It’s fair to say the McLaren Artura has endured somewhat of a rocky ride. Even so, after just two years in production, it is surprising to see McLaren launch a heavily revised model, spearheaded by this new Spider variant. Such are the changes, McLaren themselves refer to the model year ‘25 Artura as a full-on facelift rather than an annual update.

To some, this might signal a lack of confidence from McLaren in their hybrid junior supercar. However the reasoning is likely down to the Artura’s prolonged gestation period, with initial deliveries taking place over a year later than originally planned. By any other production schedule, we’d be three years in with the engineers beavering away in the background, hence the update.

McLaren claims “significant upgrades over the original Artura, including more power, more performance and even greater driver engagement.” All of the changes introduced on the Spider will also migrate to the Coupe, but on the surface, you’d be hard pressed to spot any cosmetic cues - it appears McLaren has invested all of its budget beneath the striking bodywork.

Power always steals the headlines, so we’ll start there. The output of the 3.0-litre V6 and E-motor powertrain now produce a combined 700 PS, or 690 bhp in old money. McLaren also claims the Artura Spider is “the lightest convertible supercar in its class, bettering rivals by as much as 83kg.”

That’s with McLaren insisting on quoting the cars lightest spec dry weight of 1,457 kg, resulting in a power-to-weight ratio of 473 bhp per tonne. With all fluids on board, the result is explosive performance with the Spider capable of accelerating from 0-62 mph in 3.0 seconds, 0-124 mph in 8.4 seconds, 0-186 mph in 21.6 seconds. We imagine that it won’t take much longer for the Artura to reach its top speed of 205 mph.

McLaren informs us the additional power is focused from 4,000rpm to the redline at 8,500rpm, providing a marked crescendo approaching the top of the rev range. Indeed, a concerted effort seems to have been made around creating a more emotional driving experience, with a revised valved exhaust system incorporating a tuned resonator and upward conical shape to the tailpipes. The Artura’s engineers have paid particular attention to the engine note in the middle and higher points of the rev range, with the goal of providing a ‘cleaner’ soundtrack. An optional sports exhaust system is available.

Cutting response times also appears to be another key theme of the MY2025 Artura Spider and Coupe. The eight-speed transmission has a new pre-fill feature that delivers 25 % faster shift times, and the calibration has also been revised. The advanced pre-fill technology pressurises the hydraulic fluid in the gearbox to the threshold required to enact a shift, so that when the driver selects a gear or an automatic shift is requested, shift time is minimised.

Further improvements in response times have been made in the adaptive damping system. Enhanced DCU (Domain Control Units) in the cars’ ethernet architecture allow the dampers to react to driver inputs or a change in road surface up to 90% faster than before.

Meanwhile, the dampers themselves have also been fine tuned with new valving offering greater precision. New powertrain mounts for the MY2025 Artura are also said to further aid the dynamics of the car.

The Artura features the track-focused Pirelli P Zero Corsa or all-season P Zero tyres, wrapped around a new 15-spoke alloy wheel design. Lightweight Calibre 10-Spoke alloys can be specified as an optional extra, alongside titanium wheel bolts, which save a further 400 grams of unsprung mass per corner. As standard, the MY25 Artura utilises carbon ceramic discs, enhanced lightweight aluminium callipers and new brake cooling ducts. With revised ABS calibration, braking distances for the Spider and new coupe are 31m to standstill from 62 mph and an improved 124m from 124 mph. Thermal efficiency is also said to be much improved.