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Photo: McLaren
Picture this: It’s summertime in Monaco, and your one job is to test-drive McLaren’s Artura Spider ahead of the entire world. Of course, you’re going to do it with the top down.
The hard-top of this convertible version of the Artura coupe, McLaren’s first hybrid introduced in 2022, retracts and tucks itself away in 11 seconds, and I drive off from the Maybourne Riviera, a stunning modernist hotel perched on a cliff and a gateway to the most soul-stirring ocean views you’ll find on the French Riviera.
One of the first things you notice when those signature butterfly doors swing up and you slide into those firm as Kim K’s rear bucket seats is that McLaren has re-coloured its Start/Stop button from red to orange for the first time in history — a prescient move, perhaps, given the McLaren Formula One team’s sudden about-turn in performance in the current F1 season fielded by drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who are the main contenders of the moment dismantling Red Bull’s (i.e. Max Verstappen’s) years of dominance on the grid and challenging Red Bull for the 2024 constructor’s championship.
Sporty, suede-clothed bucket seats for those quintessential racing feels. (Photo: McLaren)
“Papaya” orange is what McLaren F1 fans affectionately refer to the team’s colours. The bodywork of the Artura Spider I’m in is the same shade of “papaya” as I hurtle towards the infamous Route Napoléon, so named after the journey taken by Napoléon Bonaparte in 1815 on his “Hundred Days” march from Elba to Grenoble on his mission to overthrow King Louis XVIII.
The pared-down, driver-focused cockpit of the Artura Spider, which, for the first time in McLaren history, features a Start/Stop button in “papaya” orange instead of red. (Photo: McLaren)
The 325km route, considered one of the most epic drives in the south of France, begins in Golfe-Juan on the coast and winds its way up to Grenoble in the French Alps, passing through charming French towns like Grasse, where legend has it, the legendary Chanel N°5 was born.
But you don’t stop to smell the rose extracts when you’re in the Artura Spider. All you want to do is coax the most thrilling performance out of the upgraded powertrain of this 3.0-litre V6 with 514.5kw at your fingertips and maybe, just maybe, grab the chance to redline it at 8,500rpm. And the stunning landscape provides many brilliant opportunities to do just that.
As the lightest convertible supercar in its class at 1,560kg, this 2025 model carves up corners on the scenic mountain pass like Italy’s Dario Cecchini takes a cleaver to a hulking slab of bœuf — with peerless proficiency garnished with a level of grace, reverence and the kind of showmanship that makes him the most famous butcher in the world.
The 2025 Artura Spider features an upgraded powertrain with a 3.0-litre V6 discharging 514.5kw and 720 Nm of torque. (Photo: McLaren)
A striking spectacle
Now the urge to smash the entire journey at full throttle in Sport mode, given this supercar’s blistering ability to make that 0-100kmh century dash in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it three seconds flat, is thwarted only by the striking spectacle offered by the terrain.
So if ever you find yourself on a road trip of such spectacular proportions in these parts, we’d highly recommend you allow yourself to be seduced into stopping and surveying the gorgeous topography from time to time, particularly when you arrive at “Gorges du Verdon”, the French version of the Grand Canyon, and Europe’s largest.
Remarkably easy to handle paired with high-octane fun, the most fuel-efficient McLaren convertible ever made darts past the century dash in three seconds flat. (Photo: McLaren)
Indeed, you’ll want to enjoy some of the journey coasting along in Comfort mode as you take in the breathtaking surroundings at leisure. There’s also Track and E-mode, and you’d have long blown past the 33km electric-only range.
Still, it doesn’t matter because who really wants to travel in stealth-like — albeit emissions-free — silence when you can still revel in that delicious growl of a McLaren soundtrack, one that’s been more finely calibrated and tuned by engineers for your listening pleasure? For now, at least.
