Designed to replace the 570S, the McLaren Artura had some pretty big shoes to fill.
And now there’s a new convertible version called McLaren Artura Spider.
So said shoes got bigger still.
The 570S was McLaren’s attempt at ‘spicing up’ their supercar.
When McLaren made a huge comeback unveiling the MP4-12C, which was the first new car since the McLaren F1 in the 90s (that Elon Musk famously owned), people felt it was great, but somewhat lackluster in terms of soul.
Even the name was a bit too complicated.
So much so that McLaren eventually dropped the ‘MP4’ part and just called it the 12C.
The 570S had plenty of soul instead, especially in its flagship metal flake orange color.
The Artura was unveiled to compete with the likes of Ferrari and Lamborghini both in terms of technical specs and ‘sense of occasion’, so to speak.
The first thing drivers will be happy to learn about the McLaren Artura Spider is that it is still very light.
It tips the scales at around 3,300 pounds / 1,500 kg, making it lighter than most of its rivals.
The car comes in with a folding hardtop roof that disappears into the rear deck in just 11 seconds, at speeds of up to 31 mph (50 km/h).
Speaking of speed, the Artura is powered by a 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged V6 engine, paired with an electric motor, putting out 700 horsepower in total, which is a around 130 more than the convertible 570S.
More to the point, it means the Artura is very nearly as powerful as the 750S, which in turn replaced the 720S.
It does 0 to 60 mph (0-97 km/h) in just 3 seconds, and it’ll keep on accelerating, all the way to its top speed of 305 mph – or 329 km/h.
And the best part?
Despite the fact it’s a convertible, they kept the dihedral – i.e., ‘gull-wing style’ – doors.