2018 Fiat 124 Spider in Depth: Tempura with a Side of Gnocchi

– With its unique mix of Italian style and Japanese engineering, the Mazda MX-5 Miata–based Fiat 124 Spider is a sushi roll stuffed in a cannelloni. It’s more than a bunch of new badges, however, as the 124 Spider sports an exclusive turbocharged Fiat engine, unique suspension tuning, and a more upscale interior. It’s a […]

Researchers use lasers to weld spider silk to kevlar

Enlarge (credit: National Park Service/J Schmidt) Spider silk has some amazing material properties, so there’s lots of enthusiasm for the prospect of using it to make something useful. Unfortunately, spiders aren’t domesticated, and attempts to make the silk proteins in other organisms haven’t been entirely successful. And then there’s the matter of what to do […]

This McLaren 570S Spider is great for the budding enthusiast

The new McLaren 570S Spider is a wonderful car, but it’s far out of the price range for most enthusiasts. The car starts at $ 208,800 before any options. Still, there is an alternative. McLaren and U.S. toymaker Step2 have just announced a new version of the 570S Spider that’s both far more affordable and […]

2018 McLaren 570S Spider – First Drive Review

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2018 McLaren 570S Spider Driven: Svengali Supercar

– The subtle feedback of tugs and twitches coming through the steering wheel with every pavement undulation and nuanced change in road surface are vivid enough that an astute passenger will notice the wheel’s wriggling. This is not standard-issue carmaking (or even supercar-making) these days. But McLaren is going countercultural by prioritizing driver involvement, even […]

2018 McLaren 570S Spider First Drive | A sweet breeze

The McLaren 570S Spider is madness. Not the car itself, which is a cogent convertible design based on the already handsome coupe. What is crazy is that a 562-horsepower machine that hammers to 62 mph in 3.2 seconds is only considered a sort-of, kind-of supercar. The Spider will be McLaren’s volume model in its lowest-priced, […]

2018 McLaren 570S Spider: The No-Compromise Macca?

– It’s long been held that chopping off a car’s roof inevitably dulls performance due to the extra weight from structural bracing and folding-top mechanisms, but does it have to be that way? McLaren rejects that paradigm with the new Spider version of the 570S supercar, which, despite carrying a complex retractable-hardtop mechanism, keeps extra […]