WE HAVE PUSHED OUR LUCK. McLaren need the Artura back in an hour. We are busy enjoying some spectacular canyon roads a good bit more than an hour north of the car's scheduled return point in Marbella. Distance and time are going to require a little stretching here. So is fuel. My eyes are darting back and forth from the distance-to-destination on the Google Maps display (linked from my phone to the new infotainment screen) to the estimated range on the new instrument cluster. They are within a mile of each other. This could be interesting.
All of which makes this a perfect final test to conclude our 500 kilometres with the Artura. This is, after all, a car that needs to be fabulously engaging to drive and to handle beautifully, it also needs to be comfortable over a long distance, to have a user interface that is friendly and stress-free to operate, and it also with its box-fresh plug-in hybrid powertrain-needs to be energy-efficient. And up for a challenge.
The Artura (a name, not a code like previous core McLaren models; it combines "art" and "future") represents the next chapter for McLaren Automotive as they get into their second decade of car-making. It is the most comprehensively new model since modern-era McLaren road car production began with the MP4-12C in 2011.
It is a new platform with a new carbon monocoque design (built in McLaren's new Sheffield facility), new "futureproof" electrical architecture, new plug-in hybrid powertrain, including a new V6 engine and eight-speed transmission, integrated with the electric motor-and, for the first time in a McLaren, an electronically controlled limited-slip differential, or e-diff, new multi-link rear suspension, new interior architecture, and much more besides. Those elements will be the basis for McLaren's next generation of models, all of which will have hybrid powertrains.
Denne historien er fra September 2022-utgaven av Car India.
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Denne historien er fra September 2022-utgaven av Car India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på