Review: Hands down a thumbs up for the McLaren 570S
For this kind of power and feel, McLaren’s a bargain.
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In the time required to unfurl this newspaper and shake out the automotive section, a McLaren 570S catapults to 60 miles per hour from a dead stop, assuming your newspaper skills accomplish that in 2.9 seconds. Seven seconds later, it’s at 130. Within a minute, 204. On Route 66 through Portland, Connecticut, it’s more like never.
I’ve chosen the fun way to Boston, all back roads and no highways, because that’s what you do with a McLaren on a clear summer day. Of course, I got snagged in summer construction, with traffic snarled for half an hour on a road that normally takes two minutes to navigate. But it’s at idle, brake lights bleeding into the distance, where the 570S really shines.
The cabin is airy, thanks to a bubble-shaped roof, a tall windshield, and a floating center console with no drivetrain tunnel cramping precious space. There’s generous visibility to the sides and even through the rear glass, which in most mid-engine cars is like a Brinks truck gun slit. The air conditioning is supermarket-freezer cold. I’m banging to whatever Top 40 beat is on the Bowers & Wilkins stereo. My back is cradled by the all-day-long power seats, which to my lower vertebrae’s delight aren’t the optional rock-hard pieces meant for the track. The McLaren, at 0 mph, is hardly like most mid-engine supercars.
Ergonomics and comfort may not seem like priorities for a $200,000 car hand-built by Englishmen, who, you should know, run one of the winningest Formula 1 racing teams. But modern supercars are meant to be road cars. Maybe you won’t take a McLaren to Market Basket, but you ought to take one on a long trip or drive one every day, if for no other reason than to grab ice cream 20 miles away. I did that all week with this car, and I’m convinced there’s no other supercar that looks and feels this incredible at low speeds as it does at the very maximum.
The Mercedes-AMG GT S left me exhausted and begging for air. It’s stupidly tight inside that car, and the suspension is rock hard and nervous over broken pavement. A Porsche 911 Turbo is just as capable, yet no one notices a new 911 any more than a 10-year-old 911. V-12 Mercedes SL or S-class coupe? We’re getting warmer. Bentley Continental GT? A more exquisite interior, to be sure. A Ferrari California is more expensive. Ditto the Lamborghini Huracan.
JOLLY GOOD SHOW: The Brits have poured their all into this gorgeous supercar, and it can be yours for around $200,000.
For $210,710 with all options (sport exhaust, red brake calipers, 10-spoke wheels, a front lift, a luxury package with that great B&W stereo and heated seats, plus red leather trim to offset my car’s stealthy gray paint), a 570S is a deal. The doors open skywards just as little boys expect they should, and the body’s passenger cell is 100 percent carbon fiber, the same lightweight, rigid construction used in cars costing five times as much. This is a proper supercar, from every angle, slit, arcing LED, and enormous rubber patch, at a discount price. It will not be mistaken for anything ordinary.
When no one’s in front, I’m gone. For a car weighing 3,200 pounds with a cruise missile strapped on its back—a 3.8-liter twin-turbo V-8 putting out 562 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque—building speed is as easy as buttering a warm bagel. You’ll want to hold on to your butter knife, however, until the turbos build enough boost. You can still catch the 570S (and yourself) off guard for a second when burying the gas pedal, but when boost arrives, it throws you back. Hard. The engine’s smooth roar revs and winds up like a racing bike, and there’s so little vibration that triple digits appear when you thought you were doing 70. Then you turn the wheel and plug directly into the McLaren’s cortex. Steering reactions are so natural and immediate, but never darting or frenzied. The feel is simply sublime, in any of the three throttle and three suspension settings. Hit the carbon ceramic brakes and the same feeling transpires. There’s no discernable body roll, yet the ride never punishes and the wheels don’t bottom out over manhole covers.
The 570S is supposed to be McLaren’s entry-level car, below the $350,000 650S and the sold-out $1 million P1. Just a few years ago, McLaren wasn’t even making cars. Yet they’ve nailed it. Even the key is heavy and special. (On a Rolls-Royce, it’s the same plastic fob that comes with a BMW 3-series.) The infotainment screen is quick and easy to learn. It sort of gets fuel economy, if you feather it like the EPA, at 23 mpg highway. My only concern was with McLaren’s seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox, which needs to be revved like a manual around town to avoid lurching. But that’s basically it.
“We can’t get enough of them,” says Dan DeSantis, who held the grand opening for his McLaren Boston dealership in Norwell this weekend. So far, he’s sold about 20 of the 300 570S models nationwide since it went on sale in December. It’s very much a small operation: McLaren will only build up to 1,700 of these cars for the 2016 model year. Yet unlike Ferrari, which keeps one- to two-year wait lists, it’s possible to receive your new McLaren in as little as three months.
What a decision. It’s either this McLaren or a luxury car everyone else has already bought nine times over, all cars that feel heavier and more detached from the road. So how many seconds will it take to pull your capital gains into a down payment? Hopefully, some of you already know that answer.
THE BASICS
Price, base/as tested (with destination): $187,400/$210,710. Fuel economy, EPA estimated: 16 city/23 highway. Fuel economy, Globe observed: N/A. Drivetrain: 3.8-liter twin-turbo V-8, 7-speed dual-clutch automatic, rear-wheel-drive. Body: 2-passenger coupe.
THE SPECIFICS
Horsepower: 562 @ 7400 rpm. Torque: 443 lb.-ft. @ 5000 rpm. Overall length: 178.3 in. Wheelbase: 105.1 in. Height: 47.3 in. Width: 75.1 in. Curb weight: 3,189 lbs.
THE GOOD
Raw excitement, unbeatable style, everyday comfort.
THE BAD
Turbo lag, some jerkiness from the transmission.
THE BOTTOM LINE
A supercar that reestablishes what all supercars should be at this price.
ALSO CONSIDER
Porsche 911 Turbo S, Mercedes-AMG GT S, Ferrari California T.
Clifford Atiyeh can be reached at [email protected].
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