McLaren 720s

[964Cup]

Intro thread here: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...



Thought it might interest some to give an occasional update on what it's like to live with.

One week and a couple of hundred miles in, here's my take so far:

Good things

• It is insanely, stupidly quick.
• I really like how it looks. The world (journos aside) seems to agree with me given the people winding their windows down to tell me how much they like it. Including a rather attractive woman; sadly I am happily married and fortunately my wife was not with me at the time.
• It handles as well as everyone said it would, including the hydraulic steering living up to its billing.
• It seems perfectly happy to sit in traffic (albeit it's not that warm out at the moment).
• You can actually use it around town (London). The nose lift works, it pootles about happily, the doors don't need much clearance, it's really easy to place on the road and not actually all that wide.
• In general the whole everything in auto motorway cruise thing works well.
• (Touch wood) no meaningful issues so far.
• It's surprisingly comfortable; certainly easier on long trips than a GT3RS.
• It has half-decent luggage space and you can fit the boy's fencing bag longitudinally behind you.
• The ICE seems to work fine, so whatever the issues with earlier IRIS this one is no worse than e.g. 991.1 PCM (except as noted below).

Not so good things

• Traction. There isn't any. Cold weather, cold P Zeros, all the torque results in wheelspin and TC intervention rather than snappy exists from junctions, and anything like full throttle in a straight line has the back end getting lively. I'm not entirely convinced this is a "not good" thing - it's quite entertaining - but it's staggering how little throttle you need to break traction from a standstill, and of course you have no way to control how the clutch is fed in.
• Brakes. They are mighty. But compared to a 911, the pedal has a lot of dead travel (I know this is a feature of the 720) which takes getting used to. It also means you are more conscious of needing to lean on the brakes when crawling in traffic. I'd prefer it if the car either didn't creep or had an automatic handbrake.
• Lag. There is a good deal of it. I knew this too, and it is not a problem at all when pressing on (genuinely - this isn't 80s style apply throttle on turn-in to get acceleration on exit stuff), but you do notice that there's no immediate response when trying to pick up on quarter throttle in 7th on the motorway (m-way cruise is about 2k rpm, so way off boost). Obvs you can gear down and get insta-leptons, or apply more right foot and get slightly-delayed insta-leptons, but it's a bit disconcerting.
• It's much noisier than I thought it would be - especially tyre roar, but some wind noise. Definitely detracts from its GT role.
• The gearbox seems to have difficulty with clutch control at very low speeds, especially with a cold engine, and especially in reverse. It feels a lot like a 360 F1 box, which slipped the clutch the whole time in reverse.
• Once in a while it half-drops the window when you shut the door getting out. You have to get back in, turn on the ignition and raise the window. Odd.
• There's no immediately accessible mute/pause button for the stereo unless you have the display showing audio. So if you're trying to make sense of a complicated junction on the satnav and you'd like Salman Rushdie to just shut up for a moment, it's a faff.
• You can't (or I don't know how to) get the driver's display to show a map rather than just turn-by-turn instructions, so you have to look down at the main screen the whole time.
• The tracker wasn't recognising its tags when I got it, so I've made friends with Vodafone. They claim they've resynced it now; we'll see.
• MPG is fairly terrible. About 22mpg for mostly motorway at 80 leptons or so. Means even with a 70-odd litre tank, the range isn't all that special.

All in all I remain a very happy boy. 600 miles in 24 hours coming up in a couple of days; we'll see if I still feel that way next week...

[WhisperingWasp]

I think that looks fantastic, especially in "Luxury" spec. I know (think?!) that this is the less common choice but I think it just suits this car so well. The wheels and interior give this a luxury, wafty-supercar vibe which I mean in the best possible way. I can't imagine there are many better supercars to cross a continent in speed and style (mpg/range notwithstanding!).

[964Cup]

Aha! There is a mute button. Now that I know where it is - thanks to reading the manual, who knew that was a thing? - it's obvious but somehow i expected the MIS button in the middle of the rotary control to do it.

Learn a new thing every day.

[jamesbilluk]

Looks fantastic that

Love the exterior and interior colour too.

[unpc]

Looks lovely and if I had the funds I'd have one. I spent a couple of years engineering the interior of that car so I hope that works ok. Sadly I never had the opportunity to drive one while I was there. Actually I never even sat in a production representative one either.

[Crazy4557]

On my 600 there's a button on the underneath of the side air intake just behind the door on both sides, you can use this to both lock the car and also to raise the window when it drops, I'm unsure if you have the same thing on the 720 but I would be surprised if you don't.
Nice car BTW

[964Cup]

unpc said:

Looks lovely and if I had the funds I'd have one. I spent a couple of years engineering the interior of that car so I hope that works ok. Sadly I never had the opportunity to drive one while I was there. Actually I never even sat in a production representative one either.

Really? You must have some stories. Here's a really trivial question for you: why doesn't the lid of the storage cubby between the seats fit properly? It locks fine, but there's a huge amount of vertical play at the latch end. No German car would permit it. And another one: the oddment pockets in the doors can only be opened when the door is closed (which is clever). Is this a mechanical interlock or an electric lock?

You're welcome to sit in mine if you're ever oop North (London). Luxury, though, not Performance, so not alcantara-tastic.

[Mr Tidy]

Stunning car - just enjoy it.

[964Cup]

So, middle of France and back in 24hrs update.

Good things:

• Speed. Still can't quite get my head around it, but did manage to find some dry tarmac. It's not the straight-line acceleration, loony though that is, it's what you can carry through a corner and how adjustable the car is. Also the brakes improve as they warm up, as you'd expect. You end up two gears up from where you'd be in anything less powerful, just to manage the torque and traction. I'm going to have to be careful as I get used to it not to find myself all the way on the wrong side of the oubliette and discarded key line.
• Driveability. 540-odd motorway miles at sensible-ish cruising speeds. Noise aside (which is much improved on smooth French autoroute tarmac) it's definitely a capable GT, but you are very much more aware of your connection to the road. 90 leptons feels fast where in other fast cars (e.g. the i8) it feels remote. So you're concentrating a bit more on all the information you're getting back from the wheel and your backside, but it's not tiring.
• Real world capability. Outbound weather was awful. Despite being ludicrously traction-limited it otherwise felt fine even in very high winds, driving rain and all the rest of it. I did turn the active aero on (I don't normally on the motorway, to keep drag down) - might be pure placebo but it seemed to reduce the wind effect. Interestingly, it doesn't really need windscreen wipers a lot of the time - the screen is so raked that the airflow does a pretty good job of keeping it clear.
• Headlamps. Amazing. If anything the brights are too bright - reflective road signs glare at you - but the throw and clarity are better than anything else I've driven.

Not good things:

• Range. Or rather, not range but fuel gauge. It's either broken or stupid. The tank is supposedly 72 litres, which gives half-decent endurance even at the 21mpg I seem to be averaging. But coming back today I was 27k from Calais and had only 20km of range left, with the gauge down to its final visual 10% and the low fuel warning having been on for some time. So I cracked and stopped to fill up. I only managed to get 52 litres in, brimming the tank. I could comfortably have made the tunnel and not missed the train I was (slightly forlornly) aiming for, but I'd have had to accept driving with range at zero. I'll get used to it, but it's not helpful.
• McLaren sensor over-excitement. Had my first electronic oddity - stopped in the Shuttle (outbound), turned the car off and was greeted with "Parking brake fault - contact McLaren service centre" and "Cruise control fault - contact etc". Not having a parking brake in a car that automatically goes to neutral when you turn it off, parked on a moving train, didn't strike me as a brilliant plan. But the Microsoft engineering solution - turn it off, then turn it on again - worked and the fault hasn't recurred since.
• Traction again. On February roads - cold, damp and dieselly - it just can't get the power down. I got wheelspin in 4th coming off a peage stop, and there's no way on earth I'm turning the ESC off any time soon. Total right foot recalibration needed - the circumstances in which you pin it are vanishingly rare.
• Noise. I've got the sports exhaust, and I'd quite like a "shut up" valve so I could make it a little less antisocial at times. Today was ok, but I often end up coming home late at night/early in the morning from these trips and would prefer not to alert the whole neighbourhood to my arrival. That was the i8's secret weapon. It's not as though the 720 makes a particularly exciting noise - it's just loud - so frankly I could live with a quieter exhaust in general.

[bolidemichael]

My new-to-me VFR1200F performed the same schizophrenic fuel gauge prank on me too. I was riding along with a comfortable margin indicated, looked down again and I was about to run out of fuel -- just as I had passed a rather plush and welcoming looking Shell station.

Once you have it for a while, I imagine that you'll become familiar with the range and be more comfortable with second guessing the read out, as I am now with my Merc.



With respect to the rain-dodging performance of the raked windscreen, I imagine if you apply a good hydrophobic coating such as Angelwax H2GO, the performance will be mesmerising.

Thanks for the honest appraisal and insight. Loving the vicarious living.

ps you haven't mentioned anything about how people react to it.

[964Cup]

bolidemichael said:

ps you haven't mentioned anything about how people react to it.

I got a "nice car" from the lady at UK passport control, which is a first. I did note the rather more pronounced enthusiasm from an attractive female of the species earlier in this thread, but don't want to labour that point in case my wife catches on...

There was also the bizarre experience of plod asking me to rev it out - see the intro thread.

There are downsides - mostly gits in "stanced" hatchbacks who feel the need to sit 1" off my bumper because I'm not doing 90 on the North Circular. No, twazzock, I'm not going to "race" you - because I am an adult and have nothing left to prove. That's slightly the point of being able to afford a McLaren. Perhaps I should have a bumper sticker made up with that sentiment. Generally, though, I find indicating and moving out of the way lets them demonstrate their superior masculinity without my needing to be involved in their inevitable subsequent accident.

[bolidemichael]

I seldom resist the opportunity to show 'them' any sort of flex whatsoever. Then again, I have yet to earn a McLaren, for all my misdemeanours to date.

It's an unreal looking thing, surely the most potent expression of a super car available on our roads today. Cleaning it must be a time consuming affair and best left to professionals, I'd wager.

[964Cup]

Elite are coming to detail it in a week or so. I have no intention of trying myself, and it's definitely going nowhere near the modern slavery carwash round the corner. As well as having chosen a paint colour that will show every scratch, the car is mostly holes so cleaning it will involve a lot of pretending to be Siegfried (the vet, not the Wagnerian hero).

[bolidemichael]

Are you going to be on hand to ensure they're using the correct equipment?

[MrC986]

964Cup said:

Elite are coming to detail it in a week or so. I have no intention of trying myself, and it's definitely going nowhere near the modern slavery carwash round the corner. As well as having chosen a paint colour that will show every scratch, the car is mostly holes so cleaning it will involve a lot of pretending to be Siegfried (the vet, not the Wagnerian hero).

OP, if you do decide to wield a wash mitt in the future (& a bucket with grit guard), I can highly recommend a car dryer (wait for the comments....) to move/dry the water off the car & out of the various scoops/air vents.

Btw, a McLaren is on my dream car list as I think the current versions are likely to be the last of our motoring generation in respect of combustion engines.

[964Cup]

MrC986 said:

Btw, a McLaren is on my dream car list as I think the current versions are likely to be the last of our motoring generation in respect of combustion engines.

That's exactly why I bought it. With this and a GT3RS I think I have a sample of peak ICE and, unaffordable minorities like GMA aside, I can't see much more coming down the pike without at least hybridisation. Sadly for me at least the usability gap to BEV is still too large - fine for a city car (and indeed we have an i3) but hopeless for the GT or track roles. Maybe the Tesla Roadster (if it ever happens) will change that, but I'm not holding my breath.

[George29]

Lovely car! It's on my next car list as I think the performance per £ is unrivalled!

I have a 570S and have the same really irritating issue with the window dropping once in a while. I think if you hold the lock button sometimes it does go back up.

I find even my baby Mclaren has traction issues - i'm looking to fit Michelin P4S soon which I'm hoping will certainly help. I can't imagine how ballistic a 720S is, the 570 seems mentally quick with 150bhp less! Interesting you noted the lag on the engine as a minus. I actually really like it like that. I was a bit surprised at first as most turbo petrol cars you drive now are peak torque at 1500rpm. This you actually have to rev to drive it properly and I like that

Enjoy it though, good to see another one getting used well!

[964Cup]

George29 said:

Lovely car! It's on my next car list as I think the performance per £ is unrivalled!

I have a 570S and have the same really irritating issue with the window dropping once in a while. I think if you hold the lock button sometimes it does go back up.

I find even my baby Mclaren has traction issues - i'm looking to fit Michelin P4S soon which I'm hoping will certainly help. I can't imagine how ballistic a 720S is, the 570 seems mentally quick with 150bhp less! Interesting you noted the lag on the engine as a minus. I actually really like it like that. I was a bit surprised at first as most turbo petrol cars you drive now are peak torque at 1500rpm. This you actually have to rev to drive it properly and I like that

Enjoy it though, good to see another one getting used well!

I thought quite hard about getting a 570, on the grounds that that's already enough power and there was a wider choice of newer cars. In the end I decided that every time I've followed my head instead of my heart I've ended up looking enviously at the car I should have bought, so went this route, but I suspect you have more chance to exploit the full performance of your car than I do of mine.

[monthefish]

Great post, very honest and unbiassed

I hated the looks of the 720 when it first came out but I have grown to like it (quite a lot).

964Cup said:

• The gearbox seems to have difficulty with clutch control at very low speeds, especially with a cold engine, and especially in reverse. It feels a lot like a 360 F1 box, which slipped the clutch the whole time in reverse..

This was exactly my main grip with my e-gear Gallardo, and something that soured the entire ownership experience for me.

[JerryEXE]

MrC986 said:

OP, if you do decide to wield a wash mitt in the future (& a bucket with grit guard), I can highly recommend a car dryer (wait for the comments....) to move/dry the water off the car & out of the various scoops/air vents.

I use a leaf blower to do this and it works very well. Neighbours probably think I’m mad … I don’t care!

Lovely car OP.