What’s it like to drive?
The Artura Spider instantly feels like a more focused affair than many of its rivals. Pushing off under electric-only power, it’s sharp and taught underneath though it does remarkably well to shrug off the worst of the potholes and road imperfections. Increase the pace and the Artura Spider remains impressively flat and level, darting through corners with increasing hunger.The V6 engine may not sound all that impressive – though better than the original Artura – but you can’t fault its effectiveness. Combined with the electric motor, this is one rapid drop-top. It’s actually the more everyday driving situations where the McLaren particularly impresses, mind you. During a slog through some rush hour French traffic, it felt as easy to manage as a conventional hatchback with an easy-to-judge throttle and a gearbox which shifts intelligently ensuring that this is one supercar that you could use every day.There’s a real lack of buffetting at speed with the roof down, too, and while this is taken away when the roof is in place, there is quite a lot of road noise to deal with – particularly at motorway speeds.
How does it look?
McLaren models have always had quite a similar approach styling-wise and there’s some of that carried through on the Artura Spider. It’s still very much recognisable as one of the Woking brand’s cars, that’s for sure, but it does what you want a supercar to do when it comes to looks – make an impact and turn heads. However, the details in the roof area are what make this car stand out.The buttresses are a particular stand-out touch as they’re incorporated into the roll-over structure but also incorporate a glazed section which makes it a little easier to look out of the back.When the roof is folded away, it’s all very neat and tidy while when it’s back in place the Spider is hard to pick out against the ‘standard’ Artura.
What’s it like inside?
It’s all very stripped-back inside the cabin of the Artuta.The materials are good, mind you, and while it’ll come as no surprise that this isn’t the most practical of cars, the two occupants do get a decent area to stretch out in while headroom isn’t bad when the roof is in place – and near-infinite when it’s folded away. In terms of practicality, the Artura Spider does better than you might think for this type of car.The 160-litre boot in the nose of the car might be smaller than the boot you’d get in a Hyundai i10 city car, but it’s deep, square and ideal for two soft weekend bags or some coats and jackets.A week’s worth of clothing for two people might be a bit of a stretch, mind you.
What’s the spec like?
Prices for the Artura Spider start from £221,000, making it considerably more expensive than something like a Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet. But McLaren has certainly pushed harder to increase the level of on-board tech inside its cars and that’s evident in the Artura Spider.The main forward instrument cluster – which is framed by easy-to-use rocker controls for the various driver modes – is clear to use and can be configured to show different readouts.We’re still fond of McLaren’s approach to leave the steering wheel completely free of any buttons and while that does mean some controls aren’t quite as easy to hand as in other cars, it does make for a purer-feeling driving experience.
56 | mccarthyholden.co.uk
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