RE: Driven: McLaren MP4-12C

[sunsurfer]

GFWilliams said:

Thank you, I took the photos

The yellowy effect was put on in photoshop after shooting. I spent quite a long time editing them to have the feel I wanted.

Here are two photos which weren't included in the article. I'm still working through the final few, keep an eye on my site (through my profile) as I'll post the full set with some of my thoughts on the car soon





ETA third shot...

Edited by GFWilliams on Saturday 20th August 11:57

Glad you took the time to get the feel you wanted - works very well and I'll look out for your site and other pictures.

[dandarez]

Very nice, but if you are having the 'normal' (non carbon discs) for road use (as recommended), can someone explain to me why the calipers cost £850 just to be painted? Is this just because someone (a fool and his money) is spending a fortune won't notice the odd 150 notes short of a grand on about 250ml of paint?

And anyway, my Brembo 4 pot calipers come out at nearly a grand a pair, less pads, BUT they do come ready painted!

What the hell are the calipers on the MP4?

[Black S2K]

Guvernator said:

I'm not sure where this idea has come from that turbo cars can't rev. The Japanese have been making high revving turbo cars for years. It's only in Europe where we seem to be obsessed with Co2 figures that manufacturera give turbo cars a diesel like delivery and rev range.

I have owned 2 Japanese turbo cars which loved to rev to 8000rpm+ and they were made back in the 90's. If turbo cars are the future now as they definately seem to be, I wish more manufacturers would take Mclaren's and some of the previous Japanese examples approach and actually make the power delivery in these turbo cars more interesting. If I wanted to drive a performance car which drove like a diesel, well I'd buy a diesel.

I understand it's controlling Nox @ big RPM that's the issue. It's one reason modern Hondas are so boring.

But otherwise, I agree.

The McL is far too fast & far too expensive for me, but I still really like it a lot! I see it as something of an NSX successor. A British one and we should be proud of that.

[QUADratic]

Took one out yesterday for a test drive and it is nothing short of spectacular . . . Got nearly an hour and a half in it, in the hills North of Zurich.

These comments about lack of emotion and 'Zing' ??? Seriously ??? What kind of emotion do you want ???

... it was my wedding anniversary yesterday and my wife was left waiting for 45 mins at the resturant... that was emotional

[11110111]

GFWilliams said:

Thank you, I took the photos

The yellowy effect was put on in photoshop after shooting. I spent quite a long time editing them to have the feel I wanted.

Here are two photos which weren't included in the article. I'm still working through the final few, keep an eye on my site (through my profile) as I'll post the full set with some of my thoughts on the car soon





ETA third shot...

Edited by GFWilliams on Saturday 20th August 11:57

bushy park?

[Munich]

anniesdad said:

edited: caliper paint £850.00. Cheeky blighters...

Cheaper, or at lest no more expensive, than what Porsche charge to have the calipers painted on the 911 (€1,300 in Germany).

[Munich]

Dagnut said:

The Pits said:

Congratulations to those with an MP4 12C on order.

With sufficient means I'd have one too.

The 458 may have more 'emotion' (read hystrionics), but the McLaren has more class.

Aside from being influenced by being a big fan of the McLaren F1 team, understated will always be cooler than trying too hard.

From my point of view there's no way a car as fast as the MP4 12C could ever 'lack excitement.' That does not compute.

I'd definitely have more respect for a 12C owner.

+1. I'm not in the position to be able to buy a 12C or 458, but if I ever get there a 12C would be my choice over a 458 because it just seems to much more honest. I know that the 458 has "beaten" the 12C in comparison tests, but having read all too often the tactics and methods used by Ferrari to ensure their victories, I would be inclined to beleive that the 458 used in the aforemented comparsion tests was not representative.

[Munich]

mr tipping said:

Mafioso said:

Lovely car but why is a British made and Britsh registered car a LHD? It seems Button's it too.

they are left and right hand drive many protypes where left hand drive as they where tested abroad a lot!i think.

Judging by the shape of the rear numberplate, I would say this was a US market car.

[GFWilliams]

11110111 said:

bushy park?

It is

[ANDYCLAX]

QUADratic said:

Took one out yesterday for a test drive and it is nothing short of spectacular . . . Got nearly an hour and a half in it, in the hills North of Zurich.

These comments about lack of emotion and 'Zing' ??? Seriously ??? What kind of emotion do you want ???

... it was my wedding anniversary yesterday and my wife was left waiting for 45 mins at the resturant... that was emotional

quite agree

[ANDYCLAX]

Munich said:

mr tipping said:

Mafioso said:

Lovely car but why is a British made and Britsh registered car a LHD? It seems Button's it too.

they are left and right hand drive many protypes where left hand drive as they where tested abroad a lot!i think.

Judging by the shape of the rear numberplate, I would say this was a US market car.

The spec is very similar to jensons car,but its PP car he used for a PR event

[Schnellmann]

[quote=QUADratic]Took one out yesterday for a test drive and it is nothing short of spectacular . . . Got nearly an hour and a half in it, in the hills North of Zurich.

I had a test drive today (also Zurich). It was great. I didn't have any complaints about the noise. Handling and performance was very impressive. Thought the quality of the interior a bit hit and miss (silvered plastic no better than my wife's old Honda Jazz!) Main problem is just too fast and also too easy to drive very very quickly. Agree with OP that can't exploit the performance on the public road (without either being a danger to oneself or others or be in constant danger of losing licence and potentially liberty as well).

[TVRWannabee]

It's interesting to hear the opinions of people who have actually driven the car for a change.

[ANDYCLAX]

Schnellmann said:

QUADratic said:

Took one out yesterday for a test drive and it is nothing short of spectacular . . . Got nearly an hour and a half in it, in the hills North of Zurich.

I had a test drive today (also Zurich). It was great. I didn't have any complaints about the noise. Handling and performance was very impressive. Thought the quality of the interior a bit hit and miss (silvered plastic no better than my wife's old Honda Jazz!) Main problem is just too fast and also too easy to drive very very quickly. Agree with OP that can't exploit the performance on the public road (without either being a danger to oneself or others or be in constant danger of losing licence and potentially liberty as well).

When you say silvered plastic are you refering to the chassis and drivetrain knobs?If so i agree as do many other customers,but they are actually metal,but i have to say everything else is top quality (apart for the plastic electric seat buttons,thankfully i went for non electric to save weight)

[ESOG]

dlist][url said:

|http://thumbsnap.com/9
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I think us Brits should be really proud that we've designed, engineered and built a truly world class mid engined super car that can take on the best in the world and win. This is indeed a great moment for Great Britain.

I second that notion!! I am from the U.S. but I am all for Great Britain. LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!

[Schnellmann]

ANDYCLAX said:

When you say silvered plastic are you refering to the chassis and drivetrain knobs?If so i agree as do many other customers,but they are actually metal,but i have to say everything else is top quality (apart for the plastic electric seat buttons,thankfully i went for non electric to save weight)

No - I was referring to the central console and air-conditioning vents plus other bits. On the demo car I could see that in two places where the silver paint had chipped already. If you go for the carbon-fibre interior option (did you?) then a lot, but not all, of the silvered-plastic disappears. I wouldn't have guessed the chassis and drivetrain knobs were metal - they seemed very flismy. But those are minor complaints. Overall I thought the car was epic. Out of curiousity, what spec did you go for (e.g. sports' exhaust? light-weight wheels? colour?)

[ANDYCLAX]

Schnellmann said:

ANDYCLAX said:

When you say silvered plastic are you refering to the chassis and drivetrain knobs?If so i agree as do many other customers,but they are actually metal,but i have to say everything else is top quality (apart for the plastic electric seat buttons,thankfully i went for non electric to save weight)

No - I was referring to the central console and air-conditioning vents plus other bits. On the demo car I could see that in two places where the silver paint had chipped already. If you go for the carbon-fibre interior option (did you?) then a lot, but not all, of the silvered-plastic disappears. I wouldn't have guessed the chassis and drivetrain knobs were metal - they seemed very flismy. But those are minor complaints. Overall I thought the car was epic. Out of curiousity, what spec did you go for (e.g. sports' exhaust? light-weight wheels? colour?)

VO,
silver lightweight wheels,black calipers
blackleather/alcantara/carbon fibre and orange stitching/iris
carbo engine covers but not engine bay
non electric seats and std brakes to save weight and std exhaust because the db on sports is too high for tracking,
And yours?,ps do you post on Mclarenlife?? also if the car was a pp car the knobs were plastic originally!

[grammalta]

I'm absolutely in <3 with the new McLaren ('fax machine'). Simply stunning piece of english masterpiece. only 1 thing though, is it me or is the front end of the car Ferrari?? I see a bit of F430 and 360 when I look at it

[Schnellmann]

ANDYCLAX said:

VO,
silver lightweight wheels,black calipers
blackleather/alcantara/carbon fibre and orange stitching/iris
carbo engine covers but not engine bay
non electric seats and std brakes to save weight and std exhaust because the db on sports is too high for tracking,
And yours?,ps do you post on Mclarenlife?? also if the car was a pp car the knobs were plastic originally!

Nice spec. I have provisionally specced car. Similar except went for Grey (resale of VO would likely be difficult in Switzerland as they are very conservative here). Was still uncertain on carbon fibre interior plus sports' exhaust (dealer trying to persuade me to get it). I liked the stiching but on the test drive found the reflection in the windscreen a bit off-putting. They just dropped the price here in Switzerland to reflect the strength of the Swiss Franc. Makes it quite attractive (around CHF 240k compared to current list price of fully-optioned 997 GTS of CHF 200k). But I don't think I will go ahead with the order. On paper Switzerland is great country for driving as roads are well-maintained, there are some lovely twisty ones and theft and damage is low. But (and it is a big but) they are obsessed about speeding and the penalties are severe (income related fines, long bans plus you get a criminal record for even relatively minor road offences). I think owning the 12c would be either too dangerous for my licence and liberty or it would be too frustrating. And that would spoil the fun of having the car. If I were in the UK I would not hesitate (I know there are problems there with speeding but not to the same extent and at least there are lots of tracks and trackdays). It is annoying.

[Agent Orange]

The Pits said:

From my point of view there's no way a car as fast as the MP4 12C could ever 'lack excitement.' That does not compute.

Up until last weekend I would have completely agreed with you. Whilst its a different car have a read of this thread about my experience in a Gallardo.

That said I really hope that is not the case with a 12C because that is a car I would love to own.