McLaren Artura Coupe (2022 – 2025) review

The sticker price on the Artura is very reasonable against that of the more expensive Ferrari 296 GTB plug-in hybrid, given the way this beast looks and sounds when the engine kicks in. You surely pay for road presence above all else with a supercar, and this has it in spades. Unfortunately, it’s also up against the slightly dearer Maserati MC20, which is one of the best supercars of the modern era. Then again, if you never travel more than 10 miles a day, it’s possible you could spend your entire Artura ownership never paying for fuel. In this sense McLaren has at least gone some way to future-proofing itself by introducing a battery before its hand was forced, on the basis owners can store that zero emissions, battery range for electric-only zones in cities. Back in the real world, however, Artura ownership doesn’t come cheap and once the battery was used up we got about 20mpg. Things like insurance and servicing will be painful, too.

We were meant to drive the Artura at least a year before we eventually did but it suffered software issues (not related to the hybrid powertrain) and various internal delays, which doesn’t fill you with confidence. Furthermore, on our three-day test drive with it the infotainment screen shut down and just ran an illuminated McLaren graphic for an hour’s journey round the M25, and the car didn’t always lock and unlock at the first go. On the other hand, McLaren must now be feeling confident. It has increased its warranty from three years to five years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first. Given the way most people use their supercars we'd guess at the five years... The battery has a six-year/45,000-mile warranty, and you get a three-year service package. Both the warranty and service package can be transferred between owners.

Given the low stance of supercars, and their ability to go very fast with two-wheel drive, their safety attributes tend to relate to those of the car rather than its occupants - i.e. how likely is it to be stolen? Good news - the Artura has an alarm with tilt sensors and an immobiliser. You do get front airbags and side airbags for both seats. And, er, that’s about it. Our car had a menacing matt black paint which made it even harder to spot in the autumnal gloom. We also very nearly lost it in a straight line at about 60mph (it was very wet, but still) so the Artura is a car to be respected until you get its measure.

There’s plenty of room in the Artura, which feels more like a grand tourer than a hardcore sports car. That low windscreen also gives you a feeling of space and light. Most importantly the no-cost Practicality Pack gives you a button to lift the nose of the car for speed humps and cushions. We did the school run in the Artura, which involves every type of cushion, bar and bump known to man, and the Artura crested all with ease while we held our breath. The sports seats on our test car adjusted very oddly on a one-movement rocker. So, instead of sliding the base and back independently the seat tilts as one, more like a rocking chair. We liked it, but it may not be for everyone so try before you buy. Those gullwing doors won’t be for everyone, either. They’re heavy to lift and, if you’re under 5ft 10in and need the seat closer to the steering wheel, it’s a crunch to get under the door frame and into the seat at the same time. Little things that bothered us included the leather pocket for the key fob, which is sewn onto the seat between your legs at the front. It doesn’t fit properly because the pocket is not the same shape as the key. Why not? It surely wouldn’t have cost much extra. This is why Bentley does so well - there’s a feeling of craftsmanship and attention to detail throughout its interiors that McLaren lacks.

McLaren’s new touch-screen is a vast improvement on the old one (although ours had a couple of hissy fits - see 'Reliability' section). There’s a knob on the side that acts as volume control and home screen when you press it but my passenger's knee kept activating it. Wireless smartphone mirroring is included for Apple and Android, and you have McLaren’s own sat-nav which isn’t bad, but the screen is positioned low in the car so regularly looking at any of these functions doesn’t feel very safe. You also - thankfully - get front and rear parking sensors and a clear reversing camera, which is welcome. Our test car had the Technology Pack (wait for it - £6,800) which includes a Bowers & Wilkins stereo system that does a good job of making itself heard over the noise of the car, adaptive cruise control (a weird addition for a supercar that's meant to be about the joy of driving), lane-departure warning, road-sign recognition and auto-beam assist on the front lights. Unless you’re going to use the Artura as your everyday car, which is entirely possible, we’d say no thanks to all the above and we’ll have a long-haul holiday instead for that money.

If there's one car brand in the world likely to struggle with the idea of going electric it's McLaren, given it sells itself as the ultimate driver's brand with a tradition of putting weight saving, racecar engineering and razor sharp handling before comfort and refinement. So, when the Artura pulls away in electrified silence it feels like an anti-climax and, well, just a bit dull. This is not a luxury brand, it's a driver's brand. And without the crash of a thundering internal combustion engine shouting pistons and purpose it loses its soul. Said electric motor provides 95 horsepower, the twin-turbo V6 the rest to take the full beans to 680 horsepower. But it somehow felt neither fast, nor particularly exciting. Any sense of occasion was replaced by a sense of something new and a bit odd. You get up to 19 miles of pure electric range; we feathered it carefully round town and managed 12, which, in percentage terms, is about right for claimed ranges these days. In other words, as McLaren itself admits, the motor is there to aid performance without increasing emissions. It’s not about electric driving. We’d rather pay less, and have a Porsche 911, or pay more, and have a Maserati MC20. The Artura feels like neither one thing nor the other.