McLaren MP4 - 12C

[wavering]

I thought by now there would be a category for McLaren - or am I looking in the wrong place?

I am sure I am not the only person here with one and it would be nice to compare gripes eg stranded in Spain for 21 hours with a totally frozen car. Unable to get in (had to use the emergency access). Unable to start the engine or take the handbrake off. Unable to get it on a breakdown truck ...

Fortunately, a really nice guy at McLaren in Marbella (Louis) talked the breakdown guys through a reset (basically, you dismantle the car until it is a big pile of bits and then reset the alarm system)

Apart from that, not a bad car ...

[TonyHetherington]

There's no dedicated forum, but all supercars have naturally fallen into the "Ferrari Maserati & Lamborghini" forum. There are many MP4-12C owners in there, so I've moved this thread into that forum for you

Tony (moderator)

[yajeed]

I think they're generally discussed on the 'supercar manufacturers forum' - Lambo, Maserati, Ferrari or whatever it's called.

BTW - love the fact you felt it necessary to differentiate between the 3 and 5 door version of the RAV4 in your list of cars (which include an r8, Mclaren and Porsche but with less attention to detail/info )

[wavering]

LOL! OK, I have added more detail to the car list

The R8 is a V10 hardtop and is a very comparable car to the McLaren - having driven both cars several thousand miles on bone dry roads in Spain. If you are in the market to buy a supercar, get a V10 R8.

The Ronda to Marbella road is 30 miles of continuous S bends - a road to die for (or on)

[andrew]

TonyHetherington said:

There's no dedicated forum, but all supercars have naturally fallen into the "Ferrari Maserati & Lamborghini" forum. There are many MP4-12C owners in there, so I've moved this thread into that forum for you

Tony (moderator)

if this forum were split, then it would help a little with searching for old threads

[yajeed]

wavering said:

If you are in the market to buy a supercar, get a V10 R8.

There's no worry about me buying a proper supercar anytime soon. The closest I'm likely to get is a 996T and the Mclaren is in a completely different league.

You're probably right about the Audi, though so some inexplicable reason wouldn't look at one if I passed it on the way to sign the paperwork on the 12c.

Maybe it's the relative rarity, or the fact it's a british car but I just don't get as excited about the Audi though have no doubt it's a wonderful (yet practical) supercar.

[andysv]

wavering said:

LOL! OK, I have added more detail to the car list

The R8 is a V10 hardtop and is a very comparable car to the McLaren - having driven both cars several thousand miles on bone dry roads in Spain. If you are in the market to buy a supercar, get a V10 R8.

The Ronda to Marbella road is 30 miles of continuous S bends - a road to die for (or on)

With a possible sale of my G spyder any day now i have been looking with interest at the MP4, at under 150k it is looking almost good value for a lot of technology, must admit R8 V10 does not appeal i imagine it is too close a relative to my G to make much difference, the car i was most recently very impressed by was an SLS. How are you finding the Mac?

[TonyHetherington]

wavering said:

The Ronda to Marbella road is 30 miles of continuous S bends - a road to die for (or on)

Have driven that road many times - it's glorious!

The road from Coin to Ronda (A366) and Ronda to Gibrlatar (A369) very good too

[sone]

I looked at the Mp4-12C recently as a possible replacement for my Strad and it would be good to hear some feed back from present or previous owners, good or bad!.
The R8 does have appeal to me but it is somehow too sensible(-:

Cheers

Steve

[wavering]

As you say the R8 is a sensible supercar, if that is not an oxymoron. The MP4 - 12C is very comparable but attracts more attention (all friendly - no bad reactions so far) which can be fun but can get irritating (if I hear "swap yours for mine" again I will scream)

My R8 V10 is manual which I like but the gear changes in the McLaren are very easy and I find myself looking for the paddles in the R8. By turning various buttons you can make it quiet or very noisy.

No rear camera in McLaren.

May well boil down to a personal thing, I guess. As for buying on a rational, logical basis, that is not possible. The logical thing to buy is probably a SEAT Leon Ecodrive (it will almost keep up with big bikes on bendy roads and do about 70mpg)

[TonyHetherington]

Speaking of gear change, though - the manual in an R8 is, I think, fantastic! That open metal gate and it makes the "schlack schlack" noise as you change gear. The MP4's paddles are without doubt faster, but maybe not as 'fun'.

[andysv]

I did the logical thing and bought a Qashqai 1.5 diesel but I need something else more fun than my G Spyder, an SLS sure ticked some boxes but I'm not sure about the residuals, an mp4 may be an even more exciting option.

[sone]

andysv said:

I did the logical thing and bought a Qashqai 1.5 diesel but I need something else more fun than my G Spyder, an SLS sure ticked some boxes but I'm not sure about the residuals, an mp4 may be an even more exciting option.

The residuals are my concern on the mp4 with some cars losing 40k in the first year.

[F355GTS]

sone said:

The residuals are my concern on the mp4 with some cars losing 40k in the first year.

and some, there's some lost nearer £70k

[sone]

F355GTS said:

sone said:

The residuals are my concern on the mp4 with some cars losing 40k in the first year.

and some, there's some lost nearer £70k

Bloody hell, perhaps not such a great idea then!.

[kent_phil]

Difficult to see where they are going to bottom out, keep thinking about switching out of my Aston into one but not quite convinced yet.

Ironically I bought the Aston after I got fed up on the Mc-Wait-List last year - dodged a residual bullet there.

Heads up that the dealers are latching onto any interest shown, I'm still getting calls about what it would take to do a deal a month on from an initial speculative enquiry.

[andy74b]

F355GTS said:

and some, there's some lost nearer £70k

Worth every penny!

[sone]

I just need a car with doors that open upward

[wavering]

sone said:

I just need a car with doors that open upward

Yes, it does look good with the doors up. One of the snags is that it is very tricky to open the doors, OK in the showroom but the more in a hurry you are the more difficult it is. I believe they are installing a button on later models rather than a sensor

From the driver's side you can open by clicking the open button twice very quickly and that does the driver's door but then your passenger will struggle (if you set it to open both doors then when there is no passenger you will have to go round and close it)

As for parking, you just need to park so nobody can park next to you (not always possible and even if you park right off to one side somebody will park next to you - the same people who sit next to you in an empty waiting room)
.

[Girlpower]

Ironically I bought the Aston after I got fed up on the Mc-Wait-List last year - dodged a residual bullet there.

Aston's re sales prices have held up real well of course.