650s - First impressions

[stuthemong]

I've been musing the same change as you. I've recently sold my third car and have two cars left. There is a temptation to sell them both and get a 650 spider.

I'm worried I'll find it a bit playstation /boring as I love analogue drivers cars, but I'll be interest in reading more as you get more feel for it

Enjoy

Stu

[Kent Border Kenny]

sjc said:

Great looking car .
That was the car at Alistair Bols but you said earlier bought it privately ??

Mistake by me if I did, or I badly explained that it was a sale he was doing for a private seller, but yes, it was the car at Alastair Bols, and he was a pleasure to do business with.

[Kent Border Kenny]

stuthe said:

I've been musing the same change as you. I've recently sold my third car and have two cars left. There is a temptation to sell them both and get a 650 spider.

I'm worried I'll find it a bit playstation /boring as I love analogue drivers cars, but I'll be interest in reading more as you get more feel for it

Enjoy

Stu

It doesn’t feel analogue so far, it feels alive, and very, very fast.

I’m amazed that when accelerating up to speed on a slip road or the like, at a pretty decent rate, it seems to not need to go above 3,000rpm in Auto.

I went out again last night in it, as the roads were dry, and it started to rain as I was leaving the garage, so still no more information to share. I’m starting to get pretty frustrated at this point.

[Drclarke]

Kent Border Kenny said:

Mistake by me if I did, or I badly explained that it was a sale he was doing for a private seller, but yes, it was the car at Alastair Bols, and he was a pleasure to do business with.

I am curious, if it’s a dealer selling a private car does he provide the same warranty and back up that a more established dealer would have to do?

[Kent Border Kenny]

Drclarke said:

I am curious, if it’s a dealer selling a private car does he provide the same warranty and back up that a more established dealer would have to do?

Yes, he does.

I asked if it could be sold without a warranty, and was told that that’s not possible.

[drcarrera]

Kent Border Kenny said:

Drclarke said:

I am curious, if it’s a dealer selling a private car does he provide the same warranty and back up that a more established dealer would have to do?

Yes, he does.

I asked if it could be sold without a warranty, and was told that that’s not possible.

Is that AB's warranty or just a Mac one transferred from the previous owner? IIRC Mac extended warranties can be transferred by private sellers but not by dealers?

[650spider]

If I recall correctly, AB uses the the same car plan warranty that McLaren use for the extended warranty, the only difference being you cannot extend it after the 6 months warranty period...you would have to get a Mclaren dealershop inspection to enable it to qualify for taking out the warranty through them.

[RSbandit]

drcarrera said:

Is that AB's warranty or just a Mac one transferred from the previous owner? IIRC Mac extended warranties can be transferred by private sellers but not by dealers?

Technically true however I bought my 570s from a dealer in Yorkshire last yr and they were able to transfer the warranty across ( prev owner of the car obliged)

[Kent Border Kenny]

drcarrera said:

Is that AB's warranty or just a Mac one transferred from the previous owner? IIRC Mac extended warranties can be transferred by private sellers but not by dealers?

His would not normally be the McLaren one, but there’s a route to having McLaren accommodate their warranty being transferred and a dealer fulfilling their legal obligations too, which keeps everything legal and above board, and everyone happy.

[Bispal]

Lovely car many congratulations.

You need to be careful in the wet / slippery conditions on PZeros's my old 12C would do the same, could be scary! However my 675LT with more power and MPS4S has tons of traction, even in the wet. I recommend you change the tyres, I don't think its a geo issue.

The ride should be like a Rolls Royce. Try switching from normal to track suspension. If there is no change in comfort then its likely the accumulators will need replacing. However I am 99.99% certain AB would have picked up on that if it was an issue.

I guess you are in Kent? You should join the McLarens owners FB group but if not there are plenty of us local to Kent to meet up with.

Enjoy!

Edited by Bispal on Monday 2nd November 19:20

[Kent Border Kenny]

Bispal said:

Lovely car many congratulations.

You need to be careful in the wet / slippery conditions on PZeros's my old 12C would do the same, could be scary! However my 675LT with more power and MPS4S has tons of traction, even in the wet. I recommend you change the tyres, I don't think its a geo issue.

The ride should be like a Rolls Royce. Try switching from normal to track suspension. If there is no change in comfort then its likely the accumulators will need replacing. However I am 99.99% certain AB would have picked up on that if it was an issue.

I guess you are in Kent? You should join the McLarens owners FB group but if not there are plenty of us local to Kent to meet up with.

Enjoy!

Edited by Bispal on Monday 2nd November 19:20

McLaren had it in for a full service then transported it down for me to collect, so yes, I’d hope that they’d have spotted it. I’ll try switching it and see. It’s now back in McLaren warranty, so will go back to them if there’s an issue.

I’ll swap the tyres over straight away I think. The set that’s on is nearly new, so I’ll want to find a place that can store them, and I also want to make sure I use a place that will be sure to look after my rims, can you recommend anywhere?

I also don’t have an owner’s manual of any sort, are they available online?

I have had a bit of a look, but can’t find one.

[davek_964]

Did you check under the 'glove compartment'? There are some manuals there.

I have an electronic copy - can't remember where I downloaded it but happy to send it to you if you pm me (it's pdf)

[johnnyreggae]

Pick your language ! https://cars.mclaren.com/gb-en/ownership/service-a...

[Kent Border Kenny]

davek_964 said:

Did you check under the 'glove compartment'? There are some manuals there.

I have an electronic copy - can't remember where I downloaded it but happy to send it to you if you pm me (it's pdf)

I didn’t, I’ll have a look, thanks.

[Kent Border Kenny]

johnnyreggae said:

Pick your language ! https://cars.mclaren.com/gb-en/ownership/service-a...

And that’s smashing too, thank you.

[Harryoz]

Congrats on the buy

When I had a 650S, switching the tyres to MP4S was the best thing I did to address traction issues.

Is there PPF on the car and roof? Perhaps the mark is just on that and not to the paint?

[Kent Border Kenny]

Harryoz said:

Congrats on the buy

When I had a 650S, switching the tyres to MP4S was the best thing I did to address traction issues.

Is there PPF on the car and roof? Perhaps the mark is just on that and not to the paint?

There is, it’s on all the main areas.

I’m not really concerned, it’s a six year-old car; if it was as good as new then it’d not have been selling for under £100k.

I also have to accept that without a reversing camera it’s quite likely to look much more used very soon.

[anonymous-user]

Kent Border Kenny said:

McLaren had it in for a full service then transported it down for me to collect, so yes, I’d hope that they’d have spotted it. I’ll try switching it and see. It’s now back in McLaren warranty, so will go back to them if there’s an issue.

I’ll swap the tyres over straight away I think. The set that’s on is nearly new, so I’ll want to find a place that can store them, and I also want to make sure I use a place that will be sure to look after my rims, can you recommend anywhere?

I also don’t have an owner’s manual of any sort, are they available online?

I have had a bit of a look, but can’t find one.

Manual is available online on mclarenlife.com i think.

Definitely check the accumulators. Mine was just serviced by Mclaren Birmingham in July and needed them replaced in September. Mind you, I'd trust a car that had been sold by Alastair over most of the main dealers. Glasgow have been great with me but Birmingham couldn't care less despite being where I spent the money.

Cracking cars though.

[Rameez-Q]

Agreed with before, I had P Zero's on my M4 and would notice anything sub 15 degrees they were bad, sub 10 very, they needed to be 20 to get good traction, 25 to really grip but that takes quite a bit of spirited driving on B roads.

A good tyre change will fix the issue but with 650bhp, RWD you've got to ease it in at times.

[Kananga]

Kent Border Kenny said:

It looks as though the weather might improve today, so hopefully I’ll get some taken.

Here’s some from the dealer’s pictures, taken on a brighter day.

Congratulations! Looks like my old one, and I really miss it!