I Drove a McLaren and Now I'm Ruined

[Frisky Dingo]

Well guys, it happened. I never thought it would, but I drove a car that may be technically perfect. You can stop reading here if you want, or go further for me to explain why.

I'm pretty sure I have spoken of our one particular client from whom we get regularly get a lot of very high end cars from. Last Friday upon arriving at work, I was simply told to "...get in, we're going to pick up some of Tommy's cars." I don't need anymore of an invite than that. Typically, we pick his cars up from one of two locations- from a parking garage underneath one of his friend's restaurants that is nearby, or from a shop about 10 miles away where he has his cars detailed. This time we were picking them up from his newly acquired warehouse out by our regional airport about 15 miles away. I was told on the way we were getting a few Hellcats, an AMG, a McLaren, and I pretty much stopped listening there. Just as well, as it turns out the rest of the cars were a built Wrangler, an Aston Martin Vanquish, and a new NSX.

We get there, I walk up to this gorgeous little escape pod-looking thing of swoops, curves, and vents and relish in it for a moment. This ought to be good. Anything with scissor doors had better be. It's as if the car is already making a little more of a claim than your 'average' 200K sports car. I get in, rather easily I might add, and fire it up. Sounds good. Not amazing, but really good. A little loud, a fair bit of mechanical chattering. I embarrassingly spend the next 5 minutes trying to figure out how to adjust the power seat- it's in a really weird place- and then start looking for what I call the 'fun control' settings. You know, the ones that adjust suspension, power delivery, throttle response, etc. I put them each- 'Powertrain' and 'Chassis'- in Sport, the next to most aggressive setting.

And then I set off. And almost immediately have my mind completely blown. This car sparked an instant connection that I have never before experienced in a car. It sounds silly to say, but it was more akin to donning a suit that endows one with superhuman abilities than getting in an automobile and driving. The thing that I most quickly noticed was that the weight, feel, and response of all the controls were exactly as I would want them, and they were all in perfect harmony. By that I mean, if I could conceptualize in my mind what would be a perfect-to-me user interface in terms of steering, throttle, brakes, suspension, and gearbox feel, control, and precision, this car physically embodied it. It was together staggering and something I hadn't quite thought possible. It instantly wanted you to take control and impose your will on the road ahead. Such was the otherworldly melding of the machine with the man that it almost felt as if the car did what you thought, before you even gave the command. The steering, pedals, and suspension are all so free of slop the car feels telepathic, as if every layer of isolation between you and the input and following response were evaporated.

I constantly found myself waiting for openings large enough to downshift a few gears, and catapult myself into oblivion with its relentless acceleration. Relative to the amount of power the car has, or at least, is rated at, I have never driven a quicker car. It makes a Hellcat, or GT3, or 458 Italia feel positively slow in comparison. It piles on speed so quickly the poor digital speedometer can hardly keep up. In lower gears, the far right place is a blur of unreadable white figures, the left place climbing as quickly as your average sedan's right under full throttle. In gear pulls from about 3K rpm or so trigger a delightful audible spool of the turbos followed by a fluttering of wastegates when you lift. The forced induction here is an added depth of aural pleasure rather than a penalty.

Taking the car through a series of bends is an exercise of making singular, clean, precise, slight movements, the car flowing through your intended direction changes with astounding obedience and control. Mid corner bumps are soaked up and shrugged off in one movement. The car just goes where you point it, immediately and faithfully. Though the car's grip far surpasses your ability- or bravery- it makes you feel as if you are a critical component of the car's actions. I know McLaren has been criticized for some of their older cars feeling clinical or computerized. This car is not that. It feels blissfully pure, simple, and intuitive. It operates with such a level of precision and control as to completely embarrass most Ferraris, Porsches, and Lamborghinis. It makes 570 hp and its eye-widening acceleration feel completely normal. It feels no more extreme than a 200 hp Camry. And I mean that in the best way possible. It is inviting, offering thrills that are easily attained. But it also has such a high performance envelope, it will constantly reward you for working ever so slightly up towards them. Is it prefect? I'm not sure. On the one hand, I don't know if anything can be. On the other, I don't know that I could really point out any flaws or kinks. I suppose if I really wanted to nitpick I could say it doesn't sound as good as a Huracan. Or that some of the interior controls and features were not the most user friendly in the world- ahem, power seats, ahem. But those don't really have an impact on how the car drives. So, in summary, perhaps I can leave it at saying this is the closest to perfect driving car I've ever been in. That's still quite some praise to bestow on a car, no?

 

 

I can't get my phone to format the pictures correctly when I email them, so here is a car that is spec'd identically to the one I drove, wheels and all-

 

Edited June 19, 2018 by Frisky Dingo

[ykX]

Wow, that was almost poetic

[G. David Felt]

Very cool, always great to get to drive special auto's.  

[ccap41]

All of that and you don't even say the name of the car you drove?!?

VERY good review though. I always enjoy your thorough reviews. 

[Frisky Dingo]

1 hour ago, ccap41 said:

All of that and you don't even say the name of the car you drove?!?

VERY good review though. I always enjoy your thorough reviews. 

 

Ah, yes, how silly of me. That just added to the suspense though, right? ? 

As the picture shows, it was a 570S. With Track Pkg, ultra lightweight forged wheels, and a bunch of other pricey options. MSRP new as 212K.

2 hours ago, ykX said:

Wow, that was almost poetic

Thanks! I try to put a little effort into them. Just all dependent on the car, I guess. ?

[G. David Felt]

3 hours ago, Frisky Dingo said:

 

Ah, yes, how silly of me. That just added to the suspense though, right? ? 

As the picture shows, it was a 570S. With Track Pkg, ultra lightweight forged wheels, and a bunch of other pricey options. MSRP new as 212K.

Thanks! I try to put a little effort into them. Just all dependent on the car, I guess. ?

Awesome, so maybe I just forgot, but does this guy just buy cars, drive them for a short amount of time and then unload them? 

Sounds like a nice life to be able to buy cars on a wim and dump them when your bored with them.

[Frisky Dingo]

34 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Awesome, so maybe I just forgot, but does this guy just buy cars, drive them for a short amount of time and then unload them? 

Sounds like a nice life to be able to buy cars on a wim and dump them when your bored with them.

 

For the most part. He does buy some super exclusive/ultra high end cars that he keeps. For instance, he has an older (05-06) Ford GT, an 05 Porsche Carrera GT, an older SL65 AMG Black Series, a Porshce 918, an 08 Veyron, and a new Chiron.

[ykX]

The previous owner of my company had 650 Spider which he occasionally brought in, among a number of others like 911, Lambo, MB AMG and few more.  

The cars like this McLaren or Ferraris, Lambos are amazing and drool worthy, it is just too bad they out of reach to 99.9% of people.

[Robert Hall]

Nice.. I've worked for small companies where the owners had interesting cars, but nothing exotic.   One consulting firm I was at the owner had a Boxster S (which I drove once), a startup I was at the owner had an Audi TT roadster, other startup/small company owners I worked for had more ordinary transportation like a first gen Prius, a Yukon, an Acura TLX, a VW CC..