You probably want an Aston V12 Vantage Roadster

This is goodbye.

Not from us, of course – you’ll have to prise us out of here with a superheated crowbar – but for the V12 Vantage. For all the reasons you’d expect, engines like these have borrowed all the time they can; Aston says this is the last Vantage to ever leave the factory with a V12.

Aston also says production is “strictly limited to just 249 customer examples globally, with all examples sold ahead of release” – and due to be delivered by the end of the year. So for most of us, it’s a bit of an Irish goodbye.

But, unlike like the fox who never found out how sweet or sour those grapes were, we can at least get a taste of what to expect from the last V12 Vantage.

The dominant flavour, as you’d expect, is Aston’s twin-turbo 5.2-litre V12. Here, it delivers 690bhp and 555lb ft, giving Aston’s V12 sports car swansong “more power and torque than any Vantage Roadster before it”. This much you might have already expected.

What you might not have assumed is “up to ten times the downforce of the series production Vantage Roadster”. Not that anyone likens the Vantage Roadster to a Dallara Stradale or anything, but that’s quite a jump. The downforce is thanks to a front splitter, rear diffuser and rear wing, and the ‘up to’ modifier is thanks to the fact that the rear wing is an option, as opposed to the standard fitment on the Vantage V12 coupe.

Aston doesn’t say what effect the spoiler (which interestingly isn't in its initial promo images) has on the V12 Vantage Roadster’s 200mph top speed but, given the V12 Vantage Coupe’s downforce is listed at 204kg at 200mph, we can probably assume the Roadster will still hit the double tonne. Or rather, could.

A stat that’s more likely to get a real-world demonstration is the V12 Roadster’s 3.5-second dash from rest to 60mph. That’s likely to be easily repeatable, too – the standard-fit eight-speed auto, limited-slip-diff and 315mm-wide tyres are a fair match for those free of finesse, and 360-odd horsepower per tonne is rather enough for that kind of delta-v.

The same suspension hardware as the V12 Vantage coupe keeps this all on an even keel, while carbon ceramic brakes – massive 410mm discs up front and 360mm at the rear – reel it all back in when the brave pills wear off. According to Aston, carbon brakes save some 23kg of unsprung weight compared to steel discs, which does feel like an odd consideration for a drop-top. But that’s something of a theme for the V12 Roadster.

The front bumper, bonnet, front fenders and side sills are all made from carbon fibre, while the rear bumper and “deck lid” are made from a “weight-saving composite”. There’s also a lightweight battery, a thin-wall stainless steel exhaust (saving 7.2kg) and even the option of forged alloy wheels to save another eight kilos. And it’s not over yet – buyers can save as much as 7.3kg by opting for carbon bucket seats with manual adjustment instead of the usual plush Aston fare.

And all of this dieting means the V12 Vantage Roadster is... 110kg heavier than the regular-production V8 Roadster, even if you tick every lightweighting option.

But to expect an Aston V12 drop-top to be anything approaching lightweight is to miss the point as badly as expecting it to be cheap, economical or particularly practical. The V12 Vantage always existed as a ‘because you want one’ proposition, with its days numbered almost almost from the day it launched.

And if this really is goodbye, then we should give the V12 Vantage the respectful farewell it deserves. So here goes: hate to see you go, but love to watch you leave.