2025 McLaren Artura Spider

The power-folding hardtop neatly stows just behind the cockpit, and takes just 11 seconds to open or close using logical controls mounted by the dome light. You can operate the top while driving at speeds up to 31 mph — incredibly helpful when the fog ahead turns out to be rain — and the roof can be fitted with electrochromic glass, which actually tints dark enough so you won't get fried on a sunny day.

You can drive at speeds up to 81 mph in fully electric power, but it takes forever and a day to get there. The Artura's EV mode is best suited for slow-speed city driving, and besides, you only get 11 miles of fully electric range. I'll admit, it's super cool to wind along the Monaco GP course in fully silent operation, not that this suddenly puts a bright orange supercar into stealth mode. Kick the throttle while driving in Comfort mode and that V6 will fire right up. That'll drop a jaw or two.

All Arturas have new powertrain mounts and retuned suspension software, all designed to make the Spider (and coupe) stiffer and more agile. Interestingly, the Spider requires no additional body strengthening compared to the coupe — cutting off the roof is normally a nightmare for body rigidity — and in fact, the convertible only has a 136-pound weight penalty over the hardtop. That's, like, one thin friend.

The suspension's most hardcore Track mode continues to feel a little stiff for street use, especially on more pockmarked sections of cute little French towns tucked quaintly into the Alps. Staggered 19-inch front and 20-inch rear wheels are wrapped in Pirelli P Zero Corsa tires (a $1,750 option over the standard P Zeroes), which are also unfriendly to haggard surfaces. But at least the carbon-ceramic brakes are easy to modulate at lower speeds, which isn't often the case. Don't look for any regenerative braking action in this hybrid, though; the Artura does not use a brake-by-wire setup.

McLaren retuned the adaptive dampers for 2025; they're now 90% quicker to react than before. This doesn't really change the Artura's behavior — all McLarens strike a great balance of firmness and comfort on smooth roads and are shockingly amicable to dealing with rougher surfaces. Instead, the added benefit is increased steering feel, something the Artura didn't really need, if I'm honest (not that I'm complaining). McLaren employs hydraulic steering in the Artura, and its tuning doesn't change across the different drive settings since the company prefers the car to have a consistent behavior no matter the situation.

Full of weight and feedback, the Artura's steering is as close to perfect as you'll experience in a supercar. The mid-engine layout reduces weight over the front axle, making the Artura eager to turn in, while an electronic rear differential manages torque across the rear wheels. Both understeer and oversteer are virtually nonexistent, though admittedly it's tough to push too hard on the narrower, more technical sections of Alpine roads. For the sort of weekend-warrior canyon-carving convertible supercars are best suited for, I can't imagine you'll ever find fault with the Artura.

For 2025, lane departure warning is now standard, though the gotta-have-it blind-spot monitoring option is still paywalled in a $8,350 Driving Assistant package that includes adaptive cruise control, rear cross-traffic alert, and automatic high-beam headlights. At least the aptly named Practicality pack is standard on all U.S.-spec Arturas, giving you parking sensors, a rearview camera, soft-close doors, and heated door mirrors that dip when you put the transmission in reverse.

Perhaps most importantly for a convertible, though, the Artura Spider's cabin isn't blustery as all get-out when you're cruising at high speeds; it's easy to keep a conversation going with a passenger, or enjoy some tunes from the Bowers & Wilkins surround-sound stereo. McLaren's 8-inch center screen will let you run Apple CarPlay if you choose, which is a good thing since the native software is a little finicky. Too bad the screen gets totally washed out in the sunlight when the top is down. First-world convertible problems, I suppose.