Living with a McLaren 650s Spider as an (almost) daily
Discussion
PistonGuy66 said:
I feel your pain...I took a deposit on mines 2 weeks ago and its being collected on the 7th.
Every single time i look at it I genuinely think about returning the deposit!
Loved every single minute of ownership.
650spider said:
PistonGuy66 said:
I feel your pain...I took a deposit on mines 2 weeks ago and its being collected on the 7th.
Every single time i look at it I genuinely think about returning the deposit!
Loved every single minute of ownership.
Since the last update, the car has been serviced.
Engine lid catch was replaced under warranty - I assume it's fixed, but haven't really been checking.
No fault was logged for the window (sometimes dropped as I lifted the drivers door if it had been raining heavily or the car had been washed) and they couldn't find anything wrong. However - they did do some adjustment and carried out the relearn procedure (pretty sure I'd done that already). I was 99% sure they hadn't fixed it - but despite quite a lot of rain since, and washing the car a few times, it hasn't happened since the service so it seems they know better than me.
There was a small amount of non warranty work carried out at the service, but all very minor and it only added ~£150 to the bill, bringing the total cost to ~£1,250. A bargain, and if you ignore the warranty cost it's a very reasonable car to run........
Climate control has not misbehaved again.
Over the last few months, I find I am really appreciating the car more and more. Even in the current weather, and the fact that it's almost always dark - it's still a brilliant car. There are times I think it has the build quality of a 1960s Lada - but mostly it's fine. You simply have to accept that occasional niggles are part of the ownership experience for many (not all).
Still debating whether I really want to keep it long term, but that is more to do with a sensible side that started building up even before I bought the 650. At the moment, I'm still ignoring it.
Engine lid catch was replaced under warranty - I assume it's fixed, but haven't really been checking.
No fault was logged for the window (sometimes dropped as I lifted the drivers door if it had been raining heavily or the car had been washed) and they couldn't find anything wrong. However - they did do some adjustment and carried out the relearn procedure (pretty sure I'd done that already). I was 99% sure they hadn't fixed it - but despite quite a lot of rain since, and washing the car a few times, it hasn't happened since the service so it seems they know better than me.
There was a small amount of non warranty work carried out at the service, but all very minor and it only added ~£150 to the bill, bringing the total cost to ~£1,250. A bargain, and if you ignore the warranty cost it's a very reasonable car to run........
Climate control has not misbehaved again.
Over the last few months, I find I am really appreciating the car more and more. Even in the current weather, and the fact that it's almost always dark - it's still a brilliant car. There are times I think it has the build quality of a 1960s Lada - but mostly it's fine. You simply have to accept that occasional niggles are part of the ownership experience for many (not all).
Still debating whether I really want to keep it long term, but that is more to do with a sensible side that started building up even before I bought the 650. At the moment, I'm still ignoring it.
I've mentioned in the last few posts that I was leaning towards giving up on this thread. I have decided to do exactly that for various reasons - mostly because PH really needs an Ignore feature, and I can't be bothered with the McLaren bashing that comes up fairly regularly.
I bought a domain over Christmas, which allows me to stick blogs up - since I do like having a "diary" of my car ownership, I have started a blog - and posted the salient points of this thread into it - for my own use. I know that the point of a blog is to share it with the world, but for now it's purely for me to keep a record of my ownership experience and hence is private - maybe I'll make it public in future.
Anyway - since this will be my last post, I will give a fairly long update on what's happened to the car recently (a bit of a horror story) and what my thoughts are going forwards......
In summary - my battery went totally flat within about 36 hours. Putting the car on charge eventually meant I could start it again - however, pretty much every single system I had on the car was throwing an error - and I had no wipers or indicators.
It turned out that the wipers / indicators are actually controlled by the "body control module" which seemed to have crashed as part of the flat battery - and that also explained all the errors. Battery disconnect / reconnect solved it (done by McLaren Assist, because although I can do that - it was January, on my driveway - and it's part of the service I pay an expensive warranty for).
I assumed that I would need a new battery - but it turns out the battery isn't the issue. I've proved since then that it's related to my random window drop problem.
If the window doesn't drop - then when I lock the car, most systems go to sleep about 2 min later (handbrake light goes out, and 1 second later Start / Stop button light goes out).
If the window drops, then to lock the car I have to reach in through the window, press the start button to wake the electrics and then close the window (people say you can hold your hand at the keyless lock area, and it will close the window - it doesn't for this). The problem is - it turns out that if I do this, the car does NOT go to sleep - the handbrake light goes out but the start button light stays on. The electrics have not shut down properly - hence the flat battery.
The good news is - that saves me the cost of a very expensive battery.
The bad news is - I managed to do something very stupid and damage a few cosmetic bits at the back of the car. The cost of fixing that is more than a new battery. Ah well - first world problems and all that.......
Car is currently back at B&C who are sorting out the window problem. Since I've discovered that closing the window manually causes other issues, it's become more than a minor irritation.
Since this is my final update - here are my thoughts regarding the car :
Last week - when I went out and found a totally dead car, and subsequently found it had a million errors I couldn't clear - I was pretty sick of the whole thing. However - I used the car a few times after that and it really does impress me.
Despite the fact that I'm about to pay out a chunk of money - due to my own stupidity (the window will be covered by warranty) - I am now pretty sure I'm keeping the car long term.
I will need to decide by August if I will renew the warranty - despite its niggles, I don't feel it's really a necessity - but I know it affects resale so I will have to decide whether it's worth the money.
Creating my blog meant I had to go back through all my posts - reading them after 18 months of ownership is curious. Many of the issues I had in the beginning only happened a few times (e.g. the mirror not folding out which hasn't happened since) - as a new owner, it seemed like a car that was falling apart. But as somebody who's owned the car for longer, I know that 99% of them won't happen again so tend to ignore them a bit more now (at least, until I find they're serious enough to flatten the battery).
The end. (But not the end of my ownership)
I bought a domain over Christmas, which allows me to stick blogs up - since I do like having a "diary" of my car ownership, I have started a blog - and posted the salient points of this thread into it - for my own use. I know that the point of a blog is to share it with the world, but for now it's purely for me to keep a record of my ownership experience and hence is private - maybe I'll make it public in future.
Anyway - since this will be my last post, I will give a fairly long update on what's happened to the car recently (a bit of a horror story) and what my thoughts are going forwards......
In summary - my battery went totally flat within about 36 hours. Putting the car on charge eventually meant I could start it again - however, pretty much every single system I had on the car was throwing an error - and I had no wipers or indicators.
It turned out that the wipers / indicators are actually controlled by the "body control module" which seemed to have crashed as part of the flat battery - and that also explained all the errors. Battery disconnect / reconnect solved it (done by McLaren Assist, because although I can do that - it was January, on my driveway - and it's part of the service I pay an expensive warranty for).
I assumed that I would need a new battery - but it turns out the battery isn't the issue. I've proved since then that it's related to my random window drop problem.
If the window doesn't drop - then when I lock the car, most systems go to sleep about 2 min later (handbrake light goes out, and 1 second later Start / Stop button light goes out).
If the window drops, then to lock the car I have to reach in through the window, press the start button to wake the electrics and then close the window (people say you can hold your hand at the keyless lock area, and it will close the window - it doesn't for this). The problem is - it turns out that if I do this, the car does NOT go to sleep - the handbrake light goes out but the start button light stays on. The electrics have not shut down properly - hence the flat battery.
The good news is - that saves me the cost of a very expensive battery.
The bad news is - I managed to do something very stupid and damage a few cosmetic bits at the back of the car. The cost of fixing that is more than a new battery. Ah well - first world problems and all that.......
Car is currently back at B&C who are sorting out the window problem. Since I've discovered that closing the window manually causes other issues, it's become more than a minor irritation.
Since this is my final update - here are my thoughts regarding the car :
Last week - when I went out and found a totally dead car, and subsequently found it had a million errors I couldn't clear - I was pretty sick of the whole thing. However - I used the car a few times after that and it really does impress me.
Despite the fact that I'm about to pay out a chunk of money - due to my own stupidity (the window will be covered by warranty) - I am now pretty sure I'm keeping the car long term.
I will need to decide by August if I will renew the warranty - despite its niggles, I don't feel it's really a necessity - but I know it affects resale so I will have to decide whether it's worth the money.
Creating my blog meant I had to go back through all my posts - reading them after 18 months of ownership is curious. Many of the issues I had in the beginning only happened a few times (e.g. the mirror not folding out which hasn't happened since) - as a new owner, it seemed like a car that was falling apart. But as somebody who's owned the car for longer, I know that 99% of them won't happen again so tend to ignore them a bit more now (at least, until I find they're serious enough to flatten the battery).
The end. (But not the end of my ownership)
Its ashame that you are going to stop posting on here, as I and I'm sure many others really enjoy it.. I would update my thread but I have nothing to say at all, mine hasn't moved for weeks now.
Its a really odd time owning a car like this just now. Not only with it being winter, salt on roads etc, but then COVID on top its really made me think the 540C is just an unjustifiable garage queen. I think in total, due to lock downs and a baby boy etc I did under 2k miles last year. Most of that was a run to a supermarket. Sad times.
Then, little niggles like your battery issue really put a downer on it. Normally if you were able to get a good drive out, niggles and faults can almost be forgiven, but not so much just now.
Its a really odd time owning a car like this just now. Not only with it being winter, salt on roads etc, but then COVID on top its really made me think the 540C is just an unjustifiable garage queen. I think in total, due to lock downs and a baby boy etc I did under 2k miles last year. Most of that was a run to a supermarket. Sad times.
Then, little niggles like your battery issue really put a downer on it. Normally if you were able to get a good drive out, niggles and faults can almost be forgiven, but not so much just now.
I have followed this ... and enjoyed it thank-you.
Value for money the 650S is an interesting Supercar ... it is a shame that these problems continue but for you it's part of the ownership package.
I hope it works well for you ... people do seem far more willing to complain than they are to praise ...
Value for money the 650S is an interesting Supercar ... it is a shame that these problems continue but for you it's part of the ownership package.
I hope it works well for you ... people do seem far more willing to complain than they are to praise ...
This is perhaps the most intuitive McLaren ownership thread i have read.
Good and the bad sides posted in equal measure, all written in an impartial way with no anger even at the few frustrating times that have been encountered.
Real pity that you are discontinuing although I understand why, however, hopefully you shall change your mind.
Either way, enjoy your 650; they are truly epic cars.
Good and the bad sides posted in equal measure, all written in an impartial way with no anger even at the few frustrating times that have been encountered.
Real pity that you are discontinuing although I understand why, however, hopefully you shall change your mind.
Either way, enjoy your 650; they are truly epic cars.
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