostly) sensibly decided on a 2025 Audi A5 Sportback. Something sleek, sporty, and comfortable that would soak up miles and be fun in any context. I arrived at the Enterprise lot on Thursday evening, ready to pick up our car so I could get on the road before 5am the following morning.

Like any good car enthusiast, I began chatting with the staff about how great it was that Enterprise had such an assortment of high-end vehicles (Aston Martins, Porsches, etc). The associate mentioned that this was one of the “exotic” Enterprise locations… before casually dangling the carrot that the Aston Martin Vantage was not yet booked for the weekend. Having glimpsed the Aston’s typical $500+ per day price, I joked that perhaps one day I could afford such a machine.

The associate chuckled along with me, and I assumed that was the end of it. However, after I had filled out the requisite paperwork, the associate mentioned that because the Aston wasn’t rented, he could probably get me a great deal. The carrot now dangled a bit closer to my reach. Although, money aside, the 100 mile per day limit (imposed by Enterprise on its high-end cars) loomed almost insurmountably.

But I couldn’t help myself.

“How great a deal are we talking”?

A bit of back-and-forth ensued. Either the associate is the best salesperson of all time, or I am a very lucky negotiator, but for $35 per day more than I was paying for the Audi, I secured the Aston with an exception allowing for unlimited miles. I was so ecstatic, I nearly fumbled the keys when heading for the door.

Highway Driving

My alarm was set for 4:30am, but I found myself wide awake and ready to go at 4am. Such is the effect of this stunning machine. The five-minute drive to the hotel the night before was barely enough to whet my appetite.

Aston Martins have the reputation of sporty grand tourers – cars that are as comfortable pushing on a backroad as they are cruising to dinner or taking a roadtrip. As I pointed the nose north on Highway 101, I was eager to find out.

Within a few minutes of driving, a few things became evident. First, the engine is absolutely stellar. Beginning with the launch of its DB11 in 2016, Aston Martin attempted to modernize and save costs by sourcing engines from Mercedes-AMG. While some purists may long for the bespoke power units in older Astons, we think the M177 4.0 liter twin-turbo V8 (the same engine found in the Mercedes AMG GT line) in this Vantage is unequivocally the right choice. Heck, the engine might even be somewhat reliable, given the German engineering.

The 503 horsepower and 505 pound-feet of torque are perfectly capable of heart pounding acceleration on a freeway on-ramp while also settling in nicely for a freeway cruise at low RPM. The torque is seemingly available at all points of the rev range, and you don’t have to wring its neck to the rev limiter to get the best out of it. Aston tuned the exhaust note to have a higher pitch and more “emotional” sound than the Mercedes AMT GT, and while the sound is slightly different to the attuned ear, it is impossible to escape the deep, throaty roar of the V8 (not that we are complaining).

A funny quirk of the Vantage is that the least aggressive setting for both suspension and engine/transmission is “Sport” mode, with “Sport+” and “Track” being the more aggressive (and only other) settings. We’ll let you decide if this is an endearing nod to the lightest, sportiest model in the lineup or trying a little too hard.

With that said, the baseline Sport suspension setting had a surprisingly compliant ride. A passenger with their eyes closed wouldn’t be fooled into thinking this was a large luxury sedan, but body motions are very well controlled never harsh over potholes or undulations.

While the Aston was initially living up to its grand touring reputation, I quickly noticed some issues that were perhaps magnified by how great the ride and engine are. First, the Aston has an obnoxious amount of road and wind noise. This may be worse in the Roadster (convertible) trim (as opposed to the coupe), but even with the top up at a freeway cruising speed, I noticed myself having to speak at a noticeably higher volume to be heard by passengers or on a Bluetooth phone call. The surprise here was that in top gear at low RPM, the beast of an engine was not part of the problem at all.

The second issue became apparent a few hours into the drive to Monterey. The seats. While initially comfortable and with plenty of lateral support, the lumbar adjustment is finicky, and the seats become noticeably uncomfortable after a few hours. By the end of the five-hour drive, my lower back were in agony.

So. Mixed results on the Vantage’s grand touring chops.

Interior and Storage

The review of the interior is in a similar vein – a lot of greatness coupled with a sprinkle of awful.

While not as striking as the exterior, the interior of the Vantage is handsomely appointed. The smell of British leather never gets old. FUN FACT: Aston Martin sources leather for its interiors from a Scottish company (Bridge of Weir) but will only use leather from British heritage breed cows. As uncomfortable as the seats may be on long drives, they look absolutely gorgeous.

The interior is relatively simple, but functional, giving you everything you need and nothing more (a glove box would have been nice, but there are a few hidden cubbies that provide storage space). Cupholders are absolutely… ok. Driving and infotainment controls are laid out intelligently and efficiently, making acclimating a breeze.

Trunk space is even pretty decent. Enough to fit a few small carry-ons or, allegedly, a golf bag.

The interior never feels cramped but is sports car snug. Drivers over 6’3” may struggle to get comfortable, since the seats have a limited range of motion in the smallish cabin. With small side and rear windows, blind spots are absolutely a problem with the top up. Every lane change is accompanied by an uncomfortable level of uncertainty (or neck craning). However, we didn’t knock the Vantage too much for this because the blind spot monitoring system functions well and we felt this quirk added to the theater and engagement factor.

Ditto with some other design idiosyncrasies – for example, the arrow-shaped interior door handles look Savile Row suave but require quite unsophisticated arm contortions in order to use.

However, quality control and durability are decidedly atrocious. Several trim pieces were falling off, and the longer we spent in the cabin, the more imperfections, scratches, and blemishes we noticed. The button to operate the convertible top fell off the second time I used it, forcing me (and our other testers) to use an extra hand to hold the button in place each time we put the top down. The driver’s side window button seemed to be close behind. Nearly all of the plastic trim pieces squeaked torturedly at each touch. And what the heck is this much plastic doing in a car that starts north of $150,000 and otherwise looks so great?

We are aware we were driving a rental car and that plenty of renters don’t take quite the same level of care with these cars that they would with their own vehicle. That said, our Vantage had barely over 20,000 miles on the clock and was only a couple years old – so this isn’t a great excuse in our collective opinion.

Technology

The Aston’s infotainment and technology drew mixed reviews. The Vantage utilizes a version of the Mercedes COMAND infotainment system; however, there are limits to the Aston/Mercedes partnership. Mercedes did not want to part with its most cutting edge technology, so the Vantage received an older version– so the system was outdated when the Vantage debuted in 2018 and is almost comically old in the mid-2020s. Additionally, the absence of Apple CarPlay/Android Auto in a 2020+ car that stickers for over $150k is unacceptable in our eyes.

However, because the system was sourced by Mercedes, it works (a meaningful upgrade compared with British brands historically). It is also exceedingly simple and straightforward – everyone who drove the car (from the young techies to the old hats) appreciated how easy it was to come to grips with. Parking sensors, rearview camera, and blindspot monitoring all worked well (although, we do wish our car came with the optional surround view camera).

At Automagic, we universally hate the obsession with screens in new cars. It seems that no manufacturer is willing to develop a new car without multiple iPads worth of touchscreens and haptic interfaces. One good touchscreen (with physical buttons for oft-used functions) is fine, but we find endless screens annoying, tacky (especially in high-end vehicles), and potentially dangerous (forcing a driver to scroll through multiple menus instead of pushing a physical button that is always in the same place). We doubt that this design will age well.

Rant aside, while we applaud Aston for avoiding this problem, each person who drove the Vantage agreed that it would benefit from a slightly larger screen. Add Apple CarPlay to this hypothetical, larger screen, and we would happily forgive the technology for being so long in the tooth.

Attention and Car Show Cruising

When I pulled off the highway nearing my destination in Carmel Valley, my back was in agony (see blurb on the seats above), my head had a dull ache from the road noise, and my neck was sore from constantly looking down at my phone for navigation. I was not miserable by any stretch, but some of the downsides of the Aston had taken their toll over 5 hours.

But… while in some slow-moving traffic, I had a chance to put the top down. Cool, coastal air filled the cabin, and I finally had a chance to open the car up a bit on a backroad “shortcut.” I passed a trio of Ferraris heading the opposite way. And the Aston suddenly felt at home.

While the Vantage is (mostly) capable of a long freeway haul, it completely comes alive when cruising along the coast – top down, exhaust crackling. I have been coming to Car Week for decades, and this was the first time I was in a car that truly belonged among all the high-end exotics.

The Aston opened up doors as well. At Car Week, many automakers rent out mansions or portions of hotel parking lots to showcase their new models. Special customers receive invitations beforehand to schedule test drives of the new cars, while the general public can attempt to get on a waitlist to drive a car if the appointment fails to show. As you might expect, the waitlist for exotic marque’s (e.g., Mclaren) is quite a bit longer than for a more run-of-the-mill brand like BMW. I have gotten off the waitlist and driven Lucids, Jaguars, and Mercedes, but have never sniffed the top of the waitlist at Aston Martin or even Porsche. However, when I stumbled upon the Aston Martin event at the snazzy Bernardus Lodge, I was magically able to test drive the facelifted, 2025, Vantage with almost no wait time. It’s almost like the waitlists aren’t completely first come, first served.

My ten minutes in the new Vantage didn’t provide enough information for a comparison, but I will say that the navigation screen is bigger. It also is noticeably more powerful (an over 150-horsepower increase between models) and somehow looks even better.

Bystanders seemed to be as enthralled with our Aston’s looks as we were – countless people looked and pointed as we drove along. We even caught a few slyly taking photos of it in the parking lot. And not just any parking lot – a few spaces over was one of 150 multimillion dollar Aston Martin Valkyrie Coupes in the world, and a Bugatti Veyron was just a few spaces over. It was an entertaining role reversal to have people take photos of “my” car the way I have done to every exotic car I’ve come across since I was probably 10 years old. Is this the sign that I finally made it?

I have always considered myself somewhat of a “purist” enthusiast, who would staunchly recommend against buying any car for the sake of showing off. Better to have a car that no one notices but drives like a dream than to own a Lamborghini with rocket thrusters solely for others to gawk at. But after a few days in the Aston, I am ashamed to admit that I found it pretty cool getting all this attention.

Backroad Driving

As cool as it was being noticed, I was still much more excited to go for a proper drive in the Vantage. Luckily, the Pacific Coast Highway winds right through Carmel and there are several twisty backroads on offer in the surrounding hills. Unluckily, Car Week traffic seems to steadily get worse every year and, worse still, the local police seem to love nothing more than handing out speeding tickets to wealthy attendees racing along in exotic cars.

I was in the sticky predicament of driving an attention-grabbing car but without the bank account balance to back it up. I guess I haven’t quite made it after all.

The easiest way around the traffic is to get up and on the road in the very early morning. Like the prior day on the drive up from Los Angeles, waking up early is a treat rather than a chore when an Aston Martin is waiting. It also seems that the cops have a much smaller presence early on – choosing to wait until more people are out before stepping up their enforcement for the day (but we still did our best to stick to the speed limit… kind of).

The Aston’s bark on startup is probably enough to wake every neighbor on the block, so the day started with a short race away from our Airbnb to get away from the scene of the crime. After this, it was on to the backroads and a drive down to Big Sur.

On an emotional level, it is hard to beat (or describe) the theater of driving an Aston Martin down the coast with the top down. I could fill the rest of this review with auto journalist platitudes to try to impart even a sliver of this feeling, but (1) I wouldn’t succeed and (2) I wouldn’t be exaggerating.

In the business/techie/self-help/blogger/hustle culture sphere, folks like to refer to a “flow state” in work. Free from distractions where the worker is the most productive, like Kobe Bryant down 2 points late in the fourth quarter – totally in the “zone.”

Now imagine a flow state where you aren’t working – instead you are doing your favorite hobby. All the good of the flow but made that much sweeter by reaching that place doing something you’d even love on a bad day. Think something like powder day with fresh legs and no crowds for the skiers in the audience. That is what we have here… a “flow car” if you will.

Not just a mental state, this term also works to describe how the car likes to be driven. It wants to flow down the road like a rushing river. It rewards smooth inputs around corners and then rushes on a tidal wave of torque once you hit a straight. With all that power being sent to the rear wheels, the car will easily kick the tail out if one desires to hoon about with the traction control disengaged.

However, like a luxury hotel manager dealing with a 70s rockstar, while the car will indulge your wild behavior, you get the sense that it can hardly wait until the craziness is over and the sensible businessman from Connecticut checks in to your old room. The Vantage runs like a Swiss watch up to about seven tenths of its maximum performance but then seems to jump directly to 11/10th of its abilities and becomes drift car (albeit, reluctantly).

This may be (and probably is) completely fine for the vast majority of Vantage buyers. We imagine these folks want a comfortable, sporty car that looks and sounds the part but will rarely, if ever, be used to attack a mountain road (and will never come within sniffing distance of a racetrack). However, for drivers who want to build up to and explore the limits of their sports car, the sharpness and delicacy of a Porsche Cayman GT4 may be a better bet.

There are also a few traits that did their best to try to pull us from our flow state driving down the coast. The steering is direct and relatively predictable but lacks true feel. This is partially why it was difficult to explore the limits of the car – we were never really sure how much grip was available. We didn’t subtract too many points, since the problems may have been caused by improper use and maintenance of our rental car, but the brakes were atrocious. If you were to imagine braking on a 2-dimensional graph with the x-axis representing pressure on the brake pedal and the y-axis representing deceleration, you would want a straight, 90-degree line with a linear relationship between how much you press the brake pedal and how much you slow down. However, the Aston brakes felt like a step chart. We would add more and more brake pressure with no discernible impact on deceleration until an arbitrary cutoff point where the car finally decided it was time to slow down. The opposite of confidence-inspiring.

Verdict

At Automagic, we do our best to evaluate cars based on their intended use and audience – not necessarily what we (as harder core gearheads) would prefer. However, even so, we have a bit of difficulty providing a coherent recommendation on this car.

We imagine that buyers who want a pure sports car will take the aforementioned GT4 and call it a day. So this car fits in a different category – catering to buyers who want a drop dead gorgeous car that looks, sounds, and feels sporty but is comfortable enough for a weekend trip or to be driven daily (however unlikely) and that will garner more than enough attention to parked out front at the local high-end steakhouse or sushi joint.

Even in the backdrop of what we believe is its intended use, our issue with the Aston is its inconsistent, dual character. It is absolute greatness coupled with confounding disappointment – something so close to a world-beating sports car that falls short overall because of a few huge problems. If we average all categories, the car problem gets a 6  out of 10 but does not receive a 6 in any single category. It is 8s and 9s in most categories but dragged down by 2s and 3s in others.

The ride is perfectly supple for a long weekend getaway but the seats would make such a journey unbearable. The sounds and handling are good enough make a jaunt down the coast or up a mountain road worthy of a love song, but the step chart brakes mean you are never confident enough to truly enjoy yourself. The questionable build quality would cause us (as hypothetical owners) to constantly worry that an expensive repair was on the horizon or that every time we put the top down, we may not be able to put it back up.

With all that said, we can’t deny that we had an absolute blast in this car. It was drama and theater and an event all on its own. Everything we did in the Vantage was its own memorable experience – whether we were chasing multimillion dollar Bugattis down the Pacific Coast Highway or just going to the grocery store for extra Keurig pods.

And that last part is probably the most pertinent for someone considering buying one of these. How much does drama, looks, and getting noticed matter? And does this matter enough to overlook some of the Vantage’s shortcomings?

For us, the answer is probably “no,” even with prices on used Vantages dipping well below $100,000. If we were looking outside of the hardcore sporty GT4 (or 911 GT3 if we were considering a brand new Vantage) and wanted something loud, fast, and comfortable, we would probably snag the Mercedes AMG-GT that the Vantage borrows so heavily from. We would also throw a base C8 Corvette into the mix if we wanted something just as fast but cheaper to buy (and maintain). But the decision wouldn’t be easy… and once we picked one of the other cars, we suspect we’d occasionally think longingly about the Aston.

If, before ever driving it, we had time traveled to read our notes on the driving experience, we would have never even considered the Aston. Perhaps naively thinking that getting noticed and pure theater are poor reasons to pick a car. But the Vantage was good enough, was cool enough, was gorgeous enough that we have to rethink some of our priorities and biases when it comes to cool cars. For some buyers that is quite likely enough.