Road Test: McLaren Hits The Jackpot With The 2023 Artura

McLaren was never meant to be a car company. Nearly 60 years ago, Bruce McLaren founded his eponymous racing team that would be a competitive and persistent presence in racing long after his passing and to this day. The brand would only start making cars in the late 80s, and that was just the ultra-limited McLaren F1. After a brief partnership with Mercedes-Benz, McLaren Automotive was founded 11 years ago, officially manufacturing sports cars for customers in earnest.

With this in mind, it's been an oft-repeated mantra that McLaren is a racing company first and an automaker second, with all the ups and downs that such a position entails. While its road cars have the benefit of fewer degrees between them and the race cars that inspire them, there have been growing pains involved with getting a young company sufficiently up to speed to compete with rivals in the same way it does on the track.

Its most recent entry-level vehicle, the McLaren GT, is the model for the company's awkward phase: rough around the edges, a mix of hand-me-down ergonomic flaws, and in-car tech that lags behind even the most basic offerings. It's a showcase of everything McLaren Automotive has been up until now, but that changes with Artura. Sleek, modern, and stunning, Artura is, frankly, McLaren finally achieving its full potential.

Much of the hesitation that comes around hybridizing a performance car comes mainly from our experiences with hybrid road cars, mostly configured primarily for efficiency. When these hybrid systems run out of juice, they're a hinderance. Thankfully, McLaren has approached the Artura in a way that reduces the compromise asked by such a powertrain. The electronics are there to support the powertrain and to be more self-sufficient in terms of recharge. Depending on mode, the V6 is constantly feeding power back into the battery, and while it can be plugged in and topped off in 2 or so hours at a Level 2 plug, it doesn't really require that most of the time. In that way, it's a far more synergistic unit where the e-motor complements the Artura's inherent performance rather than being a dominant component.

All of it sits in a brand new carbon fiber monocoque tub that's lighter and stronger than previous versions. It's supported by aluminum structures and a rear subframe and designed from scratch to support an electrified powertrain. Even the wiring harness has been reduced to shed weight. At the end of the day, the Artura weighs just over 3,300 lbs. Put it all together, and you've got a McLaren that can jump from 0 to 60 in 3 seconds flat and tops out at 205 mph, all while being capable of 39 MPGe by EPA estimates.

The driving position was certainly good, but several little issues added up to big frustrations. Want to move the seat on a previous McLaren? Those buttons are deep in the same quarter-eating crevice beside the center console. Trying to use any of the digital gauge cluster menus? There's an extra, unintuitive stalk to use, which also doubles as the nose-lift. Don't even ask about using the navigation, media or HVAC, just suction cup your smartphone on top of it and be at peace.

Artura's interior, in contrast, is a massive relief in several ways. The quality of life updates make it a far more tolerable place to sit. More importantly, getting these elements right doesn't distract from the driving experience. Beyond a multitude of ergonomic updates, McLaren has used the Artura to streamline and improve the interfaces drivers will be using the most. 

Most importantly, the controls for influencing the driving and handling settings have been moved from the center console to the binnacle housing the gauge cluster. No taking your eyes off the road for car controls: they're now literally at your fingertips. Many of the inputs for this screen have been simplified, too, making the stalk much more user-friendly. Nose lift even gets its own button.

I've had the tremendous privilege of spending a good amount of time with a few of McLaren's offerings, and what has stood out from them is their consistency. Macca's race-first approach gives the road cars a distinct feel of race parts bolted together with a thin sheet of civility draped on top. I mean this in the best way possible. McLarens have felt much more raw and exposed: there is heat, metal, air, and fluids in play to propel the car forward, and it's going to be loud. It's refreshing in light of how improvements in electronics and manufacturing can lead to most modern cars masking the mechanical magic on hand behind damping, design, and comfort-forward accoutrement. Don't ask how it works, just let it do its thing and have a good time.

Different McLaren models over time have smoothed out some of the rough edges, to varying degrees of success. The McLaren GT, for instance, is meant to be an approachable entry point into the McLaren lineup that's slightly more comfortable, manageable, and maybe less intimidating, but in actuality, it's more of what the automaker had already been doing for a while – sharing parts, being raucous and racy, and making the driver work for it. It's a blast, but it's hardly a step forward.

This is where the Artura differs. In a way, it's everything the GT should have been – updated, more crisp and with an up-to-date collection of technologies that we demand in the current age. And for extra giggles, let's throw in a boat load more power and efficiency while we're at it.

Comfort, Sport and Track are the three other power settings; each increase engine and transmission aggressiveness but they also up the level of battery recharge. Comfort gives back around 10%, but it's also the only mode that switches between motors depending on the speed. It will stay in electric mode until it hits 40 mph and will generally behave as a standard road-going hybrid. Sport and Track up the charge from 50 to 100 percent respectively, keeping the engine on at all times while the e-motor supports its acceleration.

It's really in the latter modes that the Artura's synergy is on full display. Throttle presses are smooth and instant, with the "hybrid" nature of it all obscured from the experience. This was a great relief to behold, as the nature of the joined powertrains does instill a modicum of concern when it comes to sports cars. In most cases, a hybrid powertrain leans heavily on the electrified side of things, and when that battery is depleted, it plummets from boon to hinderance, or until the next unlikely charge-up at least. 

Here, it's the ideal partnership, with the V6 doing most of the lifting while the e-motor hypes it up, supports it, and highlights all of its key attributes. It isn't strictly necessary to plug it in and charge it all the time — the engine does that — and while there wasn't a chance to see how the Artura performed with a depleted battery, it doesn't ever really run dry. It always retains some level of charge, in case you were worried a dead battery meant no driving in reverse.

With all of its promises, the Artura is begging to be put on a track from the moment you sit inside. Beyond the usual questions of how it performs, there's also the issue of the hybrid system: though we've seen how synergistic it is on the road, will that stand up to the track? The answer is "yes, but..." on this one. While various street driving conditions allow for the battery charge to catch up, at full track clip, all of its power is being used in a full performance setting and thus diminishes much faster. Inevitably, it will drop down to that exhausted level where it will retain just enough charge for basic functions, and those extra 94 horses are gone. 

Thankfully, it takes a while to get to that point. McLaren has estimated that it could tackle 40 miles at peak performance before there would be a degradation of performance. Depending on what track you call home, that's roughly 10 or so laps of full power.

The car's agility is noticeable in switchback situations, moving as fast as your hands can move and transferring the torque quickly to the side that needs it. If the back slips out, it's very easy to catch and correct without much of a second thought (though if there is, it's usually "hmm, I kind of want to slide that further when I come back around"). Given ample room to run, the Artura gets into the triple digits eagerly, and still has more to give, even though you'll inevitably have to engage the heavy brakes. At those speeds, their heft is appreciated: they take a solid amount of leg muscle to fully do the trick, and the richness of a hard stop is rewarding.