- 3 months ago
With the roof-off 2025 McLaren Artura Spider finally touching down in Australia, Ben McKimm from Man of Many drops the top in Sydney to see whether McLaren's first High-Performance Hybrid convertible still delivers that signature supercar purity—and whether its AUD$525k-plus price tag is justified.
Ben digs into the hardware that makes the Artura Spider such an event: a 515 kW / 720 Nm 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 teamed with an axial-flux e-motor, a kerb weight of just 1,560 kg (only 62 kg heavier
Ben digs into the hardware that makes the Artura Spider such an event: a 515 kW / 720 Nm 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 teamed with an axial-flux e-motor, a kerb weight of just 1,560 kg (only 62 kg heavier
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Car enthusiasts freak out when they hear the words hybrid and supercar in the same sentence,
00:04but today I'm going to show you why that may not necessarily be the case with this McLaren Artura Spyder.
00:17But first, a little bit of history.
00:19You can trace back hybrid supercars to things like the BMW i8 concept car,
00:24but it really took off with the holy trinity.
00:26McLaren brought the P1, Porsche brought the 918, and Ferrari created the Ferrari or the LaFerrari.
00:32Strict emissions regulations were on the way and brands realized that they need to change something.
00:37They need to prove that you can make hybrid fun, and they did so by making cars faster than they
00:41ever were before.
00:42It wasn't about fuel economy and things like that.
00:45It wasn't about ruining the driving experience.
00:47It was about pure performance.
00:49I love nothing more than a screaming V12,
00:51but the sad truth is that brands just can't make these cars anymore because of the enforced regulations and they're
00:57getting worse.
00:58However, when hybrid supercars are fun to drive, that's all us enthusiasts should really care about.
01:03The electric motor fills in the torque gaps of smaller turbocharged engines,
01:06the battery range makes them better for Captain Planet, and we all win in the end.
01:11Maybe the only sad thing about the holy trinity is that besides that one Chris Harris video, no one ever
01:16drove them,
01:17and this is where it gets pretty interesting for me.
01:19You can go into a Porsche, Ferrari, or a McLaren dealership today and buy a car that, at least on
01:24paper,
01:25gives you a very similar experience to those cars from the holy trinity,
01:29and that brings me to the McLaren Artura Spider.
01:36And then there's this, the McLaren Artura, and today we've got the Artura Spider, obviously, because it has no roof.
01:43It's going to cost you a little bit more than the coupe.
01:45This one's stickers at $525,000 before you put all of the options on it and before you pay those
01:51on-road costs.
01:51So I'm going to start on the front end.
01:53I know what you're thinking.
01:54All McLarens look the same, and I'm not going to lie.
01:57The Artura Spider isn't doing much to change people's opinions,
02:00but this car has been nicely specced.
02:02You've got a carbon fibre front splitter down here.
02:04It's one of the biggest carbon fibre front splitters I've ever seen in my life, quite frankly.
02:08It goes all the way up here to all these vents here.
02:11You've got vents at the front, around the headlight, a nice daytime running strip here.
02:16Obviously, your bonnet is under here.
02:18Actually, a decent amount of space in here, and you can keep all your charging cables under here
02:22because it is a plug-in hybrid, and you can drive this thing on electricity.
02:26More on that later.
02:27Of course, we have the retractable hard top here, which can go up and down in 11 seconds.
02:33We'll go down this side of the car.
02:34I'm just going to point out all the carbon fibre on this thing because that's where a lot of the
02:38money is going.
02:39You've got carbon fibre here on the front fender, carbon fibre mirror caps, and these are not cheap pieces.
02:44Come around the back.
02:45Carbon fibre on your rear vents.
02:47This exhaust funnel.
02:48So you've got exhaust out the back of the car, dual exit, and you've got one out the top as
02:52well.
02:52They've moved this back a little bit from the coupe, which is a bit more centrally located,
02:56but you can't put it in there anymore because there's a hard top.
02:59And while we're at the back of the car, I just want to talk about how good McLarens look from
03:03the rear end.
03:03I know everyone says they look the same from the front.
03:05Look at the rear.
03:06Come down here.
03:07See that?
03:08That's the gearbox.
03:09Real carbon rear diffuser.
03:11Perfect.
03:12A McLaren dual exit exhaust and metal sort of hexagonal vents, which are quite cool from following behind
03:19because you can see all the inner workings of the car, and I just think it's cooler.
03:26So here we are inside the McLaren Arturo Spyder.
03:29I've left the roof out because you won't be able to see anything because it's an extremely hot day in
03:33Sydney.
03:33We're talking 40 degrees.
03:34So what do you get?
03:35Well, you get the classic McLaren interior.
03:37You get that steering wheel with no buttons on it because it's all about the focus of the driver.
03:42The flappy paddles in metal.
03:45And, of course, the binnacle switches up here for drive mode on the right-hand side and then suspension on
03:51the left.
03:51The view out of this cockpit is by far the best you get in any supercar.
03:56It's better than Ferrari.
03:57It's better than Lambo.
03:58It's better than you name it.
04:00Such low door seals.
04:01Such easy visibility at the front of the car.
04:04And then out the back, it's unmatched, especially in the Spyder.
04:08You even have a little switch up here to put down that rear glass so you can hear more of
04:14the engine, which I find myself doing all the time.
04:16The seats we've got in this car, pretty simple bucket seats.
04:20They're not hardcore carbon fiber units like you get as an option in Ferraris and a lot of Aston Martins
04:24now.
04:25And the driving position is pretty darn comfortable.
04:28You get that great visibility and I can raise and lower this thing.
04:31I've got my seat as low as I can possibly get it.
04:34I've got some friends that have been driving these at 6'4".
04:36That's about the maximum height you want to be, which is still better than any Lambo.
04:40Down here, we've got the touchscreen infotainment unit.
04:43It's pretty basic.
04:45I mean, it's classic McLaren in that they don't really enjoy putting big touchscreens in cars.
04:50But it does get you wide Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
04:53And you've got your Prindle, your PRND down here.
04:56But no P because it's a McLaren.
04:58Orange or Papaya, start, stop button.
05:01And besides the Bowles and Wilkins sound system that's optional in this car, that's pretty much it.
05:06And I quite like it.
05:07And I'd love to show you underneath the rear deck into the bonnet, rear bonnet, whatever you want to call
05:13it.
05:13There's an engine underneath here.
05:14It's a 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 that, with the electric motor, produces 515 kilowatts of power or 690
05:22bhp for you people in Britain.
05:24It's pretty quick, so why don't we take it for a drive?
05:39So we're on our way to some better roads.
05:41I just wanted to quickly point out that we're in some neighbourhoods.
05:43So I've switched it into electric mode with the little toggle switch up here on the instrument binnacle.
05:49And it's pretty cool.
05:50It kind of sounds like a Formula E car.
05:52I'm not sure if you can hear the whining from the electric motor.
05:55But I think that sounds pretty cool.
05:57If it's the first time you've turned the car on today, it'll cold start.
06:02So it'll keep running on electric, so I'll switch it now to Sport, which fires the engine up.
06:07And right now it's still driving like an electric car until the engine's warm enough.
06:12You can tell that it's still on electric.
06:14And now it's in.
06:16It's really smooth, the transition from electric to petrol.
06:21And it adds a whole lot more performance.
06:24There it goes, 8th gear.
06:25Quiet.
06:26No drone from the exhaust whatsoever.
06:29Wow.
06:30That's pretty impressive.
06:31You could do some big Ks in this car pretty comfortably.
06:40We're on some better roads now.
06:42And the first thing you notice every time you get into McLaren is just how good the steering is.
06:46They've kept all the hydraulic goodness that you possibly want.
06:51There's no electric racks on any McLaren.
06:54And the fact there's no buttons here, I think, just adds to that experience.
06:57No distractions.
06:58And a nice big center rev counter in front of me.
07:01Suspension in Sport mode is not too stiff, which I love.
07:05And they've also done a bit of work with the exhaust.
07:07And I think it makes a difference.
07:08It doesn't sound nearly as gravelly and mechanical.
07:12It has that nice, sweet tone.
07:14I was recently driving the 296 GTS, which would be the most logical competitor to this car.
07:19And that does sound a little bit better.
07:21I think Ferrari has really made a miniature V12 from that V6.
07:26But the changes the McLaren has made to this exhaust for the MY25 models, including this Spyder, is a lot
07:34better.
07:34It sounds a lot better.
07:35It's nice.
07:36It has a nice, crispy tone.
07:44And the gearbox, eight-speed, super responsive, does everything you could possibly ask of it.
07:50And then when you put your foot down...
07:56690 horsepower is a lot of horsepower.
07:59It is no joke.
08:00It's cool because you do get the sense that there's an electric motor giving you a little bit of extra
08:04propulsion.
08:05But it doesn't take away anything from the experience.
08:08And the steering...
08:11And the suspension just works so well together.
08:13I mean, it's just car throats.
08:17Another thing I can't get over is how well put together this car is.
08:21I know it's a bit of a thing with McLarens.
08:23Everyone goes, oh, they're screwed together with wood screws.
08:26But it's super refined in here.
08:28I've been driving this car around for a couple of days, as I said, and nothing rattles.
08:32It's so tight.
08:33It's like, I mean, a Porsche.
08:36It's probably the most well-put-together McLaren that I've driven.
08:41So how would it compare to some of its peers?
08:43Well, the 296 GTS is the most logical competitor.
08:46And I think it's a bit unfair to compare this car to that one because it's over $100,000 more
08:53expensive.
08:54It does have over 100 more horsepower.
08:58But it is a lot faster.
08:59I mean, this car simply wouldn't be able to keep up with it in a straight line.
09:03That Ferrari is just absolutely off its head.
09:06And it does sound a little bit better.
09:08But for what you're getting with this McLaren, the steering in this car and the daily drivability is definitely up
09:15there with that Ferrari.
09:22But as a standalone product, I am very, very in love with this car.
09:30It's so well-put-together.
09:31And the duality that it gives you, the steering, the amount of feedback it gives, all the things you touch
09:37and feel are just actually high-quality bits.
09:40Like, you've got metal paddle shifters that just feel good every single time you pull them because they're cool and
09:44they make a nice click sound.
09:46I think this dispels the myth, at least to me, that hybrid supercars are boring.
09:51I mean, they haven't driven one of these.
09:53If anything, they're too fast.
09:55For a road like this, which is one of the better ones in Sydney, a car like this is too
10:00fast.
10:00You really need to take it to the track.
10:03This car's still ridiculously fast.
10:04It sounds good.
10:05They've done all these fixes to the exhaust.
10:08The suspension is comfortable in sport mode.
10:10You put it into track mode, it stiffens up even more.
10:12The fact you can drive on electric mode from your house to not annoy your neighbours and then cruise it
10:17up the freeway in comfort and silence.
10:21And then when you get to a fun piece of road, hit the switch, stick in a sport mode.
10:25And you've got 690 horsepower, some of the best steering, if not the best steering in the game.
10:31A super responsive gearbox.
10:33Comfort.
10:34So much fun.
10:35Would this car be better if it had like a flat plane cranked V8?
10:39I don't think it'd be better.
10:40It'd be a completely different thing.
10:42But for what this is, it's pretty damn fun.
10:46So that's it for the McLaren Arturo Spyder.
10:49Hopefully I've done a little bit to convince you that hybrid supercars aren't as scary and boring as you might
10:55assume.
10:55This is one of the most fun cars money can buy right now.
11:00And I don't think the hybrid E thing should scare you.
11:02You get all the benefits of the electric car.
11:04You can cruise out of your driveway without annoying your neighbours.
11:07You get that instant throttle response.
11:09And then when you want it, you can just unleash all hell with a 3.0 litre twin-turbo V6
11:14that definitely sounds a little bit improved over the previous generation car.
11:18You guys let me know what you think of the McLaren Arturo Spyder down in the comments.
11:23And don't forget to hit that subscribe button and even turn on the bell because all these things help push
11:27this video to more people.
11:29This has been another episode of The Rev-Up.
11:30Come back to see what we're driving next week.