Pros: astounding performance, top-level chassis, incredible appearance, surprisingly approachable
Cons: weak heater fan, inconsistent brake pedal, expensive
McLaren Artura Spider Design
Few cars can stop traffic – or, indeed, all bystanders – in a radius of about 100 metres like the McLaren Artura Spider. It looks dramatic enough when parked, thanks to the cab-forward stance which puts the passenger compartment to the front of the vehicle, resulting in a long tail when viewed in profile. Interestingly, unlike many other high-performance cars and supercars, the McLaren’s body is shorn of obvious sporty addenda like spoilers and splitters and so on. Instead, its slippery shape is focused on aerodynamics, with many of the vents at the back of the car performing key cooling and stability functions.
If it looks sensational as it is, the Artura Spider then has two party tricks up its sleeve. The first is that the word ‘Spider’ means it is an open-roofed car, so that hard-top lid ahead of the dramatically styled glass-effect buttresses can be folded away in a bit of proper kerbside theatre, to leave the cabin exposed to the elements; the McLaren can even go through this process on the move at speeds of up to 50km/h. The other showstopper is the doors: proper supercar jaw-droppers, these are dihedral, so they open upwards – giving the Artura Spider the full attention-seeking vibe when it’s standing still with both doors and its roof fully open.
McLaren Artura Spider Interior
The cabin can’t quite live up the majesty and drama of the exterior, but it’s still an incredibly special place to be. There are some exquisite bits of metal switchgear, such as for the column stalks and paddle shifts, while the seating position is super-low. Nevertheless, while it is minimalist – as this is a driver’s car, primarily, so it doesn’t need lots of distractions in the cabin – the quality of it is largely excellent, even if the McLaren Infotainment System II isn’t the most advanced tech of its kind. However, clear displays, a good degree of configurability and quick responses mean the small central touchscreen and the larger instrument cluster can be considered a hit. And so can the astounding Bowers & Wilkins sound system that is an optional extra on the Artura.
McLaren Artura Spider Performance & Drive
This is one of the very fastest cars in the world, even in an era of mega-torque electric vehicles, and the McLaren Artura Spider really feels brutally quick. You go chasing the redline in this car at your own risk, because if you rev it out to the top of its reach in the lower three gears then you’ll soon be well beyond the speed limit and climbing fast. The problem is, the McLaren sounds so good when you are spinning its engine over at 7,500rpm that you’ll want to listen to it repeatedly.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about this car is that it’s a plug-in hybrid. A mid-mounted V6 twin-turbo engine is supplemented by an electric motor and battery potent enough that the Artura can move about in zero-emissions discretion alone, for up to 33km of distance in theory. It’s quite eerie seeing a car as striking as this moving about in near-silence in electric mode.
But you’ll enjoy the car more with the V6 singing away. And in the corners, the Artura Spider is little short of heavenly. All of its brakes, its steering and its suspension are executed to perfection, so that you can lean on the car’s immense talents from kilometre one and not feel intimidated by it. Even in its more docile modes, it is still a thrill-a-minute to pilot the McLaren along at a decent speed.
The icing on the cake is that it’s perfectly usable for long distances too, as it’s not an extreme or uncomfortable car to travel in. There’s remarkable all-round visibility out of the glasshouse of the passenger pod, so placing the Artura on the road with its telekinetic steering and supple suspension is a breeze. It even achieves an astonishing level of fuel consumption on motorway runs, capable of around 9.4 litres/100km if you treat it right on longer jaunts. Comfortable and adaptable about town, quiet and refined at higher speeds, exemplary on the motorway and then an absolute riot to drive when the devilish mood takes you, there are few finer all-round vehicles on sale than the McLaren Artura Spider.
McLaren Artura Spider Pricing
Unfortunately, there are no McLaren dealers on the entire island of Ireland, so your best bet if you want one of these things is to import one from its homeland of the UK. But despite the meagre 108g/km of CO2 it officially puts out as a plug-in hybrid, don’t expect the Artura Spider to be cheap as a result – you’d be looking at about €400,000 to get one here in a similar spec to our test car.
Carzone Verdict
The McLaren Artura Spider is phenomenal to look at, edifying to sit in and of course an unmitigated delight to drive in all circumstances. That it’s also super-fast and ultra-rare only enhances the exotic and alluring aura of this amazing supercar. It’s probably in our top-five of machines we’ve ever driven in three decades on the road – and the Artura would no doubt utterly seduce anyone lucky enough to get behind its wheel in a matter of mere seconds. It’s a truly mesmerising thing.