First Drive: 2025 McLaren 750S Spider Is the Ultimate Droptop
Days after McLaren reclaimed its 750S Spider, I have a denim shirt that smells like nappa leather, resin-cured carbon fiber, and financial irresponsibility. It's intoxicating enough to make me question my life choices. Especially my choice to let McLaren have their demo car back.
Meet the Ragtop of Your Dreams
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The 750S Spider is British manufacturer McLaren's latest supercar, built around a mid-mounted, twin-turbocharged V-8 that makes 740 horsepower. It's the lighter, sharper successor to the vaunted 720S, and available as a convertible, it's quite possibly this summer's most desirable droptop. It also feels like a loud and fast farewell to gasoline excess as we inch kicking and screaming toward an electric future.
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Crossing the Threshold, Blasting Off
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You step over the wide carbon-fiber sill, plant one foot inside, then take a long drop into the seat. It’s a leap, physically and mentally, like a portal. Everything feels low, tight, purposeful. With the push of a button, the roof folds away in 11 seconds. Just like that, you’re exposed—and a deity to the neighborhood preteens in Messi shirts who freeze and stare.
Behind you, the V-8 funnels all 590 lb-ft of torque to the rear wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. Quicker steering, revised suspension geometry, and a retuned exhaust make the 750S feel explosive yet precise. Zero to 60 mph arrives in 2.7 seconds; hold your foot down, and it’ll keep pulling until 206 mph.
It feels like we’re approaching the end of something special. Ferrari and Lambo are busy plugging in batteries, and even Porsche’s 911 might eventually go electric. But McLaren, at least for now, remains unapologetically committed to combustion.
Finished in Belize Blue, our 750S test car glowed like waters you'd skim across if you were hauling contraband and evading the Coast Guard. At the rear, a striking lattice of perforated metal replaces traditional bodywork, venting heat from the V-8.
Practicality? Not Exactly
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With exactly 2 cubic feet of cargo space in a frunk, there's room for…a hoodie. Thankfully, the 750S is outfitted with a front-end lift system that lets you clear driveways without announcing your arrival with an expensive-sounding scrrrrrrrrrape.
The base price for the 750S Spider starts at $338,000; the one I drove rang in at a head-spinning $440,310. It never attempts to justify itself—it’s easy to drive and impossible to forget.
2025 McLaren 750S Spider Specs
- Engine: 4.0-liter, twin-turbo V8
- Transmission: 7-speed, dual-clutch automatic
- Horsepower/Torque: 740 hp/590 lb-ft
- 0-60: 2.7 seconds
- Top Speed: 206 mph
- MPG: 15 city/19 highway
- Price: From $338,000
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