Mclaren MC12 test drive review
Discussion
A good pal of mine took the Mp4-12c out last week. I liked his write up, so I shall share it with you;
OK here goes - this isn't a review just how I felt about it.
To me car looks like a mix of 360 front and R8 rear but in both cases it looks and feels bigger to me (area covered)
I does look like an understated supercar, this is not a sports car I'll come to that later. But for those that don't know me I had a bonkers Westfield with a big v8 lump in it which was the fastest car i'd ever driven until today.....I have had several sportcars but ever driven a supercar. My car at moment is a 997 C2S.
The dark grey machine was waiting for me outside the dealership on arrival but I had to pop in to sort out the paperwork first. Poking around the showroom I noticed the wing mirrors are massive compared with mine - partly because the CF tub is not as big as the car itself, so they have to be sticky out to reach somewhere useful, and partly because the units themselves are just massive!
They also had one of Senna 1996 cars before he left to Williams in the showroom - it is complete and is going to Bahrain next week -- had a good poke at that. Got a photo of it too.
OK outside - first problem as a PAX - how to get in? There are no door handles, not even buttons under the mirrors like my old TVR cerbera. Sensors under the sill where the door handles would be contain an invisible sensor which at the swipe of sticky hand releases the door which you then lift forwards. For a bit of a lard like me its a big sill, a bit of stretch and dire need of some technique to get into - ladies in short skirts need not apply or you have to get rid of the inevitable crowd first.
With a bit of fiddling with the electric seat I get comfy and look for somewhere to leave my phone I realise the only place is the cup holders which is **behind** the centre console which is next to useless especially if it rings you might not be able to reach it. I dont know if it bluetooths to the stereo but suspect it will.
Matey starts the car on the button and it rumbles into life - not a bag of nails but not sweet sounding - this is the first time the car has been out in a while and it has 2k miles on the clock. He pootles out of the car park and drives down the high st to the local pub to change over. I see the first (of many) police cars of the afternoon and suddenly realise we are going to draw a lot of attention.
At the change I really struggle to get out of the car. The angle of dangle of the seats, the low roofline and the wide sill (about a foot) make it very tricky. You dont want a bad back with one of these!
I get behind the wheel and immediately feel overwhelmed / overawed - you choose. The steering wheel to high, cant reach the pedals, feel like lying down, cant see the instruments, cant see out. Matey is a good 6" taller than me. Much fiddling with electric seats and the steering wheel (not just up and down it goes in and out too which is great) and I am ready to go (ish). The feel of the two (remember this is a semi auto) pedals is chalk and cheese. The accelerator is very lightly sprung with little or no feel in it. My old M5 was drive by wire but it was never this bad. The rake feels rock hard with only a tiny travel which I find unnerving. Foot on the brake and hit the starter and it springs back into rumbly rattly life again. Now I'm driving (under the 30 limit) and sh*tting myself. He talks a lot about the car during the whole drive but I find it hard to concentrate as I am so overwhelmed.
We make our way from Hockley Heath to the M42 for a gentle introduction. There is a rumble strip as you join it and I remember - the Clarkson quote about a Rolls Royce over a jaffa cake - cobblers - it jumps and rattles around like any sports car would. That said the ride is excellent - my old Aston had a fabulous ride, I would say this is better. Very sure footed and very comfortable.
The noise - at motorway speeds (say 80-90) and normal settings the noise is not intrusive much less tyre roar than my 911 and slightly more engine note which is warming up now and sounding better. Matey changes the settings as I'm still in auto to spice up the gear changes a two things happen - the lesser thing is it spices up the gearchanges - much more significant - it opens something between the engine (bolted to the CF tub) and the cabin. I cant hear him speak properly - it is not painfully loud, but it is hugely annoying / distracting. We decide to move to manual - well semi auto and turn down the noise. I ask if its one of those stupid speaker enhanced engine notes - I'm told it is not - this car is very refined on the inside - I am beginning to realise on the outside it is really ^ (quite a lot) loud. Even at these revs (90mph is only about 2200 revs in 7th gear) you dont want to hear it if you are just racking up motorway miles.
OK so semi auto I try to get a grip of the changes. I am to careful with the paddles - I have not used them before - some of you BEC guys would have a much easier time. A gentle press only preps the next change you have to give a good press to make it click and the lower ratio is yours. Gently first, I get down to about 80 in 4th gear and **gently** press the accelerator - jeeeeeeezus! The first thing that hits you is the noise - very quickly followed by the kick in the back - this was at probably only 50% throttle The car remains utterly composed and the cars around us start staring, wondering like me: "What the hell was that?!" I didn't clock how fast we were going - I was a bit busy at the time - I click the paddles to reach seventh again fluffing only one of them this time! We join the slow lane cautiously to find some twisties around Warwick.
The B-road winds its way from Warwick back to hockley heath about 15 miles. I drop a few cogs I would not say confidently, but the car shrugs my ineptitude off and simply delivers more revs. There is now an occasional crackle on the over-run and the noise is warmed up now. It doesn't wail like a Ferrari, although bear in mind I never exceeded about 7k revs due to my clumsiness. It doesnt shout like a Lamborghini. Best to probably describe the note as a deep bark - just a ruddy loud one. The grip available is astonishing, the ride even on chattery worn bits of tarmac incredible. Chucked into a hard slowish righthander it merely shrugs and applies a little corner braking and the nose turns in so fast I end up on the wrong side of the road briefly surprised about the level of grip and response. Even at more enthusiastic revs I still get the feeling the connection between throttle and engine is a bit elastic, but I have little experience of turbo cars. Once on song though the power available and subsequent accelleration is starting to re-callibrate my head. about what fast is an I am only just beginning to explore the available torque. A rickety Land Rover (series 3 I think) was dispatched before I could reach the indicator, a short line of traffic on one short straight - this is getting fun - but I am still very reserved - its just **that fast**. We enter a village (Lapworth) - the road is being repaired - all the guys turn around to have a look - see. We pull up at a temporary traffic light and I wind the window down to better gauge the engine note as the feedback I am getting from the pedal is not the best. This the the second - jeeeeesus - of the day - suddenly you get an impression of just how loud this car really is. A few more flicks and a queue of traffic and we are back at the dealer - I park it a bit sheepishly and brake too hard looking a bit awkward.
Things:
The CF options which can amount to circa 35k actually add weight slightly to the standard car - sometimes they are purely cosmetic as opposed to mostly cosmetic.
The sports exhaust (that I tested) offers no extra power, very little weight saving and a bit more noise.
Conclusion:
The engine feels a little distant - is that the very light pedal, turbo lag. When it kicks in it is massively powerful - unlike anything I have driven even Bam-Bam. I feel that being braver, knowing the road better would have made it easier. The levels of grip are staggering way beyond what would be possible in my 911 which I can drive (IMO - I can and do trail brake it) - i did not come close to its limits.
It is incredibly expensive but offers good value compared with its price competitors (Gallardo, 458)
Options are largely useless
Have you ever driven a hire car abroad and been given a 1.0 litre hatch which you thrashed because it was gutless? Thats what I did when I got back in my 911.................
OK here goes - this isn't a review just how I felt about it.
To me car looks like a mix of 360 front and R8 rear but in both cases it looks and feels bigger to me (area covered)
I does look like an understated supercar, this is not a sports car I'll come to that later. But for those that don't know me I had a bonkers Westfield with a big v8 lump in it which was the fastest car i'd ever driven until today.....I have had several sportcars but ever driven a supercar. My car at moment is a 997 C2S.
The dark grey machine was waiting for me outside the dealership on arrival but I had to pop in to sort out the paperwork first. Poking around the showroom I noticed the wing mirrors are massive compared with mine - partly because the CF tub is not as big as the car itself, so they have to be sticky out to reach somewhere useful, and partly because the units themselves are just massive!
They also had one of Senna 1996 cars before he left to Williams in the showroom - it is complete and is going to Bahrain next week -- had a good poke at that. Got a photo of it too.
OK outside - first problem as a PAX - how to get in? There are no door handles, not even buttons under the mirrors like my old TVR cerbera. Sensors under the sill where the door handles would be contain an invisible sensor which at the swipe of sticky hand releases the door which you then lift forwards. For a bit of a lard like me its a big sill, a bit of stretch and dire need of some technique to get into - ladies in short skirts need not apply or you have to get rid of the inevitable crowd first.
With a bit of fiddling with the electric seat I get comfy and look for somewhere to leave my phone I realise the only place is the cup holders which is **behind** the centre console which is next to useless especially if it rings you might not be able to reach it. I dont know if it bluetooths to the stereo but suspect it will.
Matey starts the car on the button and it rumbles into life - not a bag of nails but not sweet sounding - this is the first time the car has been out in a while and it has 2k miles on the clock. He pootles out of the car park and drives down the high st to the local pub to change over. I see the first (of many) police cars of the afternoon and suddenly realise we are going to draw a lot of attention.
At the change I really struggle to get out of the car. The angle of dangle of the seats, the low roofline and the wide sill (about a foot) make it very tricky. You dont want a bad back with one of these!
I get behind the wheel and immediately feel overwhelmed / overawed - you choose. The steering wheel to high, cant reach the pedals, feel like lying down, cant see the instruments, cant see out. Matey is a good 6" taller than me. Much fiddling with electric seats and the steering wheel (not just up and down it goes in and out too which is great) and I am ready to go (ish). The feel of the two (remember this is a semi auto) pedals is chalk and cheese. The accelerator is very lightly sprung with little or no feel in it. My old M5 was drive by wire but it was never this bad. The rake feels rock hard with only a tiny travel which I find unnerving. Foot on the brake and hit the starter and it springs back into rumbly rattly life again. Now I'm driving (under the 30 limit) and sh*tting myself. He talks a lot about the car during the whole drive but I find it hard to concentrate as I am so overwhelmed.
We make our way from Hockley Heath to the M42 for a gentle introduction. There is a rumble strip as you join it and I remember - the Clarkson quote about a Rolls Royce over a jaffa cake - cobblers - it jumps and rattles around like any sports car would. That said the ride is excellent - my old Aston had a fabulous ride, I would say this is better. Very sure footed and very comfortable.
The noise - at motorway speeds (say 80-90) and normal settings the noise is not intrusive much less tyre roar than my 911 and slightly more engine note which is warming up now and sounding better. Matey changes the settings as I'm still in auto to spice up the gear changes a two things happen - the lesser thing is it spices up the gearchanges - much more significant - it opens something between the engine (bolted to the CF tub) and the cabin. I cant hear him speak properly - it is not painfully loud, but it is hugely annoying / distracting. We decide to move to manual - well semi auto and turn down the noise. I ask if its one of those stupid speaker enhanced engine notes - I'm told it is not - this car is very refined on the inside - I am beginning to realise on the outside it is really ^ (quite a lot) loud. Even at these revs (90mph is only about 2200 revs in 7th gear) you dont want to hear it if you are just racking up motorway miles.
OK so semi auto I try to get a grip of the changes. I am to careful with the paddles - I have not used them before - some of you BEC guys would have a much easier time. A gentle press only preps the next change you have to give a good press to make it click and the lower ratio is yours. Gently first, I get down to about 80 in 4th gear and **gently** press the accelerator - jeeeeeeezus! The first thing that hits you is the noise - very quickly followed by the kick in the back - this was at probably only 50% throttle The car remains utterly composed and the cars around us start staring, wondering like me: "What the hell was that?!" I didn't clock how fast we were going - I was a bit busy at the time - I click the paddles to reach seventh again fluffing only one of them this time! We join the slow lane cautiously to find some twisties around Warwick.
The B-road winds its way from Warwick back to hockley heath about 15 miles. I drop a few cogs I would not say confidently, but the car shrugs my ineptitude off and simply delivers more revs. There is now an occasional crackle on the over-run and the noise is warmed up now. It doesn't wail like a Ferrari, although bear in mind I never exceeded about 7k revs due to my clumsiness. It doesnt shout like a Lamborghini. Best to probably describe the note as a deep bark - just a ruddy loud one. The grip available is astonishing, the ride even on chattery worn bits of tarmac incredible. Chucked into a hard slowish righthander it merely shrugs and applies a little corner braking and the nose turns in so fast I end up on the wrong side of the road briefly surprised about the level of grip and response. Even at more enthusiastic revs I still get the feeling the connection between throttle and engine is a bit elastic, but I have little experience of turbo cars. Once on song though the power available and subsequent accelleration is starting to re-callibrate my head. about what fast is an I am only just beginning to explore the available torque. A rickety Land Rover (series 3 I think) was dispatched before I could reach the indicator, a short line of traffic on one short straight - this is getting fun - but I am still very reserved - its just **that fast**. We enter a village (Lapworth) - the road is being repaired - all the guys turn around to have a look - see. We pull up at a temporary traffic light and I wind the window down to better gauge the engine note as the feedback I am getting from the pedal is not the best. This the the second - jeeeeesus - of the day - suddenly you get an impression of just how loud this car really is. A few more flicks and a queue of traffic and we are back at the dealer - I park it a bit sheepishly and brake too hard looking a bit awkward.
Things:
The CF options which can amount to circa 35k actually add weight slightly to the standard car - sometimes they are purely cosmetic as opposed to mostly cosmetic.
The sports exhaust (that I tested) offers no extra power, very little weight saving and a bit more noise.
Conclusion:
The engine feels a little distant - is that the very light pedal, turbo lag. When it kicks in it is massively powerful - unlike anything I have driven even Bam-Bam. I feel that being braver, knowing the road better would have made it easier. The levels of grip are staggering way beyond what would be possible in my 911 which I can drive (IMO - I can and do trail brake it) - i did not come close to its limits.
It is incredibly expensive but offers good value compared with its price competitors (Gallardo, 458)
Options are largely useless
Have you ever driven a hire car abroad and been given a 1.0 litre hatch which you thrashed because it was gutless? Thats what I did when I got back in my 911.................
Edited by Ding Dong on Thursday 22 March 22:37
Edited by Ding Dong on Thursday 22 March 22:37
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