McLaren Artura Spider review: The £220,000 hybrid supercar you’d want to drive every day
“McLarens have garnered a reputation among enthusiasts and owners for their driving purity and the famed British marque’s Artura continues that theme”
What is it? How fast does it go? How much does it cost? Can I take a look inside? Can you give it some revs?
Rock up anywhere in McLaren’s Artura Spider hybrid supercar and you will very quickly encounter some or all of those questions and requests. Hardly surprising, really, given the way this £220,000-plus automotive masterpiece looks.
If those distinctive slender headlamps, deep front splitter and multitude of cooling vents and air intakes fail to grab the attention of sufficient numbers of onlookers, just lift one of its two signature dihedral doors and the conversation is sure to flow. Flick a button to drop its retractable hard top - achievable in a mere 11 seconds at speeds of up to 30mph - and you will find your refuelling pitstop or shopping trip taking a little longer than normal.
Supercars tend to have that effect on people, particularly when they muscle in on the mundane machinery parked in your local Tesco car park.
In addition to the visual drama, sporty motors ought to offer up a decent soundtrack. Naturally, the Artura Spider makes all the right noises. In sport or track driving modes, its 120-degree twin turbocharged V6 engine delivers a rich bassy tone which develops a more hard-edged bark when pushed towards its 8,500-rpm redline, via a nicely tuned sports exhaust.
Want to pump things up to 11? Simply drop that top and lower the glass panel separating driver from engine.
Then there’s this plug-in hybrid supercar’s party piece - something that’s more closely associated with Teslas and the growing numbers of EVs on Britain’s roads. Silent running.
Pulling away or cruising around in electric mode is certain to generate much head scratching and double takes. In truth, the modest electric motor - producing 95 of the car’s overall 700 horses, with a decent slug of torque - is there more to aid performance by eliminating any turbo lag than provide an alternative means of propulsion or significantly boost economy. But the hybrid technology works just fine, and with a fully charged battery it’s possible to travel a little over 20 miles on electrons alone. It can be plugged in but the charging rate is less than rapid by EV standards.
In the week or so that I was lucky enough to hoon around Scotland in the thing, I connected it to a public charge point only once. Essentially to see if it works. And it does, just fine, though you might want to have a book handy or grab a coffee or two while you wait.
The rest of the time, popping it into track mode, grabbing a paddle and driving in, shall we just say, a spirited fashion, had it self charging from the petrol engine pretty rapidly.
I doubt I was approaching even seven-tenths of this car's considerable capabilities on the road but there is a lot of fun to be had at legal speeds. From a standing start, 60mph can be achieved in three seconds flat. Given a suitable autobahn or empty runway, you will hit 124mph (200kph) less than five-and-a-half seconds later, before reaching an electronically limited top speed of 205mph.
Since the launch of the legendary and these days eye-wateringly expensive F1 model more than 30 years ago, McLarens have garnered a reputation among enthusiasts and owners for their driving purity and the famed British marque’s Artura continues that theme. Everything on this car is engineered for a reason. The lack of mass - it’s the lightest car in its class with a dry weight of just 1,457kg, even with that fancy folding roof mechanism and its eight e-motors - shows.
The button count is minimal, the driver’s display is devoid of garish graphics and there are not a million driving mode combinations to choose from. Two simple rocker controls either side of the instrument binnacle allow drivetrain/damper and mode selections. A single button push locks the eight-speed dual clutch transmission in manual mode, providing an excuse to flick up and down using the gloriously tactile metal shift paddles.
Being a McLaren, you won’t find a single button, twisty thing or slider on the steering wheel - nor does it require ape-like hands to grasp the helm. Weighting is nigh on perfect with a little more heft added in the sportier settings. The electro-hydraulic set-up provides oodles of feedback, allowing a keen driver to connect with the road surface in a way that is totally lacking with the vast majority of today’s fully-electric power steering systems. It’s truly confidence inspiring stuff and encourages you to attack every corner with vigour.
In terms of creature comforts, the Artura is not found wanting. There’s the bits you’d expect in any half decent motor these days - dual-zone climate control, a reversing camera and sensors, keyless entry, cruise control and a Bluetooth-enabled sound system, in this case courtesy of British hi-fi buffs Bowers & Wilkins. Plus a couple of additions essential to any supercar owner - a nose lift button for clearing the worst of the speed humps and so-called speed cushions littering too many of our roads these days, plus a comfort access function that makes it easier to settle into the driver’s seat before grabbing a lever to restore your programmed seat and wheel positions.
Also, full marks to McLaren for making the now compulsory and frequently useless, and intrusive, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) easy to disable.
Storage space could become an issue two up on a longer road trip. Realistically, the front boot area - or frunk - where the engine resides in most cars, is limited to a couple of larger squashable holdalls and a jacket or two, plus charging cable and tool pack. On a negative note, I did encounter a couple of glitches with the portrait-format centre console display, which went completely blank on one occasion and, oddly, lost the DAB radio function on another. Both gremlins were cured by holding the side button and performing a hard reset. I’m guessing a full software update might rectify the issue longer term. Otherwise, the touchscreen is a breeze to operate - quick to respond and easy to interpret.
I doubt anybody with pockets deep enough to afford a £200k-plus supercar and its associated running costs will be using one as a daily. More likely it will sit garaged for much of the time, wheeled out for the occasional weekend blast while something more mundane, and a little more spacious, assumes shopping and school run duties.
But it is perfectly viable to use the Artura Spider every day, such is its range of abilities. Leave everything in comfort and you could potter around town with those twin exhaust pipes remaining silent for much of the time. The eco-mentalists will be rushing to hug you.
The seats are highly supportive and comfortable, even after a lengthy stint behind the wheel. Never once on my criss-crossing swathes of Scotland’s patchy road network did my ageing back protest. Left in automatic and comfort mode, the gearbox quietly does its thing. No high-revving, look-at-me drama.
Want to go on the attack? Crave some attention? Just dial it up to DEFCON 1. If you do, prepare to be snapped and quizzed wherever you go.
The facts:
Model: McLaren Artura Spider hybrid
Price: Base price of £221,500
Power: 700ps (690bhp)
Torque: 720Nm
Drivetrain: Rear-wheel drive from twin turbocharged V6 engine and e-motor
0-62mph: 3 seconds
Top speed: 205mph
More information:
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