McLaren 720S First Impressions (6 years too late)

Last week, I wasn't planning on stopping by my local dealer, McLaren NJ, on my way home from a morning drive. I caught up with Michael and Tevyn, who was shocked to hear that I had never driven a 720S (or any P14 car) and immediately offered a test drive. Only a fool would reject such an offer…

We hopped in a CPO 720S coupe with around 3k miles on the odometer and off we went!

720S specific comments:

• The coupe door cutout helps a lot with ingress/egress. For some reason, I did not open the door enough on my way out and hit my head. Oh, the irony…
• The visibility is INCREDIBLE. The two biggest changes I noticed compared to a P13 (570 platform) car are thinner A-pillars and a lot more rear visibility, thanks to the C-pillar glass.
• My hot take is that the door roof cutouts plus the C-pillar glass are reasons to get the coupe over the spider.
  
• The steering wheel has this lovely metal trim. I also really liked that this car had the small and clicky metal paddles instead of the longer carbon fiber paddles.
• For some reason, this car was not equipped with an electrically adjustable steering column.
• The sofas are still rock hard. Seat controls are still at the front of the seat on the side near the center console.
• Steering heft feels approximately the same as a 570S/570GT, which is lighter than that of a 600LT or Artura.
• As with Artura, steering+chassis seems to have filtered the smaller road imperfections, i.e. higher signal-to-noise ratio. This made the ride feel significantly more refined, but less exciting for my taste.
• The trick hydraulic suspension really does wonders for ride comfort. I'd rate the ride in comfort mode about as well as that of a Lexus ES!
• Carbon brakes bite _hard_.
• I'm not sure how to describe, but the engine note under acceleration is less "aggressive" than that of the 570/P13 car.
• No engine drone at highway cruising speeds!
• I distinctly remember being disappointed by this during my (preproduction) Artura test drive back in June 2022 and Tevyn said that production cars don't drone.
• The surround view parking camera is mediocre. The mirror video stream stitching is not cohesive with the front and rear cameras’.
• Tevyn told me that the surround view camera is much better in the 750S. I forgot to try it when I drove the Artura a couple years ago.

McLaren Artura First Impressions

 I was invited to test drive the Artura on 22 Jun. Thanks to McLaren NJ for hosting!

Artura specific comments:

• Hybrid is very nice, in particular for stop-and-go. However, comfort mode holds EV mode for longer than my taste, leading to an impression of a lethargic car, especially when accelerating past 20mph (first mistake I made during the test drive).
• Same great hydraulic steering rack with the heft of a 600LT's. Honestly the heft surprised me, as I expected a more "daily drivable" car to bias towards lighter steering.
• Steering+chassis seems to have filtered the smaller road imperfections, i.e. higher signal-to-noise ratio. This made the ride feel significantly more refined, but less exciting for my taste.
• V6 sound is tuned towards the lower octaves, as can be heard from various YouTube videos.
• The sofas are softer than those in the 570 series, but not as plush as those in the GT.
• The sofas don't go as far forward as expected, i.e. I had to slouch to be able to fully rest my foot on the dead pedal. If I were ordering a car, I would get the Clubsport seats with lumbar: I sat in these in the dummy car and thought they provided me the best seating position of any car that I have tried.
• The seat controls have been moved to the side of the seat, consistent with the rest of the industry, and a departure from those in previous McLarens. I think new clients will highly welcome this change. See photo below!
  
• Braking is indeed purely mechanical. The carbon brakes bite _hard_, as expected.
• Rearward visibility is good, though not great like in the 720S coupe. I think the rear window is a bit larger than that of the 570S's.
• Heard motor whine when accelerating at highway speeds, but no turbo whistle (at ~4k rpm).
• Front lift works a couple seconds faster than that of the 570 series. You still to turn the car on (not just accessory mode), but the engine does not need to turn on to use the lift.
• Engine still drones when cruising at ~1800rpm in 8th gear (~70mph).
• I guess the new infotainment and CarPlay is nice.

Other:

• I still prefer the short metal shift paddles to the carbon shift paddles.

tl;dr Artura is too soft and refined for my tastes; my parents would like it. Looking forward to the LT version (and also the GT4 race car)!

McLaren 600LT Spider First Impressions

Author's note: This test drive was done in April 2019, but I have been procrastinating with publishing this post. In any case, enjoy!

I had the opportunity to drive a 2020 McLaren 600LT Spider at McLaren of San Francisco! I never got a chance to test drive a 600LT couple since their debut last year, nor have I gotten a chance to test drive a 570S Spider that I so dear wanted once upon a time. Unfortunately, the test drive happened during mid-day on a weekday, which wasn't the best time to tour back roads.

600LT specific comments:

• No creep! This is important to me because I struggle with chauffeur braking in automatic transmission cars. On that note, I also appreciate that Tesla provides a no-creep option.
• Same great hydraulic steering is considerably heavier than in the 570S and 570GT, especially in "track" handling mode.
• The gunshot/whip crack downshifts are not a lie. They are incredible to experience with the top down.
• No flames were to be seen during mild street driving in daylight :-(
• I feel like the LT cars have stiffer (or just solid) engine mounts. I felt a massage from the seat while sitting at a red light.
• No comment on the upgraded brakes; they were fine for street use. No comment on comparing the upgraded system from the 720S to the normal ceramics on the 570S or to the steel brakes in the 570GT.
• No comment on the lighter weight. Need to hit the back roads or track…
• No comment on downforce from its cute little fixed wing. Definitely need to push a bit on the track for that.
• The normal power seats didn't go as far forward in this 600LT as I thought they would. Speaking of normal power seats…
• This test car didn't have the critically-acclaimed Senna seats! I think that the dealer has a second demo Spider with the Senna seats. I hope I can take that car for a proper spin!

Yes, this is my normal seating position. Marvel at the amount of space behind the seat!

Other:

• I preferred the short metal shift paddles over the extended carbon fibre paddles. Something about the metallic clink when I tap my fingernails on the paddles that's lacking with the carbon paddles…
• Having experienced the 720S Spider roof mechanism, the legacy system in the 600LT Spider feels slow as I put the top down prior to leaving the dealer.
• Sport Series Spider cars: the high shelf provides little rearward visibility regardless of roof position. (but who needs to see what's behind them in a supercar??)
• 2018 and later Sport Series cars: Backup camera is in the instrument cluster screen. To me, it's harder to use in conjunction with the rearview mirror than the postage stamp display in the centre screen in the 2016/2017 cars.
• Chicane Effect is Chicane Grey with orange metallic flakes:

I really want to do a proper test drive in the back roads with little traffic, and in a car with the Senna seats. This will almost certainly need to happen on a Saturday morning shortly after the showroom opens at 9a!

How I would spec this car: pretty barebones. The only "must-haves" I think are the Senna seats, as well as small practical items such as the soft-close doors, front lift, and battery charger. Skip the visual carbon exterior (the standard palladium pieces are actually painted carbon fibre pieces), skip the carbon interior, skip the leather, skip the audio…

• Colour of my choice. These days, I'm feeling MSO Amethyst Black, ever since having seen a Senna in this colour during Car Week last year.
• Standard 10 spoke wheels.
• Soft close doors.
• Standard Alcantara interior. Maybe splurge for the orange "By McLaren" Alcantara interior if I'm feeling lucky…
• Senna seats, regular fit.
• Front lift.
• Battery charger.

Before driving this car, I used to think that the 600LT coupe is the car to get because of the possibility of the roof scoop (for the uninitiated, it makes for an unique soundtrack). However, that's available in any LT coupe, and the uniqueness of the top-firing exhaust in the 600LT cars is most accentuated by a convertible, which was confirmed by this short drive. Therefore the 600LT Spider is now my pick of the two.

[1] Neoprufrok, Roof scoop noises. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rte0WJjJIgU
[2] Vehicle Virgins, 600LT delivery. https://youtu.be/-XqaoHCWuK0?t=936

McLaren 570S First Impressions

I went to McLaren San Francisco yesterday to drive the 570S. Alessandro, the sales manager, first drove the car to give an overview and then we swapped for some behind the wheel time.

Here are some observations:

• Palladium exterior looks great — carbon exterior trim not necessary
• Car has marginally easier ingress/egress — I’m only 5’3” so I don’t notice as much as tall people!
• Soft close is either/or — nice, but I don’t feel a must have
• Standard seat felt like sitting on leather wrapped concrete
• Power seat controls still unusable without practice; would get the manual seats
• Interior trim in palladium is decent — practical benefit of carbon interior is extended paddles?
• Unparalleled forward visibility; apparently the front windscreen has been enlarged, necessitating a second windshield wiper (boo! the single wiper of the 650S and 12C looks so cool)
• Track mode suspension really stiff
• Car is really willing to turn
• Turbocharger whistle loud around 5k RPM
• Sports exhaust not necessary

Then I got behind the wheel and drove the car on a mix of highway, the twisty backroads of Palo Alto, and local roads back to the dealer:

• Flying buttress impedes rear visibility for lane changes
• Steering is precise, fast, but barely any bumps felt through steering
• Car is very nimble
• Brake pedal does not have much travel. This apparently is normal in cars with carbon ceramic brakes.
• Throttle has a lot of travel. I didn't realize this when I initially adjusted my seating position, so when Alessandro kept egging me on to push the car, I was embarrassed that my seat was too far back for me to floor the car.
• Power delivery is more linear than the 650S, which I drove late last year. So when the turbos start spinning, you don't feel an insane push.
• In full auto mode, the gearbox will shift depending on your throttle usage. The car was very eager to get to 7th gear when I was simply cruising on the highway (75mph is around 2500rpm). During mildly spirited driving, the car would shift around 4000rpm.
• Belies its size while driving (it's 4 inches wider than my 911)
• Didn’t try B&W sound; 8 speaker audio system is standard in 570S; 4 speaker is for 540C
• Front lift will clear almost all ramps, still need to proceed slowly
• Silver exhaust looks disgusting after ~1k of use without cleaning
• Frunk smaller than that of 997 frunk
• MSO defined/bespoke options open to any clients, unlike Porsche's PTS program

The upcoming 570 GT will be like the Porsche Cayman; a deck extends above engine as a storage shelf. The rear glass hatch will slope and be openable, like 997 targa, but will open from side instead of roof. The car will be shown at the Geneva Auto Show next month.

The 570S Spider demo will arrive mid 2017 the earliest, though I heard from another cleaning lady that her dealership will have one in January of 2017. That seems incredibly optimistic to me, but we'll see.