How many of you run a McLaren with any warranty?
Discussion
Hi All,
I am in the market for a McLaren and having watched a few of the Thorney video's it strikes me as maintenance of these cars may not be as scary as the internet stories suggest. I will probably end up with a 5+ year old McLaren given my budget so that puts me into the 12C/650S range.
How many of you guys run a Mac without a warranty on here? In particular for the 650S which I have heard is supposedly amongst the most reliable in the range (does it still suffer from the dreaded gearbox issues that plagued the 12C). I appreciate there is a Thorney warranty out there too but I assume it would not be as comprehensive as the Mac one. I would be interested in hearing from owners who have either had a warranty and needed to call upon it, or those who have run without warranty and has it paid off?
I am in the market for a McLaren and having watched a few of the Thorney video's it strikes me as maintenance of these cars may not be as scary as the internet stories suggest. I will probably end up with a 5+ year old McLaren given my budget so that puts me into the 12C/650S range.
How many of you guys run a Mac without a warranty on here? In particular for the 650S which I have heard is supposedly amongst the most reliable in the range (does it still suffer from the dreaded gearbox issues that plagued the 12C). I appreciate there is a Thorney warranty out there too but I assume it would not be as comprehensive as the Mac one. I would be interested in hearing from owners who have either had a warranty and needed to call upon it, or those who have run without warranty and has it paid off?
If you have a look on the 12c thread, i asked similar questions and Thorney gave great informative answers.
I have a 650 which is currently covered by the McLaren warranty that expires in late Oct.
On its 3rd and 4th birthday services it was discovered very slight damp on a damper. I personally would of been happy to keep an eye on it to see if the problem worsened, but on both instances they were changed at £3k a pop.
This is not a unique fault and Thorney reckons they can go for years without getting any worse.
Apart from a recalibration of the airbrake, the car has been faultless...not one issue since last October when i paid £3600 to extend the warranty.
I have been considering replacing the 650 with another McLaren lately, but if i do keep it, it really is a massive consideration if i pay £4900 in October to extend the warranty, or put that money in a car fund.
The McLaren gearbox issue reminds me of a Ferrari valve guide issue from years ago that affected such a few amount of cars but followed it around for years and years as everyone likes a good horror story...i never actually managed to speak to an owner that it had affected.
I have a 650 which is currently covered by the McLaren warranty that expires in late Oct.
On its 3rd and 4th birthday services it was discovered very slight damp on a damper. I personally would of been happy to keep an eye on it to see if the problem worsened, but on both instances they were changed at £3k a pop.
This is not a unique fault and Thorney reckons they can go for years without getting any worse.
Apart from a recalibration of the airbrake, the car has been faultless...not one issue since last October when i paid £3600 to extend the warranty.
I have been considering replacing the 650 with another McLaren lately, but if i do keep it, it really is a massive consideration if i pay £4900 in October to extend the warranty, or put that money in a car fund.
The McLaren gearbox issue reminds me of a Ferrari valve guide issue from years ago that affected such a few amount of cars but followed it around for years and years as everyone likes a good horror story...i never actually managed to speak to an owner that it had affected.
I wouldn't buy a 12c/650S and run it without a warranty from day one. I would want to spend time to find out if it's a lemon first and see how many issues you get then take a view after a few months. Plenty have been been fine but there's a few troublesome cars out there and you need to make sure you don't buy one unknowingly.
From watching the Thorney videos it seems that outside of the dreaded gearbox failures all other repairs are manageable. Did McLaren address this with the later 12C's and 650s or did the weak point carry on right through the range. Of all the items it seems this is the one that has to be considered foremost when deciding on a warranty.
On the point of getting a warranty and running for a few months, would McLaren refund pro-rata any un-used warranty? I suspect they wouldn't so if you were to warranty I assume you need to commit for the full year.
On the point of getting a warranty and running for a few months, would McLaren refund pro-rata any un-used warranty? I suspect they wouldn't so if you were to warranty I assume you need to commit for the full year.
BlackR8 said:
I appreciate there is a Thorney warranty out there too but I assume it would not be as comprehensive as the Mac one.
If you're comparing our warranty to the OEM one, ie for a brand new car inside 3 years old I'd agree but for the Mclaren extended warranty, the one run by Car Care Plan then ours covers more and we are able to fix more things than perhaps a dealer would by simply replacing things. Life is great with a choice though!Thorney said:
If you're comparing our warranty to the OEM one, ie for a brand new car inside 3 years old I'd agree but for the Mclaren extended warranty, the one run by Car Care Plan then ours covers more and we are able to fix more things than perhaps a dealer would by simply replacing things. Life is great with a choice though!
Can you give examples of what your warranty covers that the McLaren extended warranty doesn't? I thought the McLaren extended warranty was quite comprehensive (although expensive). Like many owners, I will need to decide whether to renew the McLaren warranty, take out a warranty with you or run warranty free when mine expires - but I'd always assumed that yours would be less comprehensive than the McLaren / car plan one. If you actually cover more that will make the decision a lot easier!davek_964 said:
Thorney said:
If you're comparing our warranty to the OEM one, ie for a brand new car inside 3 years old I'd agree but for the Mclaren extended warranty, the one run by Car Care Plan then ours covers more and we are able to fix more things than perhaps a dealer would by simply replacing things. Life is great with a choice though!
Can you give examples of what your warranty covers that the McLaren extended warranty doesn't? I thought the McLaren extended warranty was quite comprehensive (although expensive). Like many owners, I will need to decide whether to renew the McLaren warranty, take out a warranty with you or run warranty free when mine expires - but I'd always assumed that yours would be less comprehensive than the McLaren / car plan one. If you actually cover more that will make the decision a lot easier!It was posted a few times before that the dampers were not covered, but 2 have been replaced on mines so up until last October they definitely were.
From my understanding, if there was a component that was not covered by the warranty, McLaren seem to replace it on goodwill on most occasions.
From my understanding, if there was a component that was not covered by the warranty, McLaren seem to replace it on goodwill on most occasions.
Hi, my 12c has been out of warranty for 2 years with no problems, only had to regas aircon system in that time, total confidence in car, car has been ultra reliable dispite the horror stories I've read on here & I've probably saved 8 to 10k that would have been spent on a McLaren warranty
LordOfTheManor said:
Why?
Because I've owned the car since new, it's never seen a day back at the dealer so I know it's not a lemon.......therefore I'll pay for anything that needs fixing.......and won't be paying the circa £4k mcLaren want to warranty it.If McLaren are confident that at £4k a year they will be making a profit, then I am happy to self insure myself for £4k a year, kept in my bank and not McLaren's.........
I`ve owned my now 8 year old 12c (!! where did that time go?) for 5 years. Bought the car with 1 year extended McLaren warranty which covered the rear lights, and not bothered since. Only significant ish issue since was the water pump which Thorney`s changed for about £800 a couple of years ago so overall I`m quid's in.
I would have thought most lemon cars would have had issues fixed by now but it would certainly be worth getting an inspection done by Thorney or McLaren when buying and if you have concerns then it would be advisable to take their warranty for a year.
Use the car regularly, warm it up sensibly, cool it down sensibly (if you've been caning it round a track) keep the battery charged (get a decent Lithium battery charger if the car has not already got one), service it correctly and you`d be very unlucky to have any serious issues.
I would have thought most lemon cars would have had issues fixed by now but it would certainly be worth getting an inspection done by Thorney or McLaren when buying and if you have concerns then it would be advisable to take their warranty for a year.
Use the car regularly, warm it up sensibly, cool it down sensibly (if you've been caning it round a track) keep the battery charged (get a decent Lithium battery charger if the car has not already got one), service it correctly and you`d be very unlucky to have any serious issues.
LordOfTheManor said:
I've heard some people have gearbox/engine issues couldn't that cost a fortune.
I know 355 owners listen for any rattle, will the same paranoia set in?
Thorney can fix the gearbox issue for less than the max claim limit of their own warranty (£10k) - so although that's expensive, it doesn't seem catastrophic and it's not like it will happen every year.I know 355 owners listen for any rattle, will the same paranoia set in?
I will decide when mine runs out. But £5k a year 'insurance' is quite a bit.
LordOfTheManor said:
I've heard some people have gearbox/engine issues couldn't that cost a fortune.
I know 355 owners listen for any rattle, will the same paranoia set in?
Piffle.I know 355 owners listen for any rattle, will the same paranoia set in?
All scaremongering if you ask me.
When i had my R8 did i worry about the mag ride going hard, the dreaded power steering fault. Endless gearbox issues. .. No
GTR - Did i worry the gearbox was going to blow, was i plagued with endless EML's ? No
My E60 M5 - Did i wait to hear the chapping from the bottom end on start up ? No
My EJ20 WRX STI - blah blah blah blah
Just like reading the news, never anything good said
LotM - Have you ever owned a McLaren or are you just trolling to blacken the brand ?
Everything in life is a gamble. My Meile Washing Machine blew up last night - Why ? God Knows but i'll still buy another one.
Buy one, drive one & use it
A great post above from Sarnie - If MCL think they can profit from there 4k warranty then i'll happily self insure.
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