Living with a McLaren 650s Spider as an (almost) daily
Discussion
An unexpected conclusion to this thread. Car was declared total loss by the insurers yesterday.
I don't want to go into details so won't discuss that any further here, but since I no longer own a McLaren I thought it would be a useful end to this thread to give my final thoughts on McLaren ownership.
Firstly, there are a few issues - which are pretty well known. Paint bubbling is surprisingly common and if it affects you, it's a big negative. McLaren won't fix it now unless the car is under 5 years old, and although a repair and repaint is a fraction of the cost of replacing panels, it is a real pain for owners. Not least because matching some colours can be a challenge, and McLaren still don't release paint codes which means you either trust a body shop to match, of use official McLaren body shop.
Stress cracks in glass is another, although I think that happens less with 12C / 650 than later cars.
So, the cars are not perfect. But then, very little is.
My 650 was brilliant. It was excellent as a daily car - incredibly comfortable, very easy to drive. And was also proper supercar when you wanted it.
I had the alignment done by V Engineering (highly recommended) a few months ago, which transformed the car - just with stock settings. Finally handled the way I wanted it to.
Mine was mostly problem free in 3 years / 19k miles. Last issue I had was an intermittent door switch. An hour at V Engineering found a broken wire in the door, and fixed while I waited for the grand sum of £160.
When I bought the car, I was genuinely concerned about running costs. But servicing at official McLaren service centres was costing me less than it cost me to service a 360 at Indy's a few years ago. It was actually a surprisingly reasonable car to run.
The best summary I can give of my ownership experience is this :
If I decide to use the insurance money to buy another supercar, the only car on my list at ~£100k is another 650 Spider. Nothing else tempts me.
Even if I increase the budget to £200k, I think the list would still be McLarens - maybe with the older Aventadors on there somewhere, although I'm quite sure I can't afford to run one of them!
Considering my trepidation 3 years ago when I decide to try a McLaren, this is quite a shift. But it was a good decision, and the 650 really was a car that was very good in 99% of situations.
Whether I will replace the 650 or not, I don't yet know. Few life changes mean it may actually be handy to have one less car for the next 6 months so I may do nothing and see how I feel over winter. But if I do decide I need a replacement, it's very likely to be another 650 spider or a 720.
As a general final point : there are people who have / had a McLaren, had major issues and will never own one again. But that is equally true of all marques - my 360 top end self destructed due to a design flaw but it hasn't put me off Ferrari. Many owners have a very positive experience. Many owners replace their McLaren with another, some even own multiple. Many owners run them without warranty, and find they are cash positive - including me for the last year.
Don't believe all the negative crap, most of which is from people who heard it / read it from somebody else rather than first hand experience. They are awesome cars.
I don't want to go into details so won't discuss that any further here, but since I no longer own a McLaren I thought it would be a useful end to this thread to give my final thoughts on McLaren ownership.
Firstly, there are a few issues - which are pretty well known. Paint bubbling is surprisingly common and if it affects you, it's a big negative. McLaren won't fix it now unless the car is under 5 years old, and although a repair and repaint is a fraction of the cost of replacing panels, it is a real pain for owners. Not least because matching some colours can be a challenge, and McLaren still don't release paint codes which means you either trust a body shop to match, of use official McLaren body shop.
Stress cracks in glass is another, although I think that happens less with 12C / 650 than later cars.
So, the cars are not perfect. But then, very little is.
My 650 was brilliant. It was excellent as a daily car - incredibly comfortable, very easy to drive. And was also proper supercar when you wanted it.
I had the alignment done by V Engineering (highly recommended) a few months ago, which transformed the car - just with stock settings. Finally handled the way I wanted it to.
Mine was mostly problem free in 3 years / 19k miles. Last issue I had was an intermittent door switch. An hour at V Engineering found a broken wire in the door, and fixed while I waited for the grand sum of £160.
When I bought the car, I was genuinely concerned about running costs. But servicing at official McLaren service centres was costing me less than it cost me to service a 360 at Indy's a few years ago. It was actually a surprisingly reasonable car to run.
The best summary I can give of my ownership experience is this :
If I decide to use the insurance money to buy another supercar, the only car on my list at ~£100k is another 650 Spider. Nothing else tempts me.
Even if I increase the budget to £200k, I think the list would still be McLarens - maybe with the older Aventadors on there somewhere, although I'm quite sure I can't afford to run one of them!
Considering my trepidation 3 years ago when I decide to try a McLaren, this is quite a shift. But it was a good decision, and the 650 really was a car that was very good in 99% of situations.
Whether I will replace the 650 or not, I don't yet know. Few life changes mean it may actually be handy to have one less car for the next 6 months so I may do nothing and see how I feel over winter. But if I do decide I need a replacement, it's very likely to be another 650 spider or a 720.
As a general final point : there are people who have / had a McLaren, had major issues and will never own one again. But that is equally true of all marques - my 360 top end self destructed due to a design flaw but it hasn't put me off Ferrari. Many owners have a very positive experience. Many owners replace their McLaren with another, some even own multiple. Many owners run them without warranty, and find they are cash positive - including me for the last year.
Don't believe all the negative crap, most of which is from people who heard it / read it from somebody else rather than first hand experience. They are awesome cars.
dng992 said:
sorry to hear - thanks for the commentary
what did you mean by this? "maybe with the older Aventadors on there somewhere, although I'm quite sure I can't afford to run one of them!" - are they particularly costly to run/how?
It's perhaps an unfair statement. I've seen some scary costs quoted, even for things like clutches.what did you mean by this? "maybe with the older Aventadors on there somewhere, although I'm quite sure I can't afford to run one of them!" - are they particularly costly to run/how?
But I don't think I'd choose one anyway - daily usability is an important thing to me and something the 650 was very good at. I'm not sure I could see myself nipping to Tesco in one of those!
justin220 said:
Sorry to read the update, I think the 650S will be a really hard car to replace, but at the same time it's a good chance to try something different. I'd go 720s personally
Initially, I thought there was zero chance of me buying a 720. I prefer the looks of the 650, plus could have a spider for £50k less than a 720 coupe.But it seems I have since decided subconsciously that if I buy another car, it will almost certainly be a 720. It's all I seem to be browsing. I may even go for the spider.
I probably won't decide until early next year though, and I may well still decide there are better things to spend £200k on.
Plus, I am currently in the window of no car and no money - it's been declared total loss but no mention of what the insurers would like to give me in return yet.
Babw said:
What put me off the 720s is the abundance of issues compared to almost any other model in the Mclaren range. Good luck with your search though.
Interesting - that is my view too, although I don't know if it's justified. But my impression is that 650s are pretty solid and 720s might have a few more problems - glass cracking at the very least.Yep, if I do go 720 then I'm thinking 2019 or later and I would want at least 5k miles on it.
I had a coolant leak on my 650, and the solution by Guildford was to fit 720 clamps. I questioned that, since I knew 720s had coolant issues too but they told me that was usually due to hoses rubbing, not due to leaks where the hoses clamp.
I had a coolant leak on my 650, and the solution by Guildford was to fit 720 clamps. I questioned that, since I knew 720s had coolant issues too but they told me that was usually due to hoses rubbing, not due to leaks where the hoses clamp.
One additional thing to conclude this thread :
There is often a discussion about which insurance companies to use for supercars, and 'you get what you pay for' is often quoted, especially when a well known multicar insurer is mentioned that uses the name of a senior navy officer....
I can only speak about my own experience, but can say this :
I was very pleasantly surprised to find that their approved repairers includes official McLaren body shops - including the one I would have chosen to use.
In addition, for cars like this they acknowledge that the book price is likely to be low and they get bespoke valuations. I was told mine today and it is absolutely fair - and genuinely does allow me to put myself in the same position I was in before the accident.
I did always think that maybe I'd regret having the 'cheaper' insurance policy if the worst came to the worst. As it turns out, based on my experience - they will be top of the list for insuring my next car if I decide to replace the 650 with something similar.
I'm very pleasantly surprised.
There is often a discussion about which insurance companies to use for supercars, and 'you get what you pay for' is often quoted, especially when a well known multicar insurer is mentioned that uses the name of a senior navy officer....
I can only speak about my own experience, but can say this :
I was very pleasantly surprised to find that their approved repairers includes official McLaren body shops - including the one I would have chosen to use.
In addition, for cars like this they acknowledge that the book price is likely to be low and they get bespoke valuations. I was told mine today and it is absolutely fair - and genuinely does allow me to put myself in the same position I was in before the accident.
I did always think that maybe I'd regret having the 'cheaper' insurance policy if the worst came to the worst. As it turns out, based on my experience - they will be top of the list for insuring my next car if I decide to replace the 650 with something similar.
I'm very pleasantly surprised.
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