Aston Martin's V8 Vantage GT Roadster is a barbarian in a tuxedo.

As soon as I pulled over to snap some pictures of the 2016 Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT Roadster, a Porsche 911 Carrera S roared past me on its way to the Snake on the Mulholland Highway outside Los Angeles.

I paused, squinted and I watched the man driving the Porsche rush up the twisty mountainside as I debated whether I should chase him. After what felt like a good minute of deliberation, I decided to go for it. I jumped into the navy blue roadster, pushed the crystalline key into the ignition, queued the AC/DC and roared up the hill after him.

Porsche chasing

Although I hadn't planned it, chasing a Carrera S up to the Snake was perhaps one of the best ways to highlight the V8 Vantage GT's wiles. That's because the two cars are essentially different takes on a similar idea.

The Aston is powered by a 4.7-liter V8 engine — mated to a six-speed manual gearbox — that produces 430 horsepower mounted in the front under the long, rippling hood. The Porsche, on the other hand, boasts a 400-horsepower 3.8-liter flat six-cylinder engine bolted up behind the rear wheels. This was a 2016 Carrera S, not a 2017, mind you.

The differences don't end at engine placement and power, however. The man in the Porsche had a roof, which aided in chassis rigidity that, in turn, contributed to cornering capability ... and I didn't. I had to shift gears myself with my own hands. The Porsche had a PDK (a Teutonic acronym for dual-clutch transmission), which did the shifting. This meant the driver could just keep his foot planted on the throttle pedal where I had to dance between clutch and gas.

Despite our vehicular differences, the cars were well matched. The Aston easily caught up with the Porsche in the straights. However, it fell behind a bit in thebends.When a carmaker removes a car's roof, as I eluded to earlier, the car's chassis becomes softer and less rigid. This makes sense, if you think about it. Removing a big metal structure that ties one side of the car to the other would naturally make it less solid. Generally, driving enthusiasts abhor such things, as rigidity is the key to swift and precise driving.

For me, though, on that afternoon, as I steered the Vantage GT Roadster into sharp corner after sharp corner, its softer chassis (soft by Aston Martin sports car terms, mind you) proved a delight. I got to just flog the snot out of the thing up that hill. I wasn't precisely clipping corner apexes; I was just tossing the Vantage GT Roadster into hairpin turns. If the Porsche was a precise laser beam, the way I was driving it, the Aston was a jackhammer.

I kicked the tail-end of the car out and shifted through gears like I was sawing through a large log with a handsaw. All the while, I was cackling like a wild man with AC/DC blaring from the Aston's powerful Harman Kardon sound system. I wasn't just a motorist. That afternoon, I was a brash barbarian in the most gentlemanly of machines. I felt like Rocky and Jay Gatsby in one.

Finest driving machine

Now, just because I was driving the Vantage GT Roadster in a most uncivilized manner doesn't mean the car itself is uncouth — quite the contrary, actually. After all, Aston Martin is James Bond's car brand of choice. So you know it's got to be refined and sensible. And it is. However, it's just as adept at being a caddish hooning machine as it is a gentleman's chariot. I think that fact is evidenced in its exterior styling.

Yes, the car has been slathered in a nondescript navy blue paint job with light gray accents that perfectly compliment the black leather interior. But it's also been given a thick ring of bright red lipstick around the front grille, which tie into the red sideview mirror caps and red rear diffuser. Mostly, it's very sensible andstylish. But then there are the bits of brightwork that remind you that it's not all caviar and tuxedos in the Vantage GT; it's got a bit of barroom fight in it, too.

Still, that's not the whole story for this car. I feel like so many sports cars at the $130,000 price point have become too obsessed with 0 to 60 mph figures and lap times. When it really comes to driving enjoyment, those things really don't matter. I can tell you that, from the seat of your pants, 0 to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds or 4.6 seconds doesn't really feel that different. However, you carry the sacrifices or design choices that were made in order for a car to accelerate that quickly every day. And let me tell you: They'll wear on you.

Thankfully, with the V8 Vantage GT Roadster, Aston Martin hasn't fallen into any of those traps. It doesn't come with the fastest transmission but a manual one because shifting yourself is more fun. It doesn't come with a big fancy tablet-like touchscreen because a moderately-sized navigation unit will get you there just the same. Alternately, it has a turbo-less V8, a soft-top and a truly bumping sound system. Just an aside, its sound system is so good that, for the first time, it made me say out loud, "No, that's too much bass" — a thing I didn't think I'd ever say.

Those things, coupled with a well-tuned suspension system, as well as some of the automotive industry's handsomest styling, make for one of the finest driving machines on the planet today. That's because all the car's elements blend so perfectly together.

It doesn't feel as clinical as a lot of modern European sports cars do. It doesn't feel like it was created by a man in a lab with only physics on his mind. Instead, the car feels like it was built by a British bloke on a country road who knew that, after he was done flogging the car, he'd need to go pick up his wife. Accordingly, he accurately identified that the Vantage GT Roadster had to harmoniously live in two worlds. And it does.

Perhaps that's what I like most about the Vantage GT Roadster: It's a great car for stylishly getting around town. What's more, it's equally adept at being a tool for letting your wild side out, on the rare occasion you decide to be a motoring barbarian and go chase a Porsche up a hill.

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