The McLaren 600LT Spider is a hardcore take on open-top motoring
So, this is the new McLaren 600LT Spider, and as oxymoronic as it sounds, it offers up open-top motoring with a race track-focused edge. It’s all part of McLaren’s Track 25 business plan, announced last year, that promises a total of 18 new models and derivatives by the year 2025. That business plan also promises an increase in hybrid tech by that time. While the McLaren 600LT Spider doesn’t feature any electrification of its powertrain, it’s a pretty safe bet its successor will. But that’s enough talk of the future for now and on to the present. Here’s everything you need to know (and more) about McLaren’s latest hardcore ‘Longtail’ model.
It’s the fourth model to bear the LT (Longtail) moniker
McLaren will tell you the 600LT Spider is actually the fifth model, but since the first is a prototype race car, that doesn’t count. This follows the 675LT Coupe, 675LT Spider and this car’s fraternal twin, the 600LT Coupe.
It’s (almost) as quick as the McLaren 600LT Coupe
As you can probably tell from its name, the McLaren 600LT Spider has 600hp, the same as its Coupe counterpart. And thanks, McLaren says, to the extreme stiffness of the carbon fibre tub that forms the backbone of its chassis, it only incurs a 50kg weight penalty over the McLaren 600LT Coupe, with no additional reinforcements needed. Ostensibly the added kilogrammes come from the inclusion of the folding hard-top and its associated mechanisms.
Its 0-100km/h time matches the McLaren 600LT Coupe’s 2.9 seconds, though you will have to put up with a lower top speed — a positively tortoise-like 315km/h in the McLaren 600LT Spider, which represents a staggering 13km/h difference between this and the McLaren 600LT Coupe.
It looks (almost) like the McLaren 600LT Coupe
That’s right, since the McLaren 600LT Spider has a folding solid roof, and not one made of fabric, it has virtually the same silhouette as the McLaren 600LT Coupe, with the only tell coming in the form of a very subtle shutline at the top of the windscreen.
McLaren says the decision to go with a folding hard-top was done to preserve the silhouette of the McLaren 600LT Coupe, provide a more durable solution compared to fabric and greater refinement with the roof up. While we get the first two points, the last one is a bit odd, since McLaren makes much of the aural pleasure its rear deck-mounted (read: nearer the cabin) exhaust provides.
Its production will be limited
Like the McLaren 600LT Coupe, the McLaren 600LT Spider will be a limited-production model. While McLaren didn’t say how many units will be built, or for how long its production run will be, we can take a few clues from the 600LT Coupe.
That car began production in October 2018 and will run until October 2019, with build slots scheduled around McLaren’s other serial production cars. Extrapolating from that, the McLaren 600LT Spider is available to order now, so we can expect it to be produced no longer than through February 2019.
It could be the first million-dollar Sports Series model
The McLaren 600LT Spider nominally sits within McLaren’s entry-level Sports Series lineup, though you wouldn’t be able to tell from its price tag. The McLaren 600LT Coupe, which was unveiled a few months ago in Singapore, costs $819,000 without COE and options.
The McLaren 600LT Spider costs around 10 per cent more than the McLaren 600LT Coupe, which should make it come in at roughly $900,000 here, excluding COE. You could choose to inflate that price by a further 10 per cent, that is if saving the maximum 100kg over the McLaren 570S Spider (the car this is based on) is the sort of thing that matters to you.
Amongst other goodies, the MSO Clubsport pack gets you ultra-lightweight carbon fibre seats from the Senna hypercar and titanium wheel bolts. Add on more bespoke options, such as custom exterior paint and interior colours, and you could be looking at a car that’s priced well north of $1 million. For reference, the McLaren 570S Spider costs a paltry $777,000 without COE and options.
