McLaren Artura Spider

The Artura Spider is the most accessible way into open-top McLaren ownership, and it loses almost nothing of the coupe in the process. The 3.0 litre twin-turbocharged V6 and its electric motor combine for 690 horsepower through an 8-speed seamless shift gearbox. It reaches 100 km/h in 3.0 seconds and runs on to 330 km/h. The retractable hard top stows in around fifteen seconds, even at low speed, so the open-air car becomes the closed coupe whenever you want it.

With the roof gone, the character shifts. The plug-in hybrid system still lets you pull out of a Marina basement in near silence, and once the V6 takes over the sound has nowhere to hide. The carbon fibre tub keeps weight low, and you feel that in fast direction changes and in how flat the car stays through a long sweeper. This is a machine built for the driver who wants to be involved in the process rather than carried through it.

Dubai is made for an open McLaren. Cross the Palm Jumeirah crescent at dusk with the top down and the warm evening air moving through the cabin. Run the coast past JBR and Business Bay, drop the roof on the move as the road clears, then let the engine work on the open stretch toward Hatta. The climate cooperates more often than not, and the warm tarmac gives the rear tyres the grip to make the car talk to you.

Owning a hybrid supercar you might use a handful of weekends a year rarely makes sense, and renting it does. A few days gives you the full experience without the cost and the depreciation that follow it onto your driveway. Insurance and delivery are part of the price you are quoted, with nothing hidden behind it. We deliver it to your door fuelled and detailed, and collect it when you are done.