New McLaren 750S Spider review: ticks all the drop-top supercar boxes

Verdict

McLaren’s latest is as potent, fearsome and striking as a supercar should be, yet delightfully easy to drive at low speed, allowing for its vast width and lack of low-speed nimbleness. On a dry road or especially a track, the McLaren is right up with the best in the world, but on wet, wintery tarmac it's impossible to explore the Spider's impressive capabilities

Removing the roof adds to the experience, but the infotainment is still way off the pace of that which you’ll find in mainstream cars costing a fraction of the price. But that’s not why you buy supercars, and the McLaren 750S Spider ticks all the right high-performance boxes, without the extroverted visual drama of its Italian competitors. 

Unlike with mere mortal cars, what’s effectively a mid-life refresh is enough for a new name at McLaren, because in the eyes of the masters, an update for a supercar naturally requires more power. 

It turns out 710bhp (or 720PS – hence the name) just wasn’t enough, so the 30bhp increase brings with it a new title, the 750S replacing the 720S despite it being an evolution rather than an entirely new model.

As well as increasing the power, McLaren has taken the opportunity to tweak the car’s looks, with wider intakes at the front to increase cooling, funneling air to the mid-mounted V8.

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The back-end is more notably different, with influences from the track-focused 765 LT going into the diffuser design, while the central-mounted exhaust is a nod to the P1 hypercar. It sits higher and is said to give off a better sound – an absolute treat of a noise for anyone who appreciates a V8 soundtrack, especially when the Spider is in roof-down form.  

The 765LT has also contributed technical improvements in the form of new head gasket and fuel pump, while further changes over the 720S include damping updates to make it stiffer at the rear and softer at the front, plus the latest-generation chassis control system.

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The Spider costs a cool £25,000 more than the coupe 750S, but McLaren claims a production car record for the roof opening and closing of just 11 seconds. The 750S also gets what the brand says are the lightest standard wheels on a production car - 19-inch rims on the front and 20-inch at the back. 

From behind the wheel, visibility is surprisingly good once you get used to being so low down, but the sheer width of the 750S is immediately apparent. 

Also noticeable is how easy the car is to drive at low speeds. Preconceptions that it may be untamable thanks to the on-paper performance figures are quickly allayed, although anything more than quarter throttle on a wet road can still break traction at 50mph. If you’re gentle, though, it’s not as intimidating as the low-slung looks and stable full of horses suggest – power delivery is smooth and progressive.

It’s also rapid. There’s a slight delay when you shove the throttle, then the scenery starts to pass very quickly, as you’d expect from a car capable of 0-62mph in 2.8 seconds and from standstill to 124mph (200km/h) in just 7.4 seconds. 

The steering is well-weighted and direct, slightly heavy at low speeds, but responsive on the move, just as you’d want it to be. This is a supercar, so it shouldn’t three-point-turn with the ease of a supermini. 

The only thing that is hard work, apart from resisting the urge for more speed, is braking. The pedal has a solid, short-travel that, while great on a track, doesn’t inspire confidence on a wet dual carriageway, and quickly becomes heavy to hold down in queuing traffic. The big tyres also aren’t averse to tram-lining on grooved surfaces. 

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The retractable hard top does a great job of insulating the cabin from outside noise. There’s a little roar from the tyres, but nothing out of hand, and sound deadening is almost too effective, syphoning out pops and crackles from the exhaust to the point where it’s tempting to drop the central rear window to get more of the soundtrack – or retract that hard-top as often as possible. After all, sitting so low, it’s really not that blustery with the roof down, so the 750S Spider should be driven open-topped at every opportunity for the full aural experience.

Supercars do mean sacrifices in some areas, though, and there are some creature comfort compromises. The cabin is plush rather than sumptuous, and clearly focused on the driver. You get two cup holders capable of taking a half-litre bottle and a small under-arm stowage area, but that’s about your lot. A new touchscreen at least partially addresses one of the car’s main weaknesses, but it’s still not exactly cutting-edge in infotainment terms, with poor radio reception. You do at least get wired Apple CarPlay for the first time, though.

It’s also worth practicing your entry and exit technique. The V8 soundtrack, followed by the dihedral doors flinging up, means your arrival is unlikely to go unnoticed, so learning how to alight via the huge sills with dignity is time well spent. It’s also much easier completed with the roof retracted as you can pop your head up and grasp the corner of the windscreen. A much cooler look. 

Round town, the 750’s nose lift function means speed bumps are less of a concern, and there’s a huge front trunk capable of taking a week’s shopping, were you to venture into Aldi car park in your McLaren. 

But the big draw with a car like this is how it drives away from the city, and it’s got a happy knack of doing everything well. Low-speed cruising is surprisingly comfortable for something with such high-performance, and the 750S soaks up bumps with greater ease than expected. Then, when circumstances allow, it’s off like a firework, but one that makes it very clear your limits will be reached before it’s even remotely flustered, on public roads at least. It takes a track to test any sort of dynamic depths of this car, and the carbon construction means taking the roof off doesn’t compromise rigidity at all. It’s as fast and sharp as ever.