√2023 McLaren Artura video review: Track test

McLaren’s latest foray into plug-in hybrids is not just a savagely quick supercar, it’s a flag-bearer for performance electrification, reports Glenn Butler.

McLaren Artura

It’s a hybrid, Jim, but not as we know it. Welcome to the new era of the Eco Supercar: high-performance sports cars harnessing electric power for performance rather than efficiency.

It’s a fair bet that not many supercar buyers are motivated primarily by fuel efficiency. But they are attracted to performance, and petrol-electric hybrid supercars like the McLaren Artura and Ferrari 296 GTB are quickly proving that partial electrification can enhance the supercar breed.

The McLaren Artura – the name is a concatenation of Art and Future – is a supercar that begins a new era for McLaren 60 years after the brand’s founding by Kiwi Bruce McLaren in 1963.

The McLaren Artura is priced at $449,500 plus on-road costs, is powered by a twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 engine in partnership with a small electric motor, and promises true supercar performance headlined by a 0–100km/h time of 3.0 seconds.

The petrol engine’s 430kW and 585Nm are supplemented by an axial flux electric motor producing 70kW and 225Nm.

McLaren’s torque-fill approach to hybridisation means you can’t just add those numbers together. McLaren deliberately turns the electric motor down as revs rise, so the system’s peaks are 500kW and 720Nm.

The Artura is not the first McLaren hybrid, but it is the first mainstream McLaren with plug-in recharging (charging to 80 per cent in 2.5 hours). It’s also the first McLaren with a V6 petrol engine, the first with a torque-distributing rear e-diff, and the first with an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

Here’s one for trivia buffs: the Artura is the first McLaren without a reverse gear. Instead, it spins the electric motor in reverse to go backwards. This allows McLaren to make the gearbox lighter and more compact, so it does have a packaging and weight benefit, albeit minor.

Key details	2022 McLaren Artura hybrid
Price	$449,500 plus on-road costs
Rivals	Ferrari 296 GTB \| Lamborghini Huracan \| Maserati MC20

By far the bigger weight saving compared to cars with steel or aluminium monocoques is the latest-generation McLaren Carbon Lightweight Architecture (MCLA). McLaren was one of the first to embrace carbon-fibre structures in production cars back in the early 1990s because it is light and incredibly strong, albeit expensive.

McLaren’s pursuit of lightweight stopped short of fitting carbon-fibre wheels like some rivals do, instead opting for 19-inch forged alloys shod with sticky Pirelli P-Zero Corsas.

This time around, McLaren has incorporated a 7.4kWh battery sled into the centre of the structure feeding the electric motor and making the Artura capable of running in EV-only mode at speeds up to 130km/h.

McLaren claims the Artura can drive for up to 31km on battery power alone, and has a combined-cycle fuel economy of 4.6L/100km. We’re guessing no owner will ever achieve that figure over any meaningful distance. If they do, they’ve bought the wrong car.

Unusually, McLaren has not given the Artura brake energy recuperation or electrically assisted power steering, despite both of these systems’ proven ability to reduce fuel use.

McLaren says it stuck with hydraulically assisted power steering because it provides better driver feel and feedback than an electrically assisted system.

Similarly, brake energy recuperation also fell victim to McLaren’s ‘driver feel’ development criterion. We suspect that former McLaren F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo probably agrees, given his well-documented tribulations with the McLaren F1 car’s braking system.

Drive’s first chance to test the McLaren Artura in Australia was restricted to track-testing only at the Tailem Bend circuit an hour outside of Adelaide. The track was wet from overnight rain but dried as the morning went on, allowing us to test the car in both wet and dry conditions.

Fear rode shotgun with us into this test, not because of the damp track, but the damage a hybrid system could do to the supercar drive experience. Our previous McLaren tests have built an expectation of a brand that places the driver in the beating heart of the machine. And, even though these sports cars have sometimes failed to match the emotional highs of Italian rivals, driver immersion and performance accessibility have never been questioned.

The Artura’s exterior styling is mature and restrained compared to previous McLarens, yet no less visually emotive. Its footprint is low and wide, as you’d expect, but the car is shorter overall front to back than a Mazda 3 sedan because it’s a single-row two-seater.

The 1193mm high roof line and very low floor make getting in and out an inelegant affair even with the dihedral doors fully opened. The easiest way I found (with the helmet on for track driving) was to fall down into the seats butt-first, but I still hit my head on the roof line two times out of three.

The cabin feels like a $500K supercar cabin should: special. There’s an unapologetic focus on the driver with the layout, to the point that the 8.0-inch portrait-orientated infotainment screen looks like a tacked-on afterthought. This is not a criticism, but more an acknowledgement that these secondary controls are exactly that, secondary.

The Artura’s more important driving controls are thoughtfully laid out and easy to find and use. Unusually for the 21st century, the steering wheel itself has no buttons or switches for accessing systems like cruise control, media control or telephony. The only ‘controls’ reachable from the wheel are the paddle shifters.

Each time the Artura is started it begins in Electric mode, the first of four powertrain modes. Electric mode leaves the petrol engine sleeping, as you’d expect, and allows the Artura to be driven silently at speeds up to 130km/h. Accelerative performance in this mode is unimpressive but exactly what you’d expect from a 70kW and 225Nm motor moving a 1498kg car.

McLaren claims the Artura’s 7.4kWh battery (useable capacity) can provide up to 31km of pure EV driving. We did not test that claim at Tailem Bend.

Rocker switches on both sides of the Artura’s instrument binnacle separate powertrain presets (right) from chassis dynamics presets (left). We started in the powertrain’s Hybrid setting initially, moving up to Sport and eventually Track.

All three of these modes call on both the electric motor and petrol engine to deliver the requested performance. McLaren describes the electric motor’s role as a torque-filler, supplementing the petrol engine’s relatively low outputs at low revs to deliver stronger acceleration, then tailing off as the revs rise to prioritise the familiar turbocharged surge to redline.

After three brief but enlightening 15-minute track sessions on Tailem Bend’s undulating and technical 4.9km layout, our fears were blown away. The McLaren Artura is not just an exciting and engaging performance coupe, it is a well-executed and considered approach to supercar hybridisation from a company whose DNA embodies technical excellence.

Key details	2022 McLaren Artura hybrid
Engine	3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 petrol with axial flux e-motor
Power	430kW @ 7500rpm petrol 70kW electric motor 500kW combined
Torque	585Nm @ 2250rpm petrol 225Nm electric motor 720Nm combined
Drive type	Rear-wheel drive
Transmission	Eight-speed twin-clutch
Power-to-weight ratio	333.8kW/t
Weight	1498kg
Battery	7.4kWh useable capacity
Performance	0–100km/h: 3.0sec 0–200km/h: 8.3sec 0–300km/h: 21.5sec
Top speed	330km/h

The engine is the Artura’s first great trick. In any of the three hybrid modes, the engine responds monstrously yet seamlessly to aggressive throttle inputs. There are no hiccups as the electric motor ‘comes in’ because it’s always there, adding up to 225Nm to the 3.0-litre engine’s already impressive 585Nm torque output.

This manifests as a savage, tsunami-like surge that shoots the Artura out of corners hard enough to challenge the rear tyres even with McLaren’s first e-diff doing its best to spread torque across the rear axle. Our first overseas test lamented the e-diff’s prowess and the inevitable reduction in “exciting rear-endy feeling”. During my time, the Artura still felt plenty rear-endy, just at a higher threshold than expected.

The powertrain is easily strong enough to let you short-shift and call on its deep torque reserves rather than race the revs to its 8500rpm redline. It’s equally happy to spin right up to redline, but the powertrain’s urgency tails off in the last 1500rpm, which could be a side-effect of McLaren’s torque-fill electric motor program that reduces the electric motor’s torque output as revs climb.

The Artura’s steering and carbon-ceramic brakes are both wonderfully tactile, justifying McLaren’s decision to stick with hydraulic steering assist and avoid brake energy recuperation. Instead, McLaren calls on the petrol engine to return electrical energy to the battery. This happens either on overrun or during part throttle applications and without the driver noticing.

The Artura’s suspension has three driver-selectable settings that firm up the dampers for a stiffer and more dynamic ride. Comfort mode is exactly that, although a racetrack is no place to get a real-world understanding of ride quality. Upping the ante to Sport mode and then Track mode reduces dive under brakes and body roll in corners, making the Artura a touch sharper on turn-in and change of direction.

After 45 minutes behind the wheel, my initial fear that the vehicle’s 130kg electric motor and battery pack (and ancillaries) would somehow compromise the McLaren proved baseless.

Instead, electrification adds substance to the Artura’s powertrain, if not character, elevating McLaren’s new-generation supercar to new highs.

The Artura doesn’t feel like a no-compromise supercar, however. If anything, it feels like a hyped-up GT that can be flung around a racetrack with abandon and is equally capable of handling everyday driving.

Faster and more exhilarating vehicles will spawn from the Artura’s new-generation component set. McLaren has said as much, and so my time in the Artura has not only convinced me of the Artura’s merits, but also the merits of McLaren’s MCLA chassis and M630 hybrid powertrain as the foundation for faster future models.

Tell-tales beyond the structure and powertrain are there if you look closely.

One example is the Artura’s sim card-enabled ethernet network, which will allow McLaren to deliver over-the-air (OTA) updates to the vehicle’s many systems, including the powertrain, suspension, driver assist systems and infotainment.

In other areas, McLaren’s omissions are baffling given this car’s future potential. The Artura does not have autonomous emergency braking, which means it cannot be sold in Australia beyond 2025 in current form. The Artura also does not have any active lane-keeping systems or automated parking system.

All of those systems can easily be added – once developed, and provided the hardware is compatible – via OTA updates.

This means we need to look at the Artura not just for what it is today, but for what it can be – and what it will spawn – tomorrow. And that is almost as exciting as driving the car itself.