Payne: What I want for Christmas? A McLaren Artura
Henry PayneHell, Michigan — If I can’t have a Formula One car under the tree for Christmas, I’ll settle for a McLaren Artura. And at $300K — just 2% the cost of a $15 million F1 machine — it’s a steal.
Artura, the latest creation from the elves in Woking, England, has a carbon fiber monocoque similar to the company’s Formula One car. And a hybrid twin-turbo V-6 engine like its F1 car. And similar rear-wheel drive.
Take this combination onto Hadley Road here and it’s Christmas in Hell.
On a lonely stretch of Hadley, I put my right foot to the floor in launch control and Artura exploded forward, blowing past 60 mph in less than three seconds on my way to the moon. But first, a blind right-hander. The McLaren sliced it perfectly, the steering wheel a knife in my hands. With a chassis wrapped as tightly as — well, carbon-fiber threads — Artura exhibited no body roll, its summer Pirelli P-Zero tires responding instantly to my small steering inputs.
Auto racing and manufacturing have been intertwined for decades going back to Henry Ford’s Sweepstakes triumph. Nearly every major manufacturer today is invested in motorsport for its marketing and tech-transfer benefits. Then there are manufacturers who started as race teams. Ferrari, Lotus and the latest to cross over into production cars: McLaren.
Arturo is a case study in a how a brand’s enormous investment in Formula One hybrid tech translates to production. The English company is determined to explore the technology’s envelope to also deliver a luxury touring-car experience. Thus the name Artura — a fusion of “art” and future.”
Arturo is a hybrid in more than one sense of the word. It’s a car with multiple personalities — a country-club tourer for Dr. Jekyll, a track weapon for Mr. Hyde.
McLaren has nailed the “art” piece. Before my descent into Hell (when hair sprouts, Hyde-like, from my knuckles and back), I took a detour through Ann Arbor to pick up my favorite Reuben sandwich at Zingerman’s. I might as well have been Brad Pitt.
At a stoplight, backpack-carrying school kids saw the Serpentine Blue McLaren and erupted into cheers, jumping up and down. Couples on the sidewalk stared and pointed at the rolling sculpture. Arriving at Zingerman’s, the McLaren’s scissor doors opened upward and brought a basketball game to a standstill in the adjacent park.
From stem to stern, McLaren has mid-engine proportions down cold. Artura is the love child of the lean McLaren 570 and iconic 720s — the latter one of the most distinctive mid-engine cars ever made. Scalloped side intakes feed huge radiators located fore of the rear wheels. It’s sensual, simple, yet boasts remarkable outward visibility (compared to, say, the pillbox quarters of a Corvette C8).
The simplicity continues inside where McLaren has taken learnings from previous models and consolidated the drive setting and engine mode buttons on either side of the motorcycle-like gauge cluster behind the steering wheel. Only the steering wheel defies the spare theme with more stalks protruding from it than a buck has antlers.
There are shift paddles, wiper stalk, cruise control stalk, light stalk and instrument control stalk. What, no column shifter? No, DRIVE, NEUTRAL and REVERSE are still selected by console buttons mounted below the flame-red START button.
Push START and “future” kicks in. Where Artura’s design and chassis are familiar, the drivetrain is a new animal.
Unlike its forebears, Artura starts in silence. In ELECTRIC mode. On battery power. Like a Prius.
I silently crept out of Zingerman’s parking lot without offending neighbors' ears — or anti-fossil fuel UM academics. Exiting Main Street onto the M-23 four-lane headed for Hell, I toggled to COMFORT drive mode and squeezed the throttle. The powertrain increased the pace on full electric power before finally engaging the other half of the hybrid performance team: the twin-turbo V-6. Artura was now in full stride, yet the hybrid powertrain only emitted the sound of an angry vacuum cleaner.
Engage SPORT and the character of the V-6 emerges — Porsche six-like in its urgency — as it took advantage of McLaren’s lightning-quick eight-speed automatic gear set. That’s quite a show of the hybrid powertrain’s dexterity with the best yet to come.
TRACK mode, counter-intuitively, is the most ambidextrous of them all.
In the hands of heathens like me, TRACK mode will drink 2/3rd more fuel than COMFORT mode thanks to its prodigious power, short-gear ratio and neck-snapping launch control. But select TRACK mode for your interstate ride home from, say, Hell, and it will efficiently use the motor to replenish the 19 miles of battery-only range you exhausted while being stealthy in Ann Arbor. Gas guzzler and battery charger all in one mode.
Of course, gas guzzling is always more fun, and the howl of the V-6 across Hell’s twisted country roads is irresistible. But choosing the TRACK chassis setting? Not so much.
So stiff is Artura in TRACK setting that the car was frenetic over bumpy Patterson Lake Road. That’s a lotta bumps. This must be what a Formula One car feels like on public byways. I found myself constantly fighting the wheel to stay on course. Leave TRACK for smooth race tracks.
The Artura’s sweet spot is SPORT. The suspension keeps the supercar planted, but not harsh so the chassis and drivetrain can work their magic. While I find Porsche 911s to be the most balanced cars in the supercar library, carbon-fiber wonders like the Artura are like nimble go-karts. A go-kart with a rocket strapped to its back.
Despite giving up 1,000 cc and 2-cylinders to the glorious twin-turbo V-8 found in predecessor 570/600 supercars, Artura healthily beats them in horsepower (671) and torque (531). McLaren points to the electric motor which (overcoming the hybrid system’s additional 300 pounds of weight) serves as “torque fill” to give the six-holer added oomph at the low end to help it fill its lungs on the way to a screaming 8,500 RPM.
“Holy crap!” yelled my friend Anthony over the V-6 as we shot off an interstate on-ramp like a sidewinder missile. Arturo boasts an upgraded infotainment system but we never touched the dial, so engaging is the V-6 audio. Zero-60 blows by in just 2.6 seconds (quicker than the 710 horsepower, V8-powered 720S) and 100 mph in 5.5 seconds (matching 720S).
Kind of like a Formula One car. Merry Christmas.
Next week: 2024 Honda Accord vs. Kia EV6
2024 McLaren Artura
Vehicle type: Mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive two-passenger supercar
Price: $237,500, including $3,086 destination ($289,175 Elite as tested)
Powerplant: 3.0-liter, twin-turbo V-6 hybrid mated to electric motor and 7.4 kWh lithium battery pack
Power: 671 horsepower, 531 pound-feet of torque
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph, 2.6 seconds (Car and Driver); top speed, 205 mph
Weight: 3,443 lbs.
Fuel economy: EPA 17 mpg city/21 highway/18 combined
Report card
Highs: Supermodel looks; rock-solid chassis
Lows: Maintenance worries; you’ll be trailed by paparazzi
Overall: 4 stars
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.