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By Jonathan Crouch

The Artura is the first electrified McLaren. Jonathan Crouch takes a look.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 54

The Artura takes McLaren into a new Hybrid era. Despite the familiar looks, everything is new from the ground up and there's full EV capability in town. Yet it's as sharp a track tool as any other McLaren supercar. Worried that the EV era would dull down driver's cars of this kind? Here's reassurance.

Backgroundword count: 151

McLaren has at last moved into a new era. The Woking maker has brought us quite a few different models since it burst onto the supercar scene back in 2010 but all have been variants of the same basic recipe. The Artura is different. The shape might be familiar but everything beneath it is different, this being the first series production Hybrid produced by marque. And the first car since the original MP4-12C to share nothing with any previous model. Modern McLaren now slot into three categories - GT, Supercar and Ultimate. The Artura sits with the 720S and the 765LT in the Supercar section, but is different from those two V8 showroom stablemates in every conceivable way. It has a Hybrid V6, you can plug it in, the chassis, suspension and electrical system are all redesigned from scratch and it sets a design template for all future McLarens. Sounds promising.

Driving Experienceword count: 234

There's no familiar twin turbo V8 nestling in the rear aluminium subframe here. Instead, we're treated to McLaren's first 3.0-litre twin turbo V6, its first direct injection engine and a combustion unit that produces 577bhp and can rev as high as 8,500rpm. The transmission is completely new to McLaren too, an 8-speed dual clutch gearbox that incorporates a clever e- differential. Plus a 94bhp axial flux e-motor that acts as a reverse gear and creates a total powertrain output of 671bhp and 720Nm of torque. 62mph from rest flashes by in just 3.0s, 124mph takes 8.3s and the top speed is 205mph. As usual with McLaren, there are selectable handling and powertrain modes. In either case, you choose between 'Comfort', 'Sport' and 'Track', with an extra 'e-mode' available in the 'Powertrain' menu, allowing battery-only driving for short distances in urban travel. One feature that isn't new on this car is McLaren's trademark hydraulically-assisted steering. The brand thinks that no electric steering system can provide this set-up's level of driver feedback - and they could be right. It's combined with a bespoke version of McLaren's 'Proactive Damping System', which works so well that from launch, this Artura was credited with class-leading standards of ride. Braking performance should also be exceptional, thanks to carbon ceramic brakes with lightweight aluminium calipers. Get on a circuit and there's a 15-stage Variable Drift Control system to play with too.

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