Well here it is - the 720S

[Beefmeister]

Apologies to those who responded to me yesterday, I was busy walking 15km around the show today!!!

The headlights take some getting used to. When I first looked I thought 'urgh' but maybe 10mins later I 'got' it.

Get up close and you see they are actually an intake for the cooling system, and from the side the shape is actually lovely.

Very few pictures do it justice, it's certainly a 'see it in the carbon' type of car.

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Dammit, posting straight from iPhone so gone a bit squiffy.

That could also be the free wine from the McLaren dinner tonight though

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Only way is via MSO or aftermarket. There will never be an official option for it.

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One thing that isn't evident from a lot of the photos I've seen is how impressive the rear visibility is. The c-pillar is split, so you have an incredible view out of the back. And the boot is big too.

Also, best press junket freebie in a while...

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Ah yes, that's a brilliant photo. Visibility would be good without the split pillar, but is incredible with it.

Shouldn't be underestimated how important that is.

[Beefmeister]

Burton Blue/tan for me please. Now, off to look behind the sofa for the remaining £250,000....

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Oh do f**k off people. Half those criticizing haven't even seen in in real life.

Why don't you reserve judgement until you do.

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isaldiri said:

The idea that the front headlight sockets are anything other than some (fairly middling) styling ideas dreamt up by Mclarens design team is laughable. The form follows function thing is vastly overplayed by Mclaren. I'm sure that they do have some cooling side effect but there is no chance that it's the way it is purely because of aerodynamic requirements. Prototype and GT racing cars seem to get by without having to cut holes into their headlight units for example....

I had dinner with the head designer of the 720S on Tuesday and unless he spent 3hrs bullstting me, the headlight design was absolutely, 100% led by function to not have big scoops. It was then styled to work well.

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RamboLambo said:

Doesn't that look dramatic !
I must stop looking at pictures and videos of it as it keeps growing on me and I don't have a spare £250k down the sofa at the moment

Words directly from a 'loosened up' McL test driver:

"It's a 675LT and 570GT rolled into one. But better than both"

[Beefmeister]

You can see my thoughts on the Lambo and Mac here:

https://youtu.be/8sicr_xIoHA

Do consider by the way, that this is my first time on video so be gentle!

[Beefmeister]

Juno said:

If you think the Ring is a large irrelevant circle you are somewhat understating the situation. The Ring is a mix replicating every A and B Road that I will be driving my car on in the UK, that's how it translates to Relevant!!!

They've really sucked you in haven't they! The Ring really doesn't replicate anything other than high speed handling on bumpy surfaces. They test at Milbrook and the myriad other dedicated testing facilities around the world to actually test the rest of the driving characteristics. The Ring is a party piece.

[Beefmeister]

JiggyJaggy said:

How tall are you may I ask? Would the car work for a 6ft3'er?

Juno said:

Stuff about not fitting

Yeah I'm confused. I'm 6ft 3 and not slim (see video for proof ) and fitted absolutely fine in the 720S.

Did you move the seat back? I found the driving position absolutely perfect, lots of knee room, footwell was big enough for my size 12 clompers and I had lots of headroom.


And have you driven a Huracan? I took a photo with the camera at my eye level when I was driving it, the visibility was appalling. Consider that I've actually got long legs too, not a particularly long body.

Edited by Beefmeister on Friday 10th March 10:51

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The Pagani Huayra is far uglier than the 720 IMO and that gets universally praised.

Just shows it takes all sorts...

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Quickmoose said:

I can't recall it being mentioned....but those rather lovely doors... when it's raining...won't they let rather a lot of it in?

Maybe, but unless you're planning on driving along with them open, it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

[Beefmeister]

Speaking to McLaren guys on the 2nd press day (which was also VIP day on their stand) they said the first years build allocation was already spoken for. And that they had to bring more people to work on the stand to deal with orders since the reveal.

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breadvan said:

On Friday, I was told a couple of launch cars still available and if interested, they would check the colours/trim for me. Go figure....

Not surprising actually. The looks are certainly polarising opinion, I'd wager there are a few cancelled orders too once they see the car. (Even if they are wrong )

[Beefmeister]

I can't wait to see what they do with the 720 Spyder. It'll revert to the normal 650 style doors obviously, but I'm intrigued to see what they do with the roof and rear.

With the big glasshouse they could make it a proper Convertible not a stylised Targa like the 650 Spider and 488 Spider. In fact it would look odd for the Spider to have buttresses when the Coupe doesn't.

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br d said:

When McLaren talk about this years allocation being filled is that exclusively the Coupe? I am interested in the Spider, as it hasn't yet been officially announced will there be a separate run of cars introduced for that model?

First world problems and all that but I would hope to be getting a car in 2018, if it goes much longer than that then I'll have to start looking around for something in the interim. As TP321 will no doubt gleefully tell you, by 2019 my 650S will command a straight swap with a packet of cheese and onion crisps!

Spider in 2yrs apparently.

[Beefmeister]

Oh just bloody stop it will you. Clearly RL and Juno have already been kicked out for their nonsense, any chance you could just leave it alone?

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Don1 said:

Back to the 720, whomever it was who body coloured the lights / skull sockets to reduce the impact did change it for the better in my eyes. Is that an option from the factory, or would MSO need to handle that? (Not that it would matter to me!)

Still can't get over the side profile with the up-front cabin and the roof line. But then again I found the BMW Z4 terrible looking when it came out, and they look very good today.

I spoke to the chief designer about this last week. It was brought up in many design meetings apparently, right up to Mike Flewitt. They did a couple of full size mock ups and he said the universal opinion was that they looked crap. The light socket is a design feature that really works with the rest of the car, they look awful when painted.

I liked the half painted option someone posted a bit ago but that would be an MSO option, if they agreed to it.