720S one year on
Discussion
There seemed to be some interest a few weeks ago in my 720S ownership experience over the last year, so now I’ve got the car back from its first service I’ve written this up.
I made my decision to buy and ordered in Feb 2018. In my head it was competing primarily against a 458, 488, and secondarily against an F12 or V12 Vantage; I’m a car guy without a particular obsession with any manufacturer. I’ve been totally smitten by the looks of the McLaren since the Geneva launch, it reminds me of a Zonda, and Shmee’s 2 videos from the driving launch totally sold the car to me and the colour I wanted. Thanks Tim!
So my spec:
Azores - because I wanted an Orange McLaren and I like sparkly paint
Lux - because I don't like alcantara - it looks cheap and reminds me of racket handle grips. I also love heated seats with cold air on the face, so the electric/heated seats made sense that come as part of the Lux spec.
Arizona Tan - because black leather is really grey and looks boring
Gorilla glass - because it's amazing inside with it
Sports exhaust - because I like the extra dBs
Stealth pack - because it matches the wheels
Carbon Primary Interior - I'm not a big fan of carbon (mostly it's frippery/non-functional - different weaves mixed with forged makes that obvious) but the steering wheel looks so much better than the standard with this
10 spoke wheels, diamond cut - I think they match the curvy body well
Azores brake callipers - to match the bodywork
Parking sensors - so I don't ding my car
Reversing camera - really useful if you've parked front first
B&W - I like my sounds
Track telemetry and camera - I'll be tracking it at some point
Luggage strap - because I'll be touring with it at some point
Front Lift – just in case
The production was scheduled for end of June which got pushed back to mid-July. Then a PDI item needed addressing so I finally picked up on 4th August. It was cheaper to take a 70 mile taxi ride to the dealer than taking the train – nuts! After a comprehensive handover, I actually got the keys in my hands, so excited!
It’s a slightly updated model (you can tell because the badges have a silver swoosh not an orange one).
The drive back was nerve wracking as I got used to it all. I kept off the motorways and a few camera phones were in use as I drove through the towns. My first impressions? I’m really happy with the spec I chose. There are always moments of doubt between the configurator and seeing in the flesh but for me it turned out well. And driving ? I really don't understand why this is sometimes described as a GT car. This car is swivel-eyed lunacy! Some immediate things I noticed: The car sounds great inside - the test drive in 2017 was with a car with the standard exhaust. However the sports exhaust is another thing altogether. It sounds like it's got a flap and at low RPM and is very reminiscent of my F430. When I was running it in, no ventures to the red line of course but was also not expecting an Italian scream, however I am very happy with its unique sound (the one concern I had after the test drive - why McLaren made any cars with the standard exhaust is beyond me it’s very insipid). The diamond cut stealth wheels actually change colour/shade depending on the angle you look at them. Azores is amazeballs in the flesh. The display and infotainment system looks bang up to date, I programmed my blat routes into the nav - worked really well. I found the central and folding displays very intuitive and must have come a long way from what I've read about Iris 1. Well apart from the fact you can't see the reversing camera picture when you're twiddling the steering wheel reversing. You workaround by either positioning the steering wheel so you can see it or putting the folding display down, that makes the reversing picture appear in the central infotainment display.
Running in took 1000 miles (yeah, I misread the manual that actually states 1000km!). Usual stuff, no heavy load and no constant engine revs but don’t tickle the car either. A right pain especially if I ended up on a motorway. So I did some travelling to make it easier:
First up was Wilton House Supercar Wakeup for breakfast. Nice event if you’re in the area although I hate some of the fast exits with lines of people along the side of the road.
Then off to the midlands for a couple of early morning runs organised by members of the owner’s club. The 720S was really good at this – nice and comfortable for the 90 minute drive to get there and then supercar mad for the 2 hour drive around some of Britain’s great roads. I like driving my cars and am not a park-up-and-kick-tyres-for-whole-day kind of a person, and the owners club has quite a few similar minded people. Having said that there are also excellent longer tours organised, meet up and other perks. Good club.
After the 1000 mile running in period I was ready for the track. I was offered a complimentary McLaren Pure day because I had purchased from new so I chose the first one I could attend, Silverstone in September. What an incredible car on track! It’s the first car I’ve any with any significant aero and I’ve had to start to learn new skills e.g. braking into the apex. The car carriers so much speed! The brakes are outstanding, very stable from high speed, aided by the active wing – flips up as an air brake which never seems to lose its appeal when you see it in the rear view mirror.
The Pure days are great, very well organised and include the pre/post track inspection for the warranty. The car has a lot of power – making more than 710bhp I feel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI8cxjbuD1E. It does feels like the torque is limited in 1st and 2nd gears.
As part of the Pure days you get a pit crew which checks over the wheels/tyres and adjusts the pressures when you come in which is luxury compared with lugging around a pump and a pressure gauge yourself! Just as well for me, as at the end of my last session they spotted a popped valve.
Pirelli are also in attendance at Pure days so it was a little wait at the end of the day whilst they fixed it. I felt well looked after!
So after that I was getting to learn the car more with weekend blasts.
Further impressions as I got to know the car a bit more.
The leather is great. Nav is good enough, if a little cautious, no speed cameras alerts. Wave is still the best. I noticed a small but annoying rattle near my right ear. Also some over polish on rear engine deck. I booked in for January to be fixed, all done and handled very efficiently. Apparently the rattle was caused by missing felt dampers (or something like that) on the trim clips. The B&W HiFi – on the go there a lot of low frequency rumble from the tyres to compete with – to get the best out of it need to ramp up the bass on the equaliser and enable “driver focus” mode – sounds great then.
In February the club ball was the excuse for a get together. I had to traverse snow getting off the drive. PZeros are like hard plastic at a few degrees so the tyre temperature readouts are very useful telling you when they are too cold or warmed up enough (which they did even on a steady motorway run).
I like the standard PZeros on this car, I know they get a bad press in general. I’m wondering whether there was an updated spec introduced for the 720S as they seem good enough for track and road for me. Perhaps as the car’s electronics are well tuned to the tyre. You specify the tyre type in the settings which at least adjusts the warning temperature when they are cold:
On the road the car is super bike quick, no embellishment here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2YyAKU0tx8 I did have to build up to being able to use full throttle (where appropriate).
Then there was the long wait for Spring to spring. The first summer trip was Le Mans. The car got a lot of attention, much more than the Ferraris that were around and certainly more than my F430 and TVRs. Perhaps it was just the novelty of a relatively rare car? Lots of thumbs up and camera phones out again. It was a great cruiser on the way down. Although there is a good size front boot and rear shelf, there is less space overlap than the F430 (as it had room behind the seats, that is not available in the 720S). It meant longer items (e.g. camping chairs) had to go in our group’s support van.
I realised by the summer I needed to do another track day. Pure Donington looked good but wouldn’t know I’d be free until the last minute - I managed to book the week before. Greystone also held a track day there a weeks before in conjunction with the club - Thorney Motorsport did pre/post track inspections to cover warranty which was nice. I wasn’t able to attend but as it turns out the weather was pretty bad anyway.
Pirelli came to the rescue again and dug out a screw that had embedded in one of my tyres. Luckily it had only penetrated the tread block so no damage or puncture.
If you want a taster of what the track cameras are like, I have a clip here. Please don’t laugh at my driving, I’m still learning the car and the track! You can have one, two of three cameras recording and can adjust the layout. The raw footage is slightly better quality than rendered by google – the 720S has HD cameras.
https://video-downloads.googleusercontent.com/ABzB...
For the first year service I booked it in last March for August whilst I was away (so no courtesy car needed). £860 job done which is my only expenditure for the year, nothing extra to report.
So in summary I think this is a real petrolheads car that also gets lots of good attention. We can hardly forget it’s got a full carbon tub with engine derived from a Le Mans race car. Nothing has gone wrong in the 4600 miles I’ve covered and the engine has used no oil.
Reflection on my spec : the sports exhaust also filters through more induction sound into the cabin, this increases when putting it in track mode. I find it quite useful as you can hear the engine better through the helmet (I tend to change gears by sound rather than the lights). The luggage strap stops things banging (and cracking?) the rear glass when going over bumps and lumps so rather useful! The leather still looks, feels and smells very expensive. I think the standard PZeros are good, still got >6 mm tread left on them, at the moment I’m not feeling the need to try Corsas.
Would I change anything – no.
There are some annoying things though. Tyre pressure bongs when you’re on track – when you go out with the tyres cold and need some heat to get the pressures back up again. The track application on Windows 10 pretty ropey, could do with some investment. You can get it to work but it’s buggy. The track app in the car works well enough but sometimes I want to review in the kitchen with a glass of wine!
The comfort access (the seat moving backwards and forwards automatically when you get in/out) disappears if you leave the door open when you get out; when the car goes to sleep when you leave the door open and then you wake it by pressing the ignition (twice) the comfort access is not available. So you then have to turn the ignition off and on again to get it to become available. Do not lock your key in the boot, the key isn’t detected there. So if the car is locked, you open the boot with the fob, drop your keys in there and shut the boot you’re stuffed and will need to call for help. The seat controls are fiddly and not very accessible – but you just set once and store in the memory. One trick is to show the picture of the controls from the manual on the screen to assist your groping.
The fuel gauge. The tank is specced at 72 litres but I’ve ever put more than 55 litres even when “empty”. I can see why it’s designed like this after being on track. When you’re cruising, you’ll get mid-twenties mpg; on track single digit. The fuel light comes on at 11 litres to go so that could either be 50 miles or 15 depending on how you are driving!
Finally my dealer has been a delight to deal with both in sales and aftercare. If I could wind back the clock twelve months would I buy again? In a heartbeat.
I made my decision to buy and ordered in Feb 2018. In my head it was competing primarily against a 458, 488, and secondarily against an F12 or V12 Vantage; I’m a car guy without a particular obsession with any manufacturer. I’ve been totally smitten by the looks of the McLaren since the Geneva launch, it reminds me of a Zonda, and Shmee’s 2 videos from the driving launch totally sold the car to me and the colour I wanted. Thanks Tim!
So my spec:
Azores - because I wanted an Orange McLaren and I like sparkly paint
Lux - because I don't like alcantara - it looks cheap and reminds me of racket handle grips. I also love heated seats with cold air on the face, so the electric/heated seats made sense that come as part of the Lux spec.
Arizona Tan - because black leather is really grey and looks boring
Gorilla glass - because it's amazing inside with it
Sports exhaust - because I like the extra dBs
Stealth pack - because it matches the wheels
Carbon Primary Interior - I'm not a big fan of carbon (mostly it's frippery/non-functional - different weaves mixed with forged makes that obvious) but the steering wheel looks so much better than the standard with this
10 spoke wheels, diamond cut - I think they match the curvy body well
Azores brake callipers - to match the bodywork
Parking sensors - so I don't ding my car
Reversing camera - really useful if you've parked front first
B&W - I like my sounds
Track telemetry and camera - I'll be tracking it at some point
Luggage strap - because I'll be touring with it at some point
Front Lift – just in case
The production was scheduled for end of June which got pushed back to mid-July. Then a PDI item needed addressing so I finally picked up on 4th August. It was cheaper to take a 70 mile taxi ride to the dealer than taking the train – nuts! After a comprehensive handover, I actually got the keys in my hands, so excited!
It’s a slightly updated model (you can tell because the badges have a silver swoosh not an orange one).
The drive back was nerve wracking as I got used to it all. I kept off the motorways and a few camera phones were in use as I drove through the towns. My first impressions? I’m really happy with the spec I chose. There are always moments of doubt between the configurator and seeing in the flesh but for me it turned out well. And driving ? I really don't understand why this is sometimes described as a GT car. This car is swivel-eyed lunacy! Some immediate things I noticed: The car sounds great inside - the test drive in 2017 was with a car with the standard exhaust. However the sports exhaust is another thing altogether. It sounds like it's got a flap and at low RPM and is very reminiscent of my F430. When I was running it in, no ventures to the red line of course but was also not expecting an Italian scream, however I am very happy with its unique sound (the one concern I had after the test drive - why McLaren made any cars with the standard exhaust is beyond me it’s very insipid). The diamond cut stealth wheels actually change colour/shade depending on the angle you look at them. Azores is amazeballs in the flesh. The display and infotainment system looks bang up to date, I programmed my blat routes into the nav - worked really well. I found the central and folding displays very intuitive and must have come a long way from what I've read about Iris 1. Well apart from the fact you can't see the reversing camera picture when you're twiddling the steering wheel reversing. You workaround by either positioning the steering wheel so you can see it or putting the folding display down, that makes the reversing picture appear in the central infotainment display.
Running in took 1000 miles (yeah, I misread the manual that actually states 1000km!). Usual stuff, no heavy load and no constant engine revs but don’t tickle the car either. A right pain especially if I ended up on a motorway. So I did some travelling to make it easier:
First up was Wilton House Supercar Wakeup for breakfast. Nice event if you’re in the area although I hate some of the fast exits with lines of people along the side of the road.
Then off to the midlands for a couple of early morning runs organised by members of the owner’s club. The 720S was really good at this – nice and comfortable for the 90 minute drive to get there and then supercar mad for the 2 hour drive around some of Britain’s great roads. I like driving my cars and am not a park-up-and-kick-tyres-for-whole-day kind of a person, and the owners club has quite a few similar minded people. Having said that there are also excellent longer tours organised, meet up and other perks. Good club.
After the 1000 mile running in period I was ready for the track. I was offered a complimentary McLaren Pure day because I had purchased from new so I chose the first one I could attend, Silverstone in September. What an incredible car on track! It’s the first car I’ve any with any significant aero and I’ve had to start to learn new skills e.g. braking into the apex. The car carriers so much speed! The brakes are outstanding, very stable from high speed, aided by the active wing – flips up as an air brake which never seems to lose its appeal when you see it in the rear view mirror.
The Pure days are great, very well organised and include the pre/post track inspection for the warranty. The car has a lot of power – making more than 710bhp I feel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI8cxjbuD1E. It does feels like the torque is limited in 1st and 2nd gears.
As part of the Pure days you get a pit crew which checks over the wheels/tyres and adjusts the pressures when you come in which is luxury compared with lugging around a pump and a pressure gauge yourself! Just as well for me, as at the end of my last session they spotted a popped valve.
Pirelli are also in attendance at Pure days so it was a little wait at the end of the day whilst they fixed it. I felt well looked after!
So after that I was getting to learn the car more with weekend blasts.
Further impressions as I got to know the car a bit more.
The leather is great. Nav is good enough, if a little cautious, no speed cameras alerts. Wave is still the best. I noticed a small but annoying rattle near my right ear. Also some over polish on rear engine deck. I booked in for January to be fixed, all done and handled very efficiently. Apparently the rattle was caused by missing felt dampers (or something like that) on the trim clips. The B&W HiFi – on the go there a lot of low frequency rumble from the tyres to compete with – to get the best out of it need to ramp up the bass on the equaliser and enable “driver focus” mode – sounds great then.
In February the club ball was the excuse for a get together. I had to traverse snow getting off the drive. PZeros are like hard plastic at a few degrees so the tyre temperature readouts are very useful telling you when they are too cold or warmed up enough (which they did even on a steady motorway run).
I like the standard PZeros on this car, I know they get a bad press in general. I’m wondering whether there was an updated spec introduced for the 720S as they seem good enough for track and road for me. Perhaps as the car’s electronics are well tuned to the tyre. You specify the tyre type in the settings which at least adjusts the warning temperature when they are cold:
On the road the car is super bike quick, no embellishment here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2YyAKU0tx8 I did have to build up to being able to use full throttle (where appropriate).
Then there was the long wait for Spring to spring. The first summer trip was Le Mans. The car got a lot of attention, much more than the Ferraris that were around and certainly more than my F430 and TVRs. Perhaps it was just the novelty of a relatively rare car? Lots of thumbs up and camera phones out again. It was a great cruiser on the way down. Although there is a good size front boot and rear shelf, there is less space overlap than the F430 (as it had room behind the seats, that is not available in the 720S). It meant longer items (e.g. camping chairs) had to go in our group’s support van.
I realised by the summer I needed to do another track day. Pure Donington looked good but wouldn’t know I’d be free until the last minute - I managed to book the week before. Greystone also held a track day there a weeks before in conjunction with the club - Thorney Motorsport did pre/post track inspections to cover warranty which was nice. I wasn’t able to attend but as it turns out the weather was pretty bad anyway.
Pirelli came to the rescue again and dug out a screw that had embedded in one of my tyres. Luckily it had only penetrated the tread block so no damage or puncture.
If you want a taster of what the track cameras are like, I have a clip here. Please don’t laugh at my driving, I’m still learning the car and the track! You can have one, two of three cameras recording and can adjust the layout. The raw footage is slightly better quality than rendered by google – the 720S has HD cameras.
https://video-downloads.googleusercontent.com/ABzB...
For the first year service I booked it in last March for August whilst I was away (so no courtesy car needed). £860 job done which is my only expenditure for the year, nothing extra to report.
So in summary I think this is a real petrolheads car that also gets lots of good attention. We can hardly forget it’s got a full carbon tub with engine derived from a Le Mans race car. Nothing has gone wrong in the 4600 miles I’ve covered and the engine has used no oil.
Reflection on my spec : the sports exhaust also filters through more induction sound into the cabin, this increases when putting it in track mode. I find it quite useful as you can hear the engine better through the helmet (I tend to change gears by sound rather than the lights). The luggage strap stops things banging (and cracking?) the rear glass when going over bumps and lumps so rather useful! The leather still looks, feels and smells very expensive. I think the standard PZeros are good, still got >6 mm tread left on them, at the moment I’m not feeling the need to try Corsas.
Would I change anything – no.
There are some annoying things though. Tyre pressure bongs when you’re on track – when you go out with the tyres cold and need some heat to get the pressures back up again. The track application on Windows 10 pretty ropey, could do with some investment. You can get it to work but it’s buggy. The track app in the car works well enough but sometimes I want to review in the kitchen with a glass of wine!
The comfort access (the seat moving backwards and forwards automatically when you get in/out) disappears if you leave the door open when you get out; when the car goes to sleep when you leave the door open and then you wake it by pressing the ignition (twice) the comfort access is not available. So you then have to turn the ignition off and on again to get it to become available. Do not lock your key in the boot, the key isn’t detected there. So if the car is locked, you open the boot with the fob, drop your keys in there and shut the boot you’re stuffed and will need to call for help. The seat controls are fiddly and not very accessible – but you just set once and store in the memory. One trick is to show the picture of the controls from the manual on the screen to assist your groping.
The fuel gauge. The tank is specced at 72 litres but I’ve ever put more than 55 litres even when “empty”. I can see why it’s designed like this after being on track. When you’re cruising, you’ll get mid-twenties mpg; on track single digit. The fuel light comes on at 11 litres to go so that could either be 50 miles or 15 depending on how you are driving!
Finally my dealer has been a delight to deal with both in sales and aftercare. If I could wind back the clock twelve months would I buy again? In a heartbeat.
Edited by andyvdg on Saturday 17th August 17:21
Terminator X said:
Super write up! What is "gorilla glass"?
TX.
It's what most smartphone screens are made from > https://www.corning.com/gorillaglass/worldwide/en/...TX.
andrew said:
that's handy for all us car thieves, thanks 
I was surprised how easy it was to get into the front boot although nothing of much value in there except the fire extinguisher and puncture repair kit. Damn, did I mention the “F” word….I've just read through this post again. It's really good.
If you mean warranty on the car, McLaren are the only manufacturer I'm aware that explicitly state that you're covered for track use, as long as you have the pre/post inspection. If you are thinking about insurance for accidents on track, you can either self insure, go with an independent such as Moris, or have it included with your road insurance such as ManningUK (whom I'm with). Terms and conditions apply etc etc
RBT0 said:
Also good to hear about McLaren Pure track day experience. I guess I need a dedicated insurance if mine doesn't cover track days?
The insurance isn't a bad price at approx £500.00 for the day, but the excess is an eye watering 10% of value. I got a quote which was £20K excess.
t driver, so wasn't a risk worth taking.Gassing Station | McLaren | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff