2025 McLaren Artura Spider: The Harmonious Hybrid Supercar

McLaren is on a roll. On the racing side, its Formula 1 car won the World Constructors’ Championship this past season, for the first time since 1998. While the racing team and the road car division are two separate entities, there’s still some technology sharing and plenty of brand building between the two.

One of the latest road-going models to emerge from the manufacturer, the Artura Spider, provides further evidence that McLaren is going great guns these days. Although it’s not the fastest McLaren in the current fleet—not even close, really—it’s still a verifiable supercar.

Based on the Artura coupe that debuted two years ago, this convertible benefits from all sorts of incremental improvements that were introduced since. In the press materials, a single line of copy encapsulates these revisions: “Significant upgrades over original Artura, including more power, more performance, and even greater driver engagement.”

Looking at the numbers, the McLaren Artura Spider is a hybrid supercar that features a 3.0-litre twin-turbocharged V-6 engine linked to an electric motor. The combination generates 690 brake horsepower, an increase of 19 markers over the original Artura powertrain.

While torque remains unchanged from the first Artura, the powertrain has been recalibrated to create more acceleration from lower engine speeds with significant punch available from just 4,000 r.p.m., up to the car’s 8,500-r.p.m. redline. The transmission has been altered as well. It’s an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic seamless-shift gearbox that makes switches 25 per cent quicker than before. Top speed is an ungodly 330 kilometres per hour.

Lastly, there’s a new feature on the Artura Spider called Spinning Wheel Pull-Away, which is a more dramatic take on the run-of-the-mill launch control. This feature allows for just the correct amount of wheelspin on take-off without sacrificing acceleration times too much.

On the topic of acceleration, the convertible can sprint to 100 kilometres per hour from a standing start in just three seconds flat. This is only a shade slower than the coupe version, according to McLaren, because the convertible top and folding mechanism add just 62 kilograms in weight. The Artura Spider is reportedly the lightest convertible supercar in its class. The retractable hardtop takes 11 seconds to open or close at speeds up to 50 kilometres per hour, making it one of the quickest mechanisms in the business.

For what was a glorious drive experience, our select group began at the Maybourne Riviera hotel in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, high in the hills overlooking Monaco. We set out to the north and west, taking in many of the great and sinuous driving roads that characterize this special corner of the planet. Eventually, we wound up on the Route Napoléon, a legendary stretch of road that reconnects you with the coastline, but closer to Cannes. When the sun is shining, as it was on this day, it’s a near-perfect setting for a convertible supercar.

The lightning-quick response from the hybrid powertrain was matched by the impressive capabilities of the braking system, which features carbon ceramic discs on all four corners, six-piston monobloc calipers at the front, and four-piston calipers at the back. Redesigned cooling ducts have brought even more stopping power into sharp focus. (With such a lofty top speed, it’s comforting to know the brakes are up to the challenge.)

The driving dynamics of the Artura line were also addressed for this year’s models. The revisions include new suspension hardware and software, and an active response system that reacts to changes in the road surface up to 90 per cent faster than before.

All of these engineering decisions—the powertrain, the gearbox, the brakes, the suspension system—have resulted in a hybrid supercar that is among the very best in the world. In driving south toward the Mediterranean coast, the blend of superb vistas and superior performance made for an epic experience.

The 2025 McLaren Artura Spider is a great car, full stop, and one of those rare models capable of making memories to last a lifetime.

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