reliability, reapir costs, warranty and real experience

[Fezzamania]

12pack said:

I think it’s just a bit of resentment from fans of established marques that the upstart has so quickly created a better product.

Thats exactly how I see it as someone completely new to supercars with no bias or loyalty.
I've read and researched all the supercar brands over the last 12 months having waited 30 years to purchase one any my conclusion was it had to be a McLaren.
Their cars seem next generation and on a different level to the competition.
A 720S 4 years on would still blow a F8 away.

Competition has to be good for the consumer as the manufacturers all have to up their game whereas before Ferrari had a monopoly and became a little complacent IMHO

[Ferruccio]

Why on earth do people care so much about what other people think??

[macdeb]

12pack said:

I think it’s just a bit of resentment from fans of established marques that the upstart has so quickly created a better product.

[SSO]

bordseye said:

I have long wanted a McLaren but been put off at each car change by all the advice about the need for a warranty. My last 4 toy cars have been Lotus, F Type and two Ferraris - none with warranty and with no nasty experiences that made me wish that I had one. In fact in a long motoring life I can think of few experiences, mostly last millenium, when anything of any seriousness went wrong with a car.

So is the McLaren "get a warranty" advice based on fear of the unknown or is it real life advice because the cars do regularly have expensive breakdowns. And is it the nature of the breakdowns or is it the case that McLaren reapir charges and parts are silly expensive.?

Anybody care to give details of the failure and repair costs of their car and over what period of time? Have the repairs actually cost more than the cumulative cost of the warranty?

We have owned 9 McLarens over the last decade and four currently. Never had a major issue with a single one. I don't buy the extended warranty. I have posted the fully maintenance history & costs along with the reliability history for all of them.

[bordseye]

12pack said:

I think it’s just a bit of resentment from fans of established marques that the upstart has so quickly created a better product.

Turbo lag apart, they definitely have made a better sports car. Gave the Italians a big "wake up" call.

[Fezzamania]

SSO said:

We have owned 9 McLarens over the last decade and four currently. Never had a major issue with a single one. I don't buy the extended warranty. I have posted the fully maintenance history & costs along with the reliability history for all of them.

Wow that is amazing.
In reality there is probably less than 9 cases of a major issue but as is with the Internet the bad stories get blown out of proportion yet all the good ones are never mentioned.
Its seems Mclaren is an easy target for the boo boys with a cause

[bordseye]

SSO said:

We have owned 9 McLarens over the last decade and four currently. Never had a major issue with a single one. I don't buy the extended warranty. I have posted the fully maintenance history & costs along with the reliability history for all of them.

Just had a read of your blog. Thanks for the information, but I am not sure that the warranty views of a man who can afford 4 McLarens have much relevance to a poor retired peasant like me! A replace gearbox wouldnt wipe me out but it sure would make for a bad day.

You are a good writer by the way. Nice to read a well crafted report like yours.

[davek_964]

bordseye said:

Just had a read of your blog. Thanks for the information, but I am not sure that the warranty views of a man who can afford 4 McLarens have much relevance to a poor retired peasant like me! A replace gearbox wouldnt wipe me out but it sure would make for a bad day.

You are a good writer by the way. Nice to read a well crafted report like yours.

You could look at it a different way :

People who can afford to run 4 McLarens at the same time are likely to have a least a modicum of financial common sense. And should be able to afford the extended warranty costs if they chose to.

The fact that he's had 9 McLarens, and 4 currently - and has not had enough serious (expensive) issues to convince him it's worth buying the extended warranty is very positive.

[Ferruccio]

davek_964 said:

You could look at it a different way :

People who can afford to run 4 McLarens at the same time are likely to have a least a modicum of financial common sense. And should be able to afford the extended warranty costs if they chose to.

The fact that he's had 9 McLarens, and 4 currently - and has not had enough serious (expensive) issues to convince him it's worth buying the extended warranty is very positive.

It is usually sound financial advice not to insure a loss that you can afford.
After all the insurer, is out to make a profit. So, on average, the cost will be > loss.

[SSO]

bordseye said:

Just had a read of your blog. Thanks for the information, but I am not sure that the warranty views of a man who can afford 4 McLarens have much relevance to a poor retired peasant like me! A replace gearbox wouldnt wipe me out but it sure would make for a bad day.

You are a good writer by the way. Nice to read a well crafted report like yours.

Much appreciated and you are right, everyone should make their own decision based on their personal circumstances.

[SSO]

bordseye said:

I have long wanted a McLaren but been put off at each car change by all the advice about the need for a warranty. My last 4 toy cars have been Lotus, F Type and two Ferraris - none with warranty and with no nasty experiences that made me wish that I had one. In fact in a long motoring life I can think of few experiences, mostly last millenium, when anything of any seriousness went wrong with a car.

So is the McLaren "get a warranty" advice based on fear of the unknown or is it real life advice because the cars do regularly have expensive breakdowns. And is it the nature of the breakdowns or is it the case that McLaren reapir charges and parts are silly expensive.?

Anybody care to give details of the failure and repair costs of their car and over what period of time? Have the repairs actually cost more than the cumulative cost of the warranty?

In case you are still looking at McLarens, I have just posted an updated history of the service costs across the 10 McLarens we have owned over the last 11 years.

[bordseye]

Another interesting read. The message that I take from it is that repairs outside services have been relatively few and at not unreasonable costs. Likely much the same as Ferrari once the Ferrari 7 years free has run out.

Reliability has obviously been good.

To put the reliability / costs into context, it would be interesting to know roughly how many McLaren miles a year that you do.

[SSO]

bordseye said:

Another interesting read. The message that I take from it is that repairs outside services have been relatively few and at not unreasonable costs. Likely much the same as Ferrari once the Ferrari 7 years free has run out.

Reliability has obviously been good.

To put the reliability / costs into context, it would be interesting to know roughly how many McLaren miles a year that you do.

We probably put 9-12k miles per year across the four McLarens. For context we also have a few other cars that get similar usage.

[andymc]

my first supercar and first Mclaren, not missed a beat in a year, i sell cars for a living and it would put all the German brands to shame with reliability.

[Gibbo205]

Hi there

Had my 600 LT for around 15 months now and circa 6-7k miles and a couple of track days, zero break downs and no real issues the car has had:

- Coolant recall (£0 done at my leisure)
- Door hinges replaced (£0 done at my leisure)
- Rear brake cooling duct got knocked on on track by a curb, £80, fitted for free by main dealer.
- Servicing about 1k a year, remember if your McLaren is more than 4 years old to request 4yr and older servicing cost, as they then discount it by 10-20%.
- Odd creak and rattle, mainly undertrays or heatshields, again sorted FOC.
- AC stopped working, system re-gassed for free by main dealer.

I also have two year extended warranty which expires March 2025, this cost me £4600 from McLaren.

So far the McLaren has been superbly reliable and is a joy to drive, with Manchester McLaren been absolutely spot on service wise.

[SSO]

andymc said:

my first supercar and first Mclaren, not missed a beat in a year, i sell cars for a living and it would put all the German brands to shame with reliability.

My experience as well. Had more problems with Porsches than McLarens over the last decade.

[bordseye]

All of which makes you wonder why McLarens are cheap second hand ( relative to Ferrari, Lambo of the same year) and why there are far fewer McLaren for sale second hand than most if not all of the other premium sports cars.

[Streetbeat]

bordseye said:

All of which makes you wonder why McLarens are cheap second hand ( relative to Ferrari, Lambo of the same year) and why there are far fewer McLaren for sale second hand than most if not all of the other premium sports cars.

Lots of contributing factors to that in my opinion, main dealers offering low ball p/ex's really dont do any favours, a lot of "influencers" negative comments, early build quality issues, corrosion issues.

All that said, i owned mine for a year and a half and it was faultless mechanically (bar a split air con pipe), corrosion issues were done promptly under warranty and i look forward to the day i can get into a 720s.

[bordseye]

For some reason we seem always to knock British made cars and bikes and see foreign as better and exotic. For example the F type Jag which I had between two Ferraris. It was a brilliant drivers car, lots of fun and with sensible purchase and running costs. After a string of BMW and KTM bikes I now have a Triumph which is definitely better build quality , again cheaper but somehow is not seen by the market as an equivalent brand.

[Rocketreid]

I’m on to my 4th McLaren and let’s not kid ourselves.

They give you an unrivalled driving experience and even more so if you manage to track them.

The issues are well documented so no point rehashing them here but bizarrely the main McLaren dealerships have very mixed reviews. This is strange as most of these dealer principals also own Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche garages.

This is the bit that I find difficult to comprehend and is maybe related to McLaren UK just not having their strategy on really looking after UK buyers.

All manufacturers have quality issues and I’m not sure McLaren have any more than other Supercar makers, however how these issues are dealt with by the dealer and McLaren is paramount.

My experience is largely positive but having spent around £1m on McLarens over the past 6 years I do not feel that I have been treated any better than my local Merc Van centre or Merc UK