An Eruption of Imprudence - Volcano Orange McLaren 570GT

An Eruption of Imprudence - Volcano Orange McLaren 570GT

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samoht

Original Poster:

5,831 posts

148 months

Monday 12th June 2023
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samoht said:
a little extra civility and luggage space might increase chances to tour with the car.
Wise people like SSO and Harry M talk about establishing a 'use case' for a car before you buy it. Since I’ve not had anything like this before, I’m still exploring how best to enjoy it. The latest experiment was innocently triggered by my wife, who expressed a desire to visit a few cities in Germany. Yes dear, that would be lovely wouldn't it, and why don't we take the new car?

Supercar road trips are among the most enjoyable magazine features to read, and the Autobahn is one of the last places where the high speeds of yore are still permitted. That was the dream, but would the reality be a pain in the back from hours uncomfortably seated, parking worries, re-wearing smelly shirts and traffic jams?

The plan ended up being chunnel, Reims, Stuttgart, Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg, then back by ferry from Holland; about 2000 miles over ten days.



The first hurdle was luggage space, not always a feature of mid-engined cars. Fortunately the suitcase I’d identified as neatly fitting the front boot, plus the two sausage bags for behind the seats, proved to hold ten days' clothes for two so that challenge was ticked off.

We had a quiet run down to Folkstone and were surprised on check-in to be offered the option of jumping on the next crossing in five minutes, as an alternative to our booked slot over an hour later. On the ‘wide’ section of the Eurotunnel we shared a carriage with a white 488, driven by a friendly gent who was off to visit the Normandy beaches. He’d had it on track a few times, clearly an enthusiast and a nice guy.

The autoroute was pleasant as usual, and we set the cruise conservatively, avoiding temptation for this leg of the trip. The seats are a bit of a challenge; they have a dozen separate adjustments of each part, and being rather firm any mis-alignment between car and driver is keenly felt. However, I can only really tell what position I need while I’m actually driving the car, yet that means blindly groping at the hidden controls buried between seat and centre console. I think I’ve now got an idea what all the 12 buttons do however, and with a series of running tweaks on the first day down to Reims I found a position I’m happy with, and had no aches or pains for the rest of the trip. The primary ergonomics of the car are great, feet out straight, one foot on each pedal, sat comfortably, great visibility.

Crossing France on a Saturday the aires were fairly busy, and a bright orange McLaren garnered plenty of attention - fortunately all positive, and a good chance to use our rusty french and german skills. For whatever reason it seems that even the humblest McLaren is perceived as exotic, perhaps even more when outside the UK.

Arriving in Reims I was pleased the hotel had space for us in their own car park; after squeezing through an incredibly tight twisting entrance and then a car lift down to the second level, a little less so. At what point is the peace of mind of stashing a car in a private underground car park overnight outweighed by the fear of scraping a wheel or worse in the process? Having said that, at least the nose lift gives you plenty of clearance, and we had no issues with scraping despite a few rather steep ramps and transitions.

Between Reims and Stuttgart my wife insisted on a detour to the Mosel region and wanted to buy some wine at a particular hotel. I had my doubts, but a very hospitable Ukrainian member of front-desk staff was happy for us to park up out front, plied us with coffee and juice, and identified the perfect slot for a three-pack of very good white wines to slot into in the front boot. In fact the front boot’s odd extra spaces proved perfect for my wife to collect various bottles; on the other hand any cold drinks stashed behind the seats come out as hot ones, due to the very considerable heat from the engine room below. Perfect for take-away pizzas though.


Most of the luggage

Talking of food, we were very glad to find Speisemeisterei in Stuttgart, pricey but probably our new most delicious restaurant. Even in more reasonably priced establishments, most of the food we found was good-to-great. At some point in the last decade, the Germans have learned to cook (just as we did in the 90s). At some point in the next ten years, they will probably be persuaded to give up their tradition of unlimited autobahnen. So if you’re looking for somewhere to take a driving holiday, it’s a really good time to go enjoy Germany!



Having said that, driving during the day the autobahns were at times quite busy, and it also seemed to be roadworks season, inconveniently. Still, there were clear bits too. Somewhere to or from Munich we briefly hit 180 mph before slowing for traffic. There were good sections maintaining 100 or 120mph for reasonable periods, too. I really notice how planted this car is at high speed; the Autobahns are often twistier and hillier than most of our motorways, and previously in the C55 I was sometimes backing off, unsure quite how much understeer to anticipate. The McLaren inspires absolute confidence, from the feel of the steering you just know the car’s with you and the fat Michelins aren’t going to yield a millimetre. At one point we were running at about 120 in the outside lane past slower traffic as the road swept dramatically down and over a sunlit valley in a sweeping right-hand arc, which felt awesome (and ever so slightly like playing Outrun!)

The only times I backed off was when visibility was limited or there was more than isolated traffic in the neighbouring lane; it’s hard to judge exactly how much faith to put in people seeing you approaching at very high speed. More than once someone pulled out in front of us, then saw us coming and returned to their original lane. Generally the lane discipline and willingness to co-operate with faster drivers is noticeable in Germany, and in stark contrast to crossing Holland on the final leg.



I found a couple of other fast drivers; it’s quite fun when an M135i or CLK55 pulls over into the middle lane but stays at wide open throttle, almost asking for a demonstration of the McLaren’s reach - one I was of course happy to provide biggrin . It’s not “racing” when you’re just both in a hurry, right? Passing the Merc was the one time my wife passed comment, as it was a rather bumpy section of road; otherwise she was entirely relaxed about my exercising the car, sometimes remaining asleep deep into three-digit speeds. As you’d expect, when working at high speeds there’s no such thing as too much power; an engine which feels borderline insane to unleash on an unsuspecting B-road provides only a ‘normal’ sense of acceleration when the outside lane clears at 120mph.

Munich meant a chance of a return visit to the BMW Museum, which has changed quite a bit since I visited while on German exchange in 1996. Well worth a visit, with a lot of interesting especially older cars, bikes and engines.


It's lucky BMW learned from their mistake with the 2000CS oversized grille, isn't it?


Still BMW's only real supercar

The soft damper setting (normal) is generally comfortable, although it is as you’d expect a tad underdamped, which can lead to corkscrewing in fast corners; I took to switching up to Sport when traffic cleared, a good compromise that takes out surplus body movements while still absorbing bumps at high speed. Road noise isn’t as low as a contemporary unsporting car, but maybe similar to a family hatch from 15 years ago, so perfectly acceptable.



Queueing for the overnight ferry, we reflected on the trip. It's incredibly lucky to not only have a car like this, but to have the chance to take it on this sort of longer-distance adventure. The car didn’t miss a beat mechanically despite being run hard, the lone glitch being a one-off Iris infotainment crash. It was comfortable, capacious enough, utterly in its element on derestricted autobahn yet ok with tight car park ramps. Every move it makes, even in slow traffic, is shot through with a dynamic quality, an considered elegance and grace of movement. And it also seemed to manage to make friends wherever it goes, too.

BrettMRC

4,193 posts

162 months

Tuesday 13th June 2023
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Fantastic write up, sounds like you found the perfect use for it!

Anything you would do differently if going again?

trevalvole

1,084 posts

35 months

Tuesday 13th June 2023
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samoht said:
Between Reims and Stuttgart my wife insisted on a detour to the Mosel region and wanted to buy some wine at a particular hotel.
I approve of your wife's taste in wine!

Noyzboy

94 posts

220 months

Tuesday 13th June 2023
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M22s said:
The McLaren is cool n’all, but we need more of the RX7 please smash
There you go. Sorted

samoht

Original Poster:

5,831 posts

148 months

Tuesday 13th June 2023
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BrettMRC said:
Fantastic write up, sounds like you found the perfect use for it!

Anything you would do differently if going again?
Yeah, I'm definitely intending to do more continental trips with this car, it's by no means a classic 'Grand Tourer' but it is good at grand touring.

I regret not arranging to get onto an Autobahn at 8-10pm in the evening, it stays light late now and would have been nice to have a shot at the double ton. So that's something to try and wrangle into the schedule next time.

Probably staying two nights in each of four cities consecutively was a little on the fast-paced side, maybe next time aim to spend three nights in some places and do fewer destinations.

Also I'd like to mix it up and spend three nights staying somewhere more rural, might also get some interesting country roads although obviously those all do have speed limits.

I have an itch to get to Scandinavia next time, just a question of working out the timings given AFAIK there aren't ferries there from here any more.

MissChief

7,157 posts

170 months

Tuesday 13th June 2023
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samoht said:
Yeah, I'm definitely intending to do more continental trips with this car, it's by no means a classic 'Grand Tourer' but it is good at grand touring.

I regret not arranging to get onto an Autobahn at 8-10pm in the evening, it stays light late now and would have been nice to have a shot at the double ton. So that's something to try and wrangle into the schedule next time.

Probably staying two nights in each of four cities consecutively was a little on the fast-paced side, maybe next time aim to spend three nights in some places and do fewer destinations.

Also I'd like to mix it up and spend three nights staying somewhere more rural, might also get some interesting country roads although obviously those all do have speed limits.

I have an itch to get to Scandinavia next time, just a question of working out the timings given AFAIK there aren't ferries there from here any more.
Ferry over to Holland and then drive up to Denmark and over the bridge to Sweden?

samoht

Original Poster:

5,831 posts

148 months

Saturday 24th June 2023
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Yeah, would have to go 'the long way around' to Scandinavia, hopefully can make that work next year.


You may have been wondering what running costs would be like on a McLaren - I know I have been! Yesterday I spent the day at V Engineering near Thatcham again. Agenda was the annual service, plus a few minor running gear bits and bobs which were spotted in March, but they needed to order parts for.

One was a broken rear brake air duct - these plastic scoops hang down under the car next to each rear wheel and cool the rear brakes, which do double duty on McLarens for brake steer and to act as an ersatz LSD. I suspect I snapped one when pulling the car off the tarmac onto an unsurfaced layby, so will be avoiding that in future!

Then there was slight play in the ball joint of a rear track rod, and another ball joint rubber gaiter was split.

Cost was £474 for the minor annual service, plus £658 for the other stuff, total £1132.

If the costs continue at this sort of rate then I'll be very happy, I'm sure there will be the odd larger bill down the line but I'm being given the impression it's not too bad.

Steve is always happy to demonstrate everything he's doing, so I saw all the work plus the back and forth he had to do removing and refitting wheels, arch liners, underfloor panels etc. He showed me the shutters on the radiators which close in traffic to avoid the rad fan just recirculating hot air to and fro (since the fan doesn't cover the entire rad area), and lots more interesting stuff besides.

While waiting I also took the chance to ogle the Miura and Daytona in the workshop, plus have a gander at a Testarossa with its bumper off, demonstrating the notorious engine-over-gearbox layout. They're down to a single P1 in the workshop now, there was also a very nice purple 765LT with a lot of carbon and custom MSO touches. Sadly but understandably they don't want photos taken in the shop, to respect other customers' privacy. However it's always reassuring that when I go there, my car is about the cheapest one in sight wink You can see a bit of the workshop in the middle of this recent Tavarish vid https://youtu.be/2hI1IY782ig?t=1242

Also on running costs, I saw 36mpg on a steady cruise to visit family in Yorkshire, a lot better than we did in Germany funnily enough! McLaren owners often express dissatisfaction with how the estimated range varies wildly, but I think it's just a function of a drivetrain which can do both a fairly economical cruise, and turn petrol into motion at a vast rate if you really ask it to, it has a very wide range. So self-restraint is worthwhile (most of the time, at least).

I'd told the insurance 4k miles for the year, now five months in the odo is just over 21k, from 17600 on collection, so have nearly done that much already. I increasingly want to use this car for everything that doesn't involve leaving it parked on the street / a muddy verge, as it's just so nice to drive (even just driving normally in traffic), and very usable.

T350 Al

619 posts

193 months

Saturday 24th June 2023
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Loved reading the write up of your trip, thank you! Funnily enough, an idea for a similar trip was what inspired me to start looking at a 570; having seen how much one is to hire for a few weeks, a now ill-fated statement from the wife of "That must be about the same as 6 months of finance payments" and I pick mine up this Friday!

It's also good to see that the running costs needn't be stratospheric, so another thanks for sharing those!

samoht

Original Poster:

5,831 posts

148 months

Saturday 24th June 2023
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T350 Al said:
Loved reading the write up of your trip, thank you! Funnily enough, an idea for a similar trip was what inspired me to start looking at a 570; having seen how much one is to hire for a few weeks, a now ill-fated statement from the wife of "That must be about the same as 6 months of finance payments" and I pick mine up this Friday!

It's also good to see that the running costs needn't be stratospheric, so another thanks for sharing those!
Great stuff! Yeah the hire costs are pretty steep, vs likely cost of ownership unless unlucky I think. I think you'll enjoy it; having something so special, that feels so good to drive and is so quick, and yet still comfortable makes for a great road trip.

And in the long run I always think that I'd much more likely regret not buying a McLaren when I had the chance, than I would ever regret going for it.

PinkHouse

1,011 posts

59 months

Saturday 24th June 2023
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Thanks for the really informative write-up and great to see you properly enjoying your car!
I saw the V Engineering workshop in the Tavarish video and it gives the impression of a 10x more professional of an operation than the other leading McLaren independent specialist. They certainly inspire confidence and look like a valid alternative to main dealers, especially given the indicative pricing above. Do you know if they offer any warranties or have plans to do so? Have you decided whether or not you're renewing the McWarranty on yours?

samoht

Original Poster:

5,831 posts

148 months

Saturday 24th June 2023
quotequote all
Yeah, they feel very professional to me, deeply knowledgeable after a decade each at McLaren but also with an open-minded approach, willing to learn new things rather than feeling the need to pretend to know everything.

V Engineering don't offer a warranty scheme.

Paul's line is basically that the worst 'known' issue is a gearbox failure, which they can repair for something like £6k, so they recommend not paying for a warranty and essentially their aim is to provide more affordable fixes for all but the most unlikely disasters. Hence their rechargeable accumulators for the Super Series cars, and they're working on being able to replace just the bushes on suspension arms, as that's a fairly common issue which currently requires entire new arms. Steve showed me how he 3D-printed a part to mend the latch on a 675LT engine cover, another case of a small fix that saves a potentially big bill to replace the whole cover. Obviously their lower labour rate also keeps things more affordable.

I've gone with this, so have not taken up McLaren Hatfield's offer to wait 3 months and then pay them three grand for their warranty. Time will tell if this works out, but in my mind the McWarranty is a lot of money, it doesn't cover certain things like paint corrosion and (AFAIK) door hinges, and overall the V Engineering approach of finding smarter solutions than firing the main-dealer parts cannon feels like the way for ordinary enthusiasts like me to enjoy these cars at >3 years old.

I'll keep you all posted if this decision backfires on me!

PinkHouse

1,011 posts

59 months

Sunday 25th June 2023
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That's really reassuring to hear and good to see that the prices for 'worst case scenarios' have dropped from roughly £10k to £6k, and as more independents offer these services things can only get better. I've seen that RE Performance (Renowned Audi & Lamborghini specialist) have started offering McLaren services. I think you've got quite a prudent plan in contrast to the thread title and wish you many more miles of enjoyable motoring!

Quick question regarding practicality, has the 570GT rear hatch made much of a difference on your road trips? More specifically, are there any trips you've been on that you wouldn't have been able to take as much luggage if you had the 570S/540C even with creative packing in soft bags?

samoht

Original Poster:

5,831 posts

148 months

Sunday 25th June 2023
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PinkHouse said:
Quick question regarding practicality, has the 570GT rear hatch made much of a difference on your road trips? More specifically, are there any trips you've been on that you wouldn't have been able to take as much luggage if you had the 570S/540C even with creative packing in soft bags?
Good question, I'd say it makes a pretty small difference.

The 540C/570S have the shelf behind the seats, ahead of the vertical rear screen. With the GT, the only difference is that this space extends further back to the base of the rear tailgate but the floor ramps up sharply about where the screen is on the regular coupes (because the engine inlet plenum is underneath). Since the floor ramps up and the roofline sweeps down, the available height narrows down pretty sharply, coming to pretty much nothing at the trailing edge of the tailgate hatch.

On the trip we had two sausage bags transversely across behind the seats, these would go just the same in a regular coupe. We then had a fairly thin rucksack behind them in the 'extra' space (which was pain to try and squash down thin enough to avoid blocking the rear view). And of course the front boot, where we had a medium roller suitcase.

Of those, only the thin rucksack wouldn't have fitted straight into a regular coupe, probably less than 10% of the storage and we could've squeezed those items in two or three smaller bags in the front, back or down the back of the seats. So we could have made the trip just as well in a 540C or 570S coupe.

IMO the points about the 570GT are (1) looks, which are personal (2) it's a bit less tiring on longer trips (but concomitantly less exciting on short blasts) I think due to being a bit quieter, softer and having less steering kickback. The marginal extra luggage capacity is definitely the least significant difference, and wouldn't affect things really I don't think.

Disclaimer: this is assuming you use the shelf behind the seats in a regular coupe for luggage, in contravention of the sticker explicitly forbidding this - I assume all owners do so anyway wink




PinkHouse

1,011 posts

59 months

Sunday 25th June 2023
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samoht said:
PinkHouse said:
Quick question regarding practicality, has the 570GT rear hatch made much of a difference on your road trips? More specifically, are there any trips you've been on that you wouldn't have been able to take as much luggage if you had the 570S/540C even with creative packing in soft bags?
Good question, I'd say it makes a pretty small difference.

The 540C/570S have the shelf behind the seats, ahead of the vertical rear screen. With the GT, the only difference is that this space extends further back to the base of the rear tailgate but the floor ramps up sharply about where the screen is on the regular coupes (because the engine inlet plenum is underneath). Since the floor ramps up and the roofline sweeps down, the available height narrows down pretty sharply, coming to pretty much nothing at the trailing edge of the tailgate hatch.

On the trip we had two sausage bags transversely across behind the seats, these would go just the same in a regular coupe. We then had a fairly thin rucksack behind them in the 'extra' space (which was pain to try and squash down thin enough to avoid blocking the rear view). And of course the front boot, where we had a medium roller suitcase.

Of those, only the thin rucksack wouldn't have fitted straight into a regular coupe, probably less than 10% of the storage and we could've squeezed those items in two or three smaller bags in the front, back or down the back of the seats. So we could have made the trip just as well in a 540C or 570S coupe.

IMO the points about the 570GT are (1) looks, which are personal (2) it's a bit less tiring on longer trips (but concomitantly less exciting on short blasts) I think due to being a bit quieter, softer and having less steering kickback. The marginal extra luggage capacity is definitely the least significant difference, and wouldn't affect things really I don't think.

Disclaimer: this is assuming you use the shelf behind the seats in a regular coupe for luggage, in contravention of the sticker explicitly forbidding this - I assume all owners do so anyway wink
Really useful info on the bags and dimensions, looks like you've mastered playing Tetris! I agree the 570GT has the best looking rear end and is on my shortlist for my next purchase, but I'm finding more 540s & 570s in the colours I like

Grey_Area

4,010 posts

255 months

Sunday 25th June 2023
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One of the MOC owners had https://bag-world.co/portfolio-item/surman_bespoke... fit his 570, including scross the rear parcel shelf, was v pleased with the outcome, and said the owner was a gent to deal with.




samoht

Original Poster:

5,831 posts

148 months

Sunday 25th June 2023
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^ those Surman bags look great, really useful use of space and look good quality too. I only didn't go for that as I wanted a suitcase specifically so as to have rollers to wheel it around, but probably by splitting the frunk space between two bags, neither would be too weighty.


It's always tricky to know which model and spec to go for and then how long to wait for one's ideal car to turn up. A McLaren is normally a second or third car so there's no real time pressure to buy, yet one's patience is only so long. It's unlikely the car of the ideal model with your absolute favourite colour, interior, wheels, spec and great condition at a keen price will appear, so it's a question of which things to compromise on and which to hold out for. Personally I would probably try to stay patient until a car comes that you're really taken with, the hunt is all part of the fun after all. At the same time I don't think there are any wrong choices, as long as you don't end up buying a wreck(!)

I decided I wanted a GT mainly for the looks, and I wanted a bright colour, so seeing this car with the forged wheels and generally decent spec, and in good condition, I was pretty much sold as soon as I saw it in the metal.


This afternoon it was too hot for a walk so I went out for a little drive, had some fun, checked the oil and grabbed some pics.












The window stickers are air pollution ratings for France and Germany, so far I'm keeping them on as they can't be removed and re-applied, so would have to remember to order them again, seems easier this way and it's a reminder of good times smile

BrettMRC

4,193 posts

162 months

Monday 26th June 2023
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Looks brilliant under the trees! smile

justin220

5,364 posts

206 months

Monday 26th June 2023
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Fantastic write up and great to see you getting some real enjoyment out of it

danmarr14

170 posts

142 months

Monday 26th June 2023
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Really enjoying your thread and writeup! Not that I could ever afford one - but does that rear shelf space exist in the Spyder versions too?

samoht

Original Poster:

5,831 posts

148 months

Monday 26th June 2023
quotequote all
danmarr14 said:
Really enjoying your thread and writeup! Not that I could ever afford one - but does that rear shelf space exist in the Spyder versions too?
I've not yet been up close to a Spider, but I looked into it and I think the answer is 'yes and no'. The rear screen is hard behind the seats in the Spider so you don't have the shelf inside the cabin space. There is however a smaller space under the tonneau cover, available for use when the top is up only:



All variants (incl the 600LTs) have the same front boot.

If we said the 570GT's usable luggage space is 100%, a regular Coupe might be 90-95%, and a Spider maybe 50-60% ? So it's less, but at the same time still relatively practical for a convertible supercar.