- The 2025 McLaren Artura Spider arrives with a retractable roof and alongside various updates to the lineup.
- The hybrid V-6 powertrain now produces 690 horsepower—a 19-hp increase versus the previous version.
- Deliveries of the 2025 Artura coupe and Spider will begin midway through this year.
Although the McLaren Artura was unveiled back in 2021, sales in the United States only kicked off last year after delays due to quality-control issues. Despite the setback, McLaren today revealed a host of improvements as well as the 2025 Artura Spider, which arrives with a retractable hardtop, a power increase, and a revised suspension. These same upgrades—sans the removable roof—also benefit the 2025 Artura coupe.
Beefed-Up Performance
The Spider is McLaren’s first hybrid convertible and packs an upgraded version of the 120-degree 3.0-liter V-6 engine mated to an electric motor that first arrived in the coupe last year. The system now pumps out 690 horsepower to the rear wheels, an increase of 19 ponies over the 2024 model. Its peak torque is unchanged at 531 pound-feet, but McLaren says revised engine mapping has improved torque delivery. The axial-flux electric motor’s 94-hp output is also the same, with all of the added oomph coming via the internal-combustion engine.
The hybrid setup is still hooked up to eight-speed dual-clutch transaxle, which incorporates the e-motor. The gearbox has been bolstered for 2025 with a new “pre-fill” feature that’s claimed to shorten shift speeds by 25 percent, achieved by pressurizing the hydraulic fluid in the gearbox to the ideal threshold so the gearbox is immediately ready to shift when asked. An electronically controlled differential within the transmission apportions power between the rear wheels.
McLaren claims the Artura Spider will rip to 60 mph in 3.0 seconds, with 124 mph arriving in just 8.4 ticks. Top speed is an electronically limited 205 mph. Along with launch control, the Artura gains a new feature for 2025 called “Spinning Wheel Pull-Away.” The system requires turning off stability control and allows for rowdy wheelspin when mashing the throttle from a stop, perfect for showing off while exiting the Pebble Beach car show.
McLaren promises improved handling characteristics thanks to new mounts that are supposed to better control the powertrain within the chassis and subsequently improve stability, steering feel, and overall handling. McLaren also revised the damper valving for quicker responsiveness by up to 90 percent. Three handling modes—Comfort, Sport, and Track—remain available, with drivers also able to adjust the amount of stability control intervention.
More Hardware Upgrades
For 2025, the Artura is also fitted with carbon-ceramic brake rotors paired with lightweight aluminum calipers and revised cooling ducts. Along with a recalibrated ABS system, McLaren claims the Artura can now haul itself to a stop from 62 mph in 102 feet. When we tested a 2023 Artura coupe, it needed 141 feet to stop from 70 mph and 279 feet to stop from 100 mph. We’ll have to wait and see if the new stoppers provide improvements once we have the chance to test a 2025 model ourselves.
Along with better performance, McLaren says the engine note has been enriched thanks to a new valved exhaust system that includes a tuned resonator. Now paired with an upward conical shape for the tailpipes, McLaren boasts about a “cleaner” sound at the middle and higher parts of the rev range. An optional sports exhaust system uses a symposer to route “authentic sound waves” into the cabin.
On the more practical side, the lithium-ion battery pack, which still has a usable capacity of 7.4 kWh, has been made slightly more efficient. McLaren says it has managed to eke out a few more miles of range, promising up to 21 miles of electric-only driving, although the company confirmed that the EPA-rated range remains 11 miles. The 2025 Artura also wears a newly standard 15-spoke silver wheel design, while a new gold-colored finish is available on other wheel offerings.
A Tweaked Design
The Spider looks mostly identical to the coupe, save for the electrically operated hardtop that retracts in just 11 seconds thanks to eight electric motors. The standard hardtop is a carbon-fiber composite panel, but McLaren also offers electrochroamatic glass that can turn from opaque—where it blocks a claimed 99 percent of sunlight—to transparent at the touch of a button. The roof can be opened and closed from the outside of the vehicle when stationary via the key.
The droptop required new buttresses, which include a glazed polycarbonate portion that helps with rear visibility and directs air into the engine bay. There is also a heated rear screen that raises and lowers via a button to either improve comfort with the top down or boost aural pleasure from the V-6 with the roof up. The retractable roof and tonneau cover also required McLaren to shift the powertrain cooling vents further rearwards, with these intakes housing both cooling apertures for the powertrain and roof storage as well as an outlet for hot air.
Despite the extra equipment required for the foldaway roof, McLaren says the Spider weighs just 136 pounds more than the coupe, with a claimed dry curb weight of 3212 pounds. The automaker says the McLaren Carbon Lightweight Architecture—which centers around a carbon-fiber monocoque—means that the Spider is no less rigid than its coupe counterpart.
More Details on the New Artura
The Spider’s cabin is the same as that in the existing coupe model, with a simple steering wheel devoid of buttons sitting ahead of a small display that shows necessary driving information. McLaren says most regions will receive the bolstered Clubsport bucket seats as standard, but electrically adjustable, heated comfort seats with a memory function will be available at no additional cost.
The Artura also gains optional wireless charging, and all variants now come with lane-departure warning and road-sign recognition. Adaptive cruise control, blindspot monitoring, and rear cross-traffic detection are also available. New carbon-fiber trim add-ons are available as well as a quicker vehicle front-end lift.
Order books for the 2025 McLaren Artura Spider and coupe models are now open, with deliveries planned for the middle of this year. The 2025 Artura Spider will start at $281,008, and the 2025 Artura coupe now comes in at $256,308. Owners of 2023 and 2024 models will be able to receive the upgraded engine performance for free by visiting their nearest McLaren dealer.
Caleb Miller began blogging about cars at 13 years old, and he realized his dream of writing for a car magazine after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University and joining the Car and Driver team. He loves quirky and obscure autos, aiming to one day own something bizarre like a Nissan S-Cargo, and is an avid motorsports fan.