McLaren 675LT Spider: McLaren's Longtail drops its top

McLaren 675LT Spider

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The McLaren 676LT Spider has been revealed as the convertible take on McLaren’s range-topping Longtail. Just 500 units at £285,540 each.

Earlier this year, McLaren revealed the 675LT, reviving the Longtail moniker from the Le Mans F1 GTR to produce McLaren’s most extreme mainstream model. And now we get the logical follow-up with the arrival of the McLaren 675LT Spider – the convertible Longtail.

Just like the Coupe, the Spider is being offered as a limited run (just 500 cars) each costing £285,450 – almost £30k more than the Coupe – and with the same 666bhp, but with a folding roof and some new alloys.

Lighter than the 650S on which it’s based, the 675LT can get to 62mph in 2.9 seconds and on to a top speed of 203mph (2mph less than the coupe), partly down to the extra 40kg in the roof mechanism and partly due to aerodynamic differences. But, thanks to its carbon fibre tub, the Spider is just as stiff as the coupe.

The folding hardtop in the Spider cab be opened at speeds up to 19mph, and when open stows under a tonneau cover, leaving the engine still on show under its glass cover and exposing the humps behind the driver and passenger.

Elsewhere things are much the same as the coupe, with big air intakes, twin round exhausts, statement front splitter, wider track, increased airbrake surface area and a chunk more downforce. But the Spider does offer a new set of alloys – lighter even than the Coupe’s – and a new Gold paint job called Solls.

If you’ve got the £285 large the McLaren 675LT Spider costs to spare, you’ll need to be quick – the Coupe sold out almost before it hit the headlines.