McLaren Artura Spider 2024 Review – International

At $525,010 plus on-road costs, the starting price of the 2024 McLaren Artura Spider is well above the realms of what most of us will ever spend on a car.

But we’re in rarefied air here – proper junior supercar territory – and there’s probably some out there that would suggest this plug-in hybrid twin-turbo mid-engined convertible sports car is good buying.

When the closest Ferrari, the 296 GTS (from $668,146) is fully $140K more before spec adjustment, and Maserati’s MC20 (from $555,000 in Cielo drop-top guise) is outclassed by the McLaren in terms of overall performance, perhaps they’re on to something.

Coming at it a different way, the Spider has a $48K premium over its closed-roof stablemate (from $477,310) – half the increment Ferrari charges. In the McLaren, those extra dollars buy you an open-air experience but also a vehicle that is usefully different from its coupe kin thanks to styling changes that accompany the haircut.

Twin glazed buttresses incorporate the Spider’s rollover structure and frame a retractable rear screen. And a new engine cover pushes engine cooling vents rearwards to accommodate the hard-top. It’s an altogether more muscular presentation than the coupe.

For the record, McLaren claims the Artura Spider is the lightest convertible supercar in its class – lighter too than some comparable coupes. And that in itself hints at another ace in the hole – there’s little if any performance sacrificed in transition from coupe to Spider.

The arrival of the 2024 Artura Spider (officially it’s an MY25 model) will also herald detailed changes to the coupe – not the least of which are the same power, brakes and chassis and suspension improvements.

Existing McLaren Artura owners can access the extra horsepower the update has delivered FOC. Not often you get something for nothing in the world of supercars.

When you spend half a million dollars on a car, personalisation looms large – and therefore options offered are fulsome. That’s not to say the 2024 McLaren Artura Spider isn’t well equipped from the off.

The MY25 McLaren Artura coupe and Spider share specification and performance upgrades, so while we didn’t drive the coupe, consider this a launch review of both.

At the entry end of the McLaren line-up, the Artura doesn’t want for much. Carbon-ceramic brakes, full LED lighting and high-end Bowers & Wilkins audio are all standard or included in “zero cost” option packs (see more below).

For the 2025 model year, there have been some tweaks to the driver safety suite but most of the changes are under the skin targeting performance and driver engagement rather than pumping up the spec sheet.

As originally introduced, the Australian-delivered Artura coupe and Spider get a choice of interior styling packs at zero cost – Performance, Techlux and Vision.

The Practicality pack is a zero-cost option, which everyone will tick. This pack now comprises rear camera, front and rear parking sensors, soft-close doors and power-fold mirrors. Previously it also included a front lift system, which is now a $5300 option.

Australian Arturas also get a Technology Pack as standard. This delivers the above-mentioned Bowers & Wilkins stereo and LED lamps, wireless smartphone charging (in a secure slot that’s racetrack capable) and a 360-degree camera.

A Driving Assistance Pack that includes adaptive cruise control and auto high beam is an $11,300 option. It should be standard.

Of course, the key difference is the Retractable Hard Top (RTH). This can be carbon composite only or configured with an electrochromic glass insert which McLaren says “can either brighten the cabin – or block more than 99 per cent of sunlight … at the touch of a button” – and a hefty option tick.

Powered by no less than eight electric motors, the roof can be operated at up to 50km/h and opens/closes in 11sec. Attention to detail means the chop adds only 62kg to the Spider’s kerb weight.

There are, of course, plenty of other options from which buyers can (and do) choose – carbon dress-up items inside and out, alternative wheel designs (all 19-inch front and 20-inch rear) and so on.

And speaking of options, for the McLarenista who has (almost) everything, you can even specify titanium wheel nuts at a saving of 100kg per corner. Cost? Don’t ask…

The Artura is covered by a five-year/unlimited-kilometre vehicle warranty, six-year (or 75,000km) battery warranty and 10-year body warranty for corrosion protection.

Services are due every 12 months or 15,000km, with the first three years’ servicing included in the purchase price.

High-end sports and supercars like the 2024 McLaren Artura Spider are not independently crash tested by bodies like ANCAP, or even Euro NCAP.

Just once, I’d like to see it happen – until then, we need to assume their makers know what they’re doing when they design and build the complex structures which underpin these 300km/h-plus machines.

The specification and construction of the McLaren Carbon Lightweight Architecture (MCLA) at the heart of the Artura reads more like something from an F1 team than a production car plant. In addition to the carbon-fibre monocoque, MCLA incorporates aluminium front and rear impact structures. TLDR: I figure McLaren has you covered.

There are four airbags, and legislation governing driver aids in the European market means that even low-volume car-makers like McLaren are upping their ADAS game. The Spider thus comes equipped with autonomous emergency braking (AEB) – although sans cyclist or pedestrian detection. Speed limit detection and lane departure warning is also standard.

As noted above, various option packs can add more.

McLaren says its buyers are not asking for many of the safety items buyers of ‘normal’ cars get for free. It speaks volumes for their wants when in a cockpit with minimal hard-button controls there’s one to turn off lane departure warning. And, yes, it stays off on restart.

At the core of the 2024 McLaren Artura Spider’s tech suite is the McLaren Infotainment System II which has a 10-inch landscape driver display and 8.0-inch portrait centre display.

Apple CarPlay is available via cable but there’s native sat-nav and DAB+ radio, etc.

HVAC (heating, ventilation, air-conditioning) and most other controls are via the system. It works well, but the screen itself is small and out of the natural sightline of the driver. A dial on the side doubles as a home button as well as a volume knob.

There are no buttons at all on the steering wheel which is perfectly sized – both in diameter and thickness/profile. It’s a pleasure to have an unencumbered wheel.

Multifunction stalks (beautifully sculptured) carry out most of the housekeeping functions. Then, able to be operated by fingertip with your hands on the wheel, are rocker controls for chassis modes (left) and powertrain (right) on either side of the driver display binnacle. ESC and manual/auto gearbox buttons are also incorporated.

The whole screen and control complex moves with the electrically-adjusted wheel. It’s way more complex to explain than use. Right now, I reckon it’s best on ground – intuitive, instant and without any need to explore menus or take your eye off the road. A fingertip flip from electric, to comfort, to sport, to track chassis mode; and so on.

It also means that the centre console can be just as pared back – just start, D, N and R buttons. There is no Park lock-out in the McLaren’s transmission – that’s done by an electronic park brake with auto functions.

The plug-in hybrid 2024 McLaren Artura Spider features a mild refinement of the 2993cc twin-turbo V6 introduced in its hard-top counterpart in 2022.

McLaren says the changes are enough to ensure the Spider has a class-leading power-to-weight ratio of over 480ps/tonne. The coupe is 500-plus.

The 120-degree V6 is matched to an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission which also houses the plug-in hybrid powertrain’s e-motor. The e-motor is worth a shout – the diameter of a dinner plate, it weighs around 17kg but delivers 70kW and 225Nm. All up, the whole hybrid system is less than 90kg.

Power is up modestly (15kW) from the 2023 model thanks to boost and other tweaks with the engine now rated at 445kW. Torque is unchanged at 585Nm.

Thanks to the 70kW/225Nm e-motor, the Artura’s full output is 515kW and 720Nm. Yes, we know, the torque numbers don’t add up. That’s a function of where the torque outputs are overlayed on each other.

McLaren has also tuned the power delivery to pull harder in the higher revs – the V6 is very happy to bang into its 8500rpm redline and sounds wonderful doing just that. Part of the credit goes to a new exhaust system.

If you want even more ‘engagement’ there’s a sport exhaust system which includes “an exhaust symposer that channels authentic sound waves from the tailpipe into the cabin”. Don’t fret, it’s not a BMW-style speaker – it’s using real exhaust pulses via a resonator.

Other key changes for the MY25 Spider (and coupe) include new, stronger engine mounts. McLaren says these better control powertrain movement which in turn “improves stability, steering feel and overall vehicle agility, delivering a more precise – and more involving – drive”. The car-maker also suggests that drivers will therefore be more “aware” of the powertrain, adding “greater theatre and emotion throughout”.

All of the above systems work as advertised. Our test car at the Cote d’Azur launch of the MY25 Spider was a cracker!

The Spider matches the coupe for top speed (330km/h) and 0-100km/h (3.0sec), and at 8.4sec is one-tenth slower from 0-200km/h. Electric-only top speed is 130km/h, but no acceleration times are given.

Charging to 80 per cent will take around 2.5 hours on a normal household plug.

A Launch Control system for optimised performance on track is standard on the Artura, as is McLaren’s tuneable drift function. Can’t say either work as our test drive was road only.

There’s now a ‘Spinning Wheel Pull-Away’ feature. That’s right – a burnout function. God bless you, McLaren.

As a plug-in hybrid, the fuel economy figures of the 2024 McLaren Artura Spider are a little more complicated than meet the eye. The official WLTP figure is 4.8L/100km but you’ll be hard-pressed to ever achieve that.

Mind you, if that’s all you’re buying an Artura for, you’re probably more than a little off beam.

Also likely impossible to achieve will be the 33km EV range (up from the previous 31km). EV here is more about access to zero-emission zones in fashionable European city centres.

That said, there are benefits of hybrid drivetrains in both normal and performance driving. Resist the temptation to use the undoubted torque-filling performance benefits of the petrol-electric powertrain and the Spider is surprisingly efficient.

Our one-day 250km launch drive delivered economy numbers ranging from 13-16L/100km across the ANZAC contingent. That’s solid.

Unlike some hybrid systems, the McLaren does not incorporate regenerative braking. Instead, the battery is recharged on the move by drag torque via the gearbox on deceleration and also under acceleration or at static throttle (but only when full e-motor torque is not required).

That means the vehicle’s carbon-ceramic brakes are friction only, hence the pedal remains firm, secure and unadulterated by electronic balancing of regen. In such a car, the system makes sense.

Cut the roof off most coupes and the resulting cabrio loses structural integrity that requires heavy (and often ineffectual) chassis add-ons to remedy. The 2024 McLaren Artura Spider sidesteps that issue, thanks to a carbon monocoque that the maker says loses no rigidity when the fixed roof is removed.

In fact, the Spider’s extra 62kg is essentially due to the electrically-operated retractable roof, yet at 1560kg (DIN) the car is still usefully lighter than its direct competitors – some even in coupe form.

Ten-tenths on the track may be a different story but drive the Spider on the road and it’s impossible to detect the extra mass or the inevitable (however slight) change in the centre of gravity. This is still a stonkingly fast and accomplished sports car.

Every time you start the Artura Spider you’re presented with pure EV mode. Silence rather than a potent twin-turbo V6.

Flip the toggle to Comfort and the car stays in EV until it needs more go. Mash the throttle and the engine fires almost instantly to life.

From time to time there can be a slight hesitation before the Spider generates full acceleration, but that’s not a criticism of the delivery when in Sport mode…

Here, the Artura is properly fast and immensely torquey to boot. Overtaking is almost superbike-like, thanks to the e-motor’s torque fill and the engine’s willingness to rev – turbo thrills without the lag. Addictive.

Gearshifts are seamless in Comfort mode and super-fast whether you use the paddles or leave it to the auto to look after itself. Select Sport and there’s a degree of coarseness programmed in to make the shift seem more aggressive. McLaren engineers, ever pure-performance obsessed, go back to the seamless shift for Track mode.

But the Artura is not a one-trick straight-line pony. McLaren has revised the adaptive damping which via increased processing power – thanks to the car’s CANBUS-style electrical system (McLaren calls it ethernet architecture) – is faster to respond to data inputs (2X) and hence reaction to driver input, road surface changes and the like.

Three chassis modes, Comfort, Sport and Track, should cover all eventualities. On a wide range of roads including some properly potholed narrow mountain roads north of Grasse, Comfort was the choice – and the Spider didn’t put a wheel wrong. Even Sport was not overly sharp.

Ride is a highlight, as is the incredible body control the Artura delivers.

I spent 95 per cent of the drive with the roof open – even when it started to rain briefly. The only creak or rattle was from what sounded like an exhaust heat shield. I’m yet to hear back from McLaren on exactly what it was…

On the move, the (very) light rain didn’t dampen proceedings – there’s clearly some clever aero at work in the Artura Spider. It’s unflustered at 60-100km/h and even at speeds well above the local “I’m a hoon, impound my supercar” level, as long as the windows were up, the cockpit remained calm.

Rather than weighty active aero aids, McLaren employs a clever gurney-style tweak to the hot-formed aluminium top windscreen rail to calm the air. The same process used to form this profile sculptures most of the Artura alloy body panels. McLaren says this translates to large, lighter panels, more consistent panel gaps and stronger construction.

Steering response was pure and faultless – I’m hard pressed to think of a chassis or drivetrain trait that I didn’t like…

Exactly how the 2024 McLaren Artura Spider cabin presents itself to you as you open the dihedral doors, up and away, will depend on your choice of interior themes.

Tick the Performance theme option and the result is a somewhat monochromatic, uncluttered two-seat-only cabin.

But calling it plain is unfair – the surfaces are beautifully sculptured with a mix of textures and finishes – Alcantara on the dashtop and a mix of soft materials and carbon-fibre in other places. Although it’s expensive, the optional carbon-fibre interior pack which includes steering wheel and gearshift paddles makes it even better.

The combination of uncluttered steering wheel, driver-focused binnacle and centre tablet-style screen – still unashamedly orientated towards the pilot – ensures the Spider means business.

So too the standard Clubsport hard-shell sport seats. Fore and aft adjustment is manual and rake adjustment tilts the whole seat (they’re one-piece), but it works, thanks in part to a decent amount of steering wheel adjustment. Multi-adjust heated Comfort seats are an option.

The footwells are tight but storage is okay for a two-seater – decent door bins and a lidded centre console. There’s even a single cup holder.

There’s zero storage behind the seats and no rear boot. The frunk is far from an excuse for a Bunnings run but at 160 litres there’s room for two overnight bags and your recharge cable… But pack light, nonetheless.

The big difference between the Artura and most other mid-engine supercars is McLaren’s commitment to good visibility. Unlike most ‘supercars’, the Artura never feels intimidating to a driver. Why? You can see out of it – forward, rearward and over the shoulder, where the glazed sections of the buttresses really work on angled intersections.

I’m tempted to use a fighter aircraft analogy here.

To date, I reckon McLaren has not got enough kudos for what it’s delivered in the Artura coupe and Spider. Here is a supercar that packs plug-in hybrid technology and a useful level of electrification with essentially no performance deficit – fiscal or dynamic.

As a high-performance road car, both variants take some beating… In the Spider, the fact that you can drop the roof and add an open-air component is the icing on the cake.

I’ll never be able to buy a supercar, but if you’re in that position, you owe it to yourself to include the McLaren Artura Spider on your shortlist. Your very short list…

2024 McLaren Artura Spider at a glance:
Price: $525,010 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Third quarter 2024
Powertrain: 3.0-litre V6 twin-turbo petrol-electric
Output: 445kW/585Nm (electric motor: 70kW/225Nm)
Combined output: 515kW/720Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch automatic
Battery: 7.4kWh lithium-ion
Range: 33km (WLTP)
Fuel: 4.8L/100km (WLTP)
CO2: 104g/km (WLTP)
Safety rating: Not tested