McLaren Artura vs Lexus LC500H

What's the difference?

McLaren’s most liveable offering proves hybrid heroes have a place in the supercar stable of tomorrow. Angry and affable in near-equal measure, it is utterly docile during the week and completely bonkers on the weekend.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel, accommodation and meals provided.

A truly fuel-efficient performance car, who’d have thought? There are some obvious trade-offs for trying to exist in two seperate worlds, but the Lexus LC 500h largely handles its dual roles with aplomb.

As is pretty par for the course with McLarens, the Artura's design is more about aerodynamics than aesthetics, with everything you see outside designed to either help you slip through the air, or stick to the road.

There is, however, one important new part of the design, and that is the roof, which opens in 11 seconds and at speeds of up to 50km/h, meaning you should never be caught in sudden rain.

Elsewhere, you’ll find it is all angles and alloys outside, while inside, it is a pretty driver-focused experience. I particularly love the steering wheel, which is totally free of buttons – a refreshing change which means it has one job and one job only.

Then there’s the central screen, which looks a bit like it’s just been plonked in the cabin, but works seamlessly. One note, though. It's positioned a little too low, meaning you have to take your eyes right off the road to look at it when driving.

It's a little curious, the LC 500h. For mine, it's stunning from a distance. All gleaming alloys and bulging rear arches and sharp snout angled downward like its caught the scent of its prey.

But weirdly, it can start to look a little less impressive the closer you get to it - a little swollen and vague in its lines. It's very likely it's eye-of-the-beholder stuff (fellow CarsGuide scribe Richard Berry adores it from every angle, for example).

Inside, the front of the cabin is a busy but stylish space, with multiple textures layered on top of each other to produce a premium-feeling, sporty space. The low-feeling dash juts out, giving the front passengers an ensconced, cockpit feel.

Everything is predictably leather-wrapped and lovely, and while it's not as streamlined as, say, an Audi interior, it's not without a genuine sense of Japanese charm in the cabin.

Practical? Not really, but then, what were you expecting? There are two seats, some 124 litres of luggage space in its under-bonnet boot, phone connections and… well, that’s about it.

One design element I do love, which counts as a practicality perk, is the glass finish applied to the rear buttresses, which don’t just look cool, but help you see out the back when peering over your shoulder.

It's not really. Especially in the backseats, which would make more sense if they were painted on. I'm no giant, but even my 175cm-tall head was pushed into the ceiling, and while there’s ample shoulder space for two adults, you’re unlikely to be able to convince two to get back there. 

Lexus has included something called the "Easy Access" function for 2020, which sees the front seats slide forward automatically to help with accessing the rear seats, and they do lower the Cirque du Soleil antics required to get back there, but this realistically not a car for carrying more than two adults, save an emergency. There are two ISOFIX attachment points in the rear, so child seats can be locked in there. 

That's not necessarily a drawback, though. This is a two-door sporty coupe, after all, and elsewhere, the sizeable dimensions (4770mm length x 1920mm width x 1345mm height) provide plenty of space for up-front riders.

You'll also find hidden cupholders, bottle holders in the doors, and all the power and connection points you need. 

A word on the tech, though. The LC 500h is crying out for a touch screen, though the brand's traditional mousepad system is improving.

Value is all about perspective, of course, and viewed the right way, the $195k sticker price of the Lexus LC 500h does provide a certain amount of value.

Yes, it's a lot of money. But Lexus' flagship coupe doesn't just get a performance-focused hybrid setup (pairing with a thumping V6 engine), but also just about every high-end feature the brand has in its deep bag of tricks.

It starts outside with giant 21-inch alloys, a glass roof with a sun blind,  LED headlights with cornering lights, hidden door handles, keyless entry, and rain-sensing wipers.

Inside, you'll find leather-accented seats, a colour head-up display, a 10.3-inch multimedia screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, another 8.0-inch screen in the driver's binnacle, a heated steering wheel, heated and cooled front seats, DAB+, satellite navigation system with live traffic, and a killer 13-speaker, 918-watt Mark Levinson stereo.

The magic of the Artura’s powertrain isn’t the twin-turbocharged V6, but its dinner-plate-sized e-motor, which adds 70kW and 225Nm to the total outputs.

In EV mode, which lasts around 33km, that’s all the power you get. But when both power sources are in use, the e-motor essentially plugs any turbo lag or power holes, delivering smooth, constant and massively ample power.

How much power? Try 515kW and 720Nm — up some 15kW on the existing Artura — unlocking a sprint to 100km/h in 3.0 seconds, a run to 200km/h in 8.4 seconds and from a standstill to 300km/h in 21.6 seconds.

That power is fed through an eight-speed automatic and channelled to the rear tyres, with the help of an 'E-Diff', while pre-configured 'Electric', 'Comfort', 'Sport' and 'Track' modes arrive as standard, too.

There are also a heap of suspension and software enhancements, longer-laster braking, stiffer engine mounts to tighten the entire vehicle, faster damping, significantly quicker gearshifts and a broader rev range.

The LC 500h is powered by a hybrid setup that combines a 3.5-litre V6 engine with a 650-volt "Lexus Hybrid Drive" system and a lithium-ion battery. That setup delivers 264kW of power, and somewhere north of 350Nm in torque when the engine and motor outputs combine.

That power is sent to the rear wheels via a CVT automatic, and will produce a sprint to 100km/h of around 5.0 seconds. 

According to Lexus, 10 clear improvements were made the way the 2020 LC 500h drives, including a new transmission tune, more structural bracing added for rigidity, new suspension components and spring rates, and altered stabiliser bars. 

Has it made a difference? Read on. 

You can plug the Artura in, of course, and taking the 7.4kWh battery from zero to 80 per cent charged will take around 2.5 hours. McLaren reckons you can expect fuel use of around 4.8L/100km when both powertrains are in operation.

Be warned, though, there’s enough magic used to fill Hogwarts when it comes to calculating that number, and you can expect that figure to likely double if driving sedately, and skyrocket if you get on Tinder terms with the accelerator.

Lexus says the LC 500h will sip 6.8 litres per hundred kilometres on the combined cycle - very impressive for what is ostensibly a performance coupe - and emit 152g/km. 

The LC 500h is equipped with an 82-litre fuel tank. 

I know it sounds strange, given how knife-sharp and angular the McLaren Artura Spider looks, but perhaps this plug-in powerhouse's biggest party trick is not how it operates at its 8500rpm redline, but how it behaves at low speeds in town or cruising on the freeway.

This is a properly comfortable supercar, happily tootling around in near-silence in in EV mode, or just cruising around, the improved damping smoothing out the road below and the exhaust note barely noticeable.

Honestly, there was a moment on this test drive when I found myself in EV mode with the roof down while travelling at around 70km/h, and I could hear birds chirping as I passed them, such was the calm ambience of the cabin.

Supercars aren't designed as daily drivers, but the McLaren Artura Spider is so effortlessly easy to live with you could use it as your weekday runabout, before unleashing it on the weekends.

Open the taps a little more, though, and suddenly that nature changes, unlocking a darker and more dynamic side to the McLaren's personality, courtesy of the 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6, putting the entire 515kW and 720Nm at your disposal.

I don't think I've driven a car in which the distance between its twin personalities is so vast. Plant your right foot and the acceleration (0-100km/h in just 3.0 seconds) is properly violent, while the gearing has been set up in a way that it is near impossible to hit the redline on a public road – at least without obliterating the speed limit.

The steering is a predictable highlight – super direct, and near-telepathic in the way it responds to your inputs. The eight-speed auto goes about its work with seamless efficiency, too.

The biggest highlight, though, is the Artura's agility. McLaren is famed for taking an approach to removing weight from its vehicles that is so ruthless it's a miracle they don't make prospective owners step on a scale before handing over the keys. And while its true convertibles are heavier than their hardtop counterparts, you can't tell in the Artura Spider.

Instead, the brand has worked to remove weight and tighten the drive experience, mostly through new and stiffer engine mounts and that single piece carbon-fibre tub, which is why there is no additional body stiffening required in the convertible over the coupe.

As a result, the Spider feels light, lithe and super reactive, devouring corners with no jiggling or roll and no different (in that sense) to the hardtop version we drove last year.

One of the other big changes the brand made this time around is to retune the exhaust, making it louder and more natural-sounding, and you can take advantage of that in the Spider, with the rich bass filling the cabin as though your own personal orchestra is being conducted by your right foot.

So, if you're in the camp that says electrification has no place in the world of supercars, you're wrong. Electrification doesn't hamper excitement here, it enhances it.

There’s something very strange about hitting the start button in what is ostensibly a sports car, and being greeted not by the bark of an exhaust, but by the gentle whirring on the car’s electronics coming to life.

But then, the Lexus LC500h is not your average performance car.

It essentially trades the out-and-out grunt of its V8-powered sibling (which produces a monstrous 351kW and 540Nm) for a kind of best-of-both-worlds approach that pairs the punch of the V6 engine with the fuel efficiency of a hybrid powertrain. 

If that sounds like an compromised approach to pure performance, you're right. But reframe the way you look at the LC 500h and it all starts to make a bit more sense.

Remember, this isn't a track-attack weapon, but a potent on-road bruiser, and the flow of power on offer always feels ample, and you never want for too much more off-the-line pace on public roads. 

Among the biggest selling points of the LC 500h is the sheer distance between its various personalities. Engage Eco, or even Normal, drive modes, and it’s a quiet, mostly very comfortable (though it can be unsettled by bigger bumps) kilometre-eater, but engage Sport or Sport Plus and it rightly transforms into something significantly angrier.

It might not be the absolute sharpest tool in the performance car shed, but the LC 500h does bristle nicely when those modes are engaged, the hybrid factor seemingly replaced by a satisfyingly meaty exhaust note and an accelerator that’s suddenly far more sensitive to the touch.

The steering feel is nice and the inputs direct, but there is something about the car’s 1980kg weight that doesn’t inspire the deepest of confidence, at least not on the rain-slicked roads we were travelling along .

A pure performance coupe? Perhaps not. But a sporty, stylish and, when you want it to be, comfortable cruiser with the ability to turn the volume up when you come across a twisting road? Bingo.

The Lexus LC 500h is yet to be ANCAP tested (the price would likely prove a sticking point), but the Japanese brand has fine form in attracting top marks, and there's certainly no shortage of safety features on offer here. 

There's a total eight airbags and a reversing camera and parking sensors, as well as a host of high-tech kit like AEB, Lane Keep Assist, Blind Spot Monitoring, active cruiser control and a bonnet that will sense pedestrian and pop up before impact in an attempt to minimise injury. 

The Artura arrives with a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty as standard, while the battery is covered for six years or 75,000km. Five years of roadside assistance is thrown in, as are your first three years of services.

So, to ownership. Let's start with the basics first, before we move onto the new Encore Platinum benefits. 

The LC 500h is covered by a four-year/100,000km warranty, and servicing (capped for three years at $595 a pop) is required every 15,000km.

You will know already the Lexus's stellar Encore ownership program includes handy features like valet (pick-up and drop-off) servicing, but the new Encore Platinum level for owners of its more exclusive models unlocks some seriously cool stuff. 

One is a new On Demand service, which allows owners to book a different style of car when heading off on a holiday or business trip. So, say you own the LC 500h, but want to take the family to the snow and need a seven-seat 4WD like the RX L, then Lexus will lend you one at no charge, which you can keep for eight days.

The loans are available in your state or somewhere else in Australia if you're travelling, with your car waiting for you at Qantas Valet for you when you arrive. 

The One Demand service is available on four occasions over your first three years of ownership (which is also the length of the Encore Platinum membership). 

The Platinum level also provides eight examples of free valet parking at select shopping centres, as well as hotel and restaurant benefits, and invitations to Lexus' drive days around the country.