First McLaren: 2019 540C - PPI & exhaust options

[PinkHouse]

T350 Al said:

It's not an incredibly high spec compared to some; only interior options are heated electric seats and carbon steering wheel badge. Exterior only has the stealth exhausts, but dear lord is it a clean example. On any other car I'd call it "poverty spec", but if it was good enough for Chris Harris In the end, it was the colour that did it for me; I'd considered going loud with and orange, but Pacific Blue really suits the GT in my opinion.

I did go for main dealer in the end; being new to the marque, having something McLaren Qualifed, whatever that might mean in the long run, just gave more confidence and with 12 months warranty and roadside assist hopefully means I've got some assurance. Having done some research, I think I'd happily buy from Thorney and would certainly consider their warranty in the future.

I think i recall seeing your posts in the other thread and that colour suits the car quite nicely! I genuinely can't think any McLaren cars can truly qualify as poverty spec as they're nowhere near as stingy with the standard spec as Porsche. For example I assume no cars come with plastic dashboards, missing climate control or cruise control!

[samoht]

Sounds good, yes hopefully you can have a more helpful relationship with your local McLaren dealer NF is a different group so likely quite different.

[PinkHouse]

Got this home and it drives like a dream, I can now see why some say the 720s is a bit pointless as there was no point I thought I'd need more power! Only thing slightly lacking is the exhaust note so I'll be test driving a car with the MSO Titanium exhaust to see if I can justify the cost to fit it.

It's headed to NF for an inspection and to sort out the hinges on Monday and fingers crossed it comes up clear.

[justin220]

Brilliant!

Keen to hear what you think about a louder exhaust. I've always wondered if it's worth the cost and hassle to upgrade aswell. I think I'd be more tempted to go aftermarket, Larini or such like

[samoht]

Looks really good. And yeah, there's definitely something delicious about the way these cars go down the road, even at normal speeds.

So far, I think 500+hp is (wonderfully) excessive on almost any UK road. The Autobahn was the only place where I could imagine being able to make use of even more power, albeit I've not been on track yet.

I hope the inspection confirms the car's good aside from the hinges, and you can settle into enjoying ownership.

V Eng were complimentary about Larini exhausts, fwiw. Personally I wouldn't want to step up from the 'sports' exhaust I have (GT sports, so S standard) due to where I live and not wanting to disturb neighbours. However my suspicion would be that some kind of upgrade from what you have will increase your enjoyment.

[Nuttbelle]

Best way to improve the sound of turbo charged cars is sports cats eg high quality 200 cell or total decat. Personally I wouldn't go all the way with decat as the CEL lights would annoy me
A rear back box change makes minimal difference IMHO

Still wont sound like a N/A V10 though.

Its official Lamborghini make the best sounding supercars if you didnt already know

[MannyLon]

Nuttbelle said:

Best way to improve the sound of turbo charged cars is sports cats eg high quality 200 cell or total decat. Personally I wouldn't go all the way with decat as the CEL lights would annoy me
A rear back box change makes minimal difference IMHO

Still wont sound like a N/A V10 though.

Its official Lamborghini make the best sounding supercars if you didnt already know

Depends on the car. A good rear section can make all the difference. McLaren deliberately made the sport series quiet.
Also the material used can affect the sound generated.

[PinkHouse]

justin220 said:

Brilliant!

Keen to hear what you think about a louder exhaust. I've always wondered if it's worth the cost and hassle to upgrade aswell. I think I'd be more tempted to go aftermarket, Larini or such like

samoht said:

Looks really good. And yeah, there's definitely something delicious about the way these cars go down the road, even at normal speeds.

So far, I think 500+hp is (wonderfully) excessive on almost any UK road. The Autobahn was the only place where I could imagine being able to make use of even more power, albeit I've not been on track yet.

I hope the inspection confirms the car's good aside from the hinges, and you can settle into enjoying ownership.

V Eng were complimentary about Larini exhausts, fwiw. Personally I wouldn't want to step up from the 'sports' exhaust I have (GT sports, so S standard) due to where I live and not wanting to disturb neighbours. However my suspicion would be that some kind of upgrade from what you have will increase your enjoyment.

Thanks fingers crossed and I got a great deal (I think) anyway as I got £3k off the asking, so that's also a barometer for values if anyone else is in the market.

I'll definitely report back once I've sampled it in person, plus Grange are running an offer for the MSO exhaust at £3.8k fitted which seems like great VFM compared to the aftermarket options, unless there are much cheaper good options? There's also the advantage of keeping things OEM so it adds value on resale.

I'm still enjoying the car as is and I'm not sure I'll justify the cost as I've also just passed my motorbike licence so I've got to weigh it up vs a new bike!

[irdan87]

PinkHouse said:

Got this home and it drives like a dream, I can now see why some say the 720s is a bit pointless as there was no point I thought I'd need more power! Only thing slightly lacking is the exhaust note so I'll be test driving a car with the MSO Titanium exhaust to see if I can justify the cost to fit it.

It's headed to NF for an inspection and to sort out the hinges on Monday and fingers crossed it comes up clear.

Beautiful car mate congrats. I’m looking at similar next spring.

Can I ask, you’ve booked an inspection after purchase - have you discussed this with sytner and what if any problems are found?

Cheers

[PinkHouse]

irdan87 said:

Beautiful car mate congrats. I’m looking at similar next spring.

Can I ask, you’ve booked an inspection after purchase - have you discussed this with sytner and what if any problems are found?

Cheers

It's definitely a risk and would be much better inspecting it beforehand. It was serviced less than 3 months ago with no extras at Manchester so I was a bit more comfortable. I also picked it up with the agreement that anything that comes up would be sorted. I'll see how this goes on Monday and in the very worst case scenario I'm still within the Sytner 14 day window for return

[irdan87]

PinkHouse said:

irdan87 said:

Beautiful car mate congrats. I’m looking at similar next spring.

Can I ask, you’ve booked an inspection after purchase - have you discussed this with sytner and what if any problems are found?

Cheers

It's definitely a risk and would be much better inspecting it beforehand. It was serviced less than 3 months ago with no extras at Manchester so I was a bit more comfortable. I also picked it up with the agreement that anything that comes up would be sorted. I'll see how this goes on Monday and in the very worst case scenario I'm still within the Sytner 14 day window for return

Yeah fair enough nate I imagine it can be tricky arranging a PPI before purchase.

I’m looking at a 540 or 570 next spring I’m just trying to learn a bit about the differences as it’ll be my first Mac but I’m swaying to the 540c

Perhaps similar to yours this is one that stands out to me

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202304126...

[PinkHouse]

irdan87 said:

PinkHouse said:

irdan87 said:

Beautiful car mate congrats. I’m looking at similar next spring.

Can I ask, you’ve booked an inspection after purchase - have you discussed this with sytner and what if any problems are found?

Cheers

It's definitely a risk and would be much better inspecting it beforehand. It was serviced less than 3 months ago with no extras at Manchester so I was a bit more comfortable. I also picked it up with the agreement that anything that comes up would be sorted. I'll see how this goes on Monday and in the very worst case scenario I'm still within the Sytner 14 day window for return

Yeah fair enough nate I imagine it can be tricky arranging a PPI before purchase.

I’m looking at a 540 or 570 next spring I’m just trying to learn a bit about the differences as it’ll be my first Mac but I’m swaying to the 540c

Perhaps similar to yours this is one that stands out to me

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202304126...

That's really well specced actually with the interior carbon, alcantara, forged wheels and sports exhaust, the full PPF is also a bonus. Pricing wise they've had it up for a few months and mine was 5k cheaper and a year newer for reference so you can definitely work them down. Finally that dealership is one where you MUST get a PPI before purchase

[irdan87]

PinkHouse said:

irdan87 said:

PinkHouse said:

irdan87 said:

Beautiful car mate congrats. I’m looking at similar next spring.

Can I ask, you’ve booked an inspection after purchase - have you discussed this with sytner and what if any problems are found?

Cheers

It's definitely a risk and would be much better inspecting it beforehand. It was serviced less than 3 months ago with no extras at Manchester so I was a bit more comfortable. I also picked it up with the agreement that anything that comes up would be sorted. I'll see how this goes on Monday and in the very worst case scenario I'm still within the Sytner 14 day window for return

Yeah fair enough nate I imagine it can be tricky arranging a PPI before purchase.

I’m looking at a 540 or 570 next spring I’m just trying to learn a bit about the differences as it’ll be my first Mac but I’m swaying to the 540c

Perhaps similar to yours this is one that stands out to me

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202304126...

That's really well specced actually with the interior carbon, alcantara, forged wheels and sports exhaust, the full PPF is also a bonus. Pricing wise they've had it up for a few months and mine was 5k cheaper and a year newer for reference so you can definitely work them down. Finally that dealership is one where you MUST get a PPI before purchase

I imagine it’ll be sold by the time I’m ready next spring but that is a similar example. If it’s still up there will be a big discount 😝

[samoht]

PinkHouse said:

I'll see how this goes on Monday and in the very worst case scenario I'm still within the Sytner 14 day window for return

Dare we ask, were you happy with the inspection report? (Feel free to ignore if not convenient to share right now)

[PinkHouse]

samoht said:

PinkHouse said:

I'll see how this goes on Monday and in the very worst case scenario I'm still within the Sytner 14 day window for return

Dare we ask, were you happy with the inspection report? (Feel free to ignore if not convenient to share right now)

Thankfully nothing major was found and the hinges are being replaced by McLaren under warranty. The goodwill policy changed around 3 months ago and they are now replacing these hinges due to the design fault, so anyone that needs this to be repaired should contact their local main dealer.

Luckily there was nothing major, but some minor amber points found in the healthcheck report (worn front bushes, misting shocks, leaking oil pump washer), so the dealer has offered an additional settlement to cover my costs to rectify these issues. So it was definitely the right call to get the inspection done. So I'll be taking the car to V Engineering on Friday for a more thorough investigation of the bits identified and to complete any repairs required, so I'll share the full details once I've got the car checked by V and received the settlement from the dealer.

[samoht]

Thanks for sharing. None of those issues sound particularly concerning, just the costs may add up to fix them. If V Engineering sort the issues and the dealer pays, then I think you'll be in a very good position to start out on McLaren ownership :-)

[TBCTBC]

Thanks. Will be very interested to read how the dealer vs V Engineering PPI works out.

[justin220]

Very interesting on the hinges goodwill policy changing. I'm not doubting you but hope that's correct as it's the right thing to do