McLaren did not lie when it states that all would be revealed on July 3rd. The 2013 MP4 12C Spider supercar is now officially on the market, including an online configurator.
The British firm has seemed to take a page from its Italian rival when it comes to dropping its top. The 12C Spider employs a folding hard top similar to the Ferrari 458 Italia. With the large flying buttresses still in place (just like the Ferrari) the 12C Spider looks a bit like a targa when the roof is folded.
The 12C Spider is powered by the same 3.8-liter 616 hp twin turbo V8 that is in the coupe, but the extra weight of all the roof’s moving parts does take a little spunk out of the Spider. According to McLaren, both the coupe and convertible make the 0-62 mph (0-100 kph) run in 3.1 seconds, but the it takes the drop top 6.1 seconds to hit 100 mph and 9.0 seconds to get to 124 mph. That is 0.1 and 0.2 seconds respectively slower than the coupe. As a result, the Spider will run the quarter mile in a very respectable 10.8 seconds at 134 mph, but the coupe does it in 10.6 seconds at 136 mph. Of course none of this is particularly slow considering the 458 Italia Spider makes this run in 11 seconds.
Pricing starts at $265,750, which is a $23,950 premium over the standard MP4 12C. Deliveries will begin in Europe in November, and will spread to the U.S within a month or two. Before then we’ll get be up close with the car when it has its official viewing during the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in August.
Post a Reply