Hiring a 570S for a weekend trip - tips?

[samoht]

I'm hiring this https://sportshire.co.uk/car/mclaren-570s-new-spor... next weekend, and will be taking it up to N Yorkshire.
Having never driven a supercar before, my aim is to see what it's like, as a potential future purchase. Oh, and to enjoy it.


So, anything I should know?

- How much luggage can we expect to fit in, with two people in the car?
- Should I plan to sucker my phone to the windscreen to use google maps, or attempt to decypher the notorious IRIS infotainment?
- Any sort of roads should I avoid? How bumpy does it have to get before you have to slow down to 5mph and engage the nose lift?
- Any drive mode settings I should know about? (not looking to disable traction/stability control).
- Anything I should check before taking the car away?
- Any common places where police like to loiter around Shrewsbury? ;-)

[samoht]

Thanks for all the info, much appreciated.

Yeah unfortunately no smokey drifts, launch control starts or top speed runs on the menu. But as long as I can get enough of a feel for the car to end up thinking either 'I want one of these' or 'I don't want one of these', then I'll be satisfied I think.

[samoht]

Collected the car and had a nice run through the Peak District, from Stoke through Buxton and Glossop to Slaithwaite.

Absolutely wowed by the steering. I get it now, I've never driven anything with this level of feel and feedback through the wheel. It could be considered a bit much over poor surfaces, but it gives a fantastic confidence that you can feel what the car's doing, and helps make it easy to place on the road. I mean the weighting up is great, which is the main thing, but the surface texture on top is a real surprise.

The brakes are also fab, once I got used to not jabbing them but squeezing progressively, they're really nice to use. Power is fine, feels fast and is probably faster than it feels. But speed isn't the main event here IMHO.

Car coped fine with some pretty tight and undulating country roads and poor surfaces. Overall seems very liveable with.

So yeah, now I see why people rave about McLarens. It's so much fun to feel so connected to the car, backed up with such capability.

I think I'll be enjoying my next two days with the car.

[samoht]

So the reason for driving to N Yorkshire is that my parents are around here (hence somewhere free to stay), and accordingly I know the roads fairly well. Nothing like knowing a road when driving something like this!
I considered various alternatives including Wales, which as you say is the logical area to enjoy starting from Shrewsbury, but this seemed to work overall. I did manage to enjoy the Peak District yesterday, so the 'transit' mileage wasn't entirely wasted.

[samoht]

sardis said:

Hi Thomas, enjoy your adventure, B1257 Helmsley to Stokesley, Guisborough>Castleton>Hutton-le-Hole, A169 Pickering to Whitby and A171 Whitby >Scarborough all highly recommended, it’s called god’s county for good reason. Just watch for the sheep.
Keep us updated.

Thanks for the encouragement. Yesterday I went out around 8:30 - late enough for the roads to be quiet, early enough for it still to be sunny in the long June evenings. Went to Thirsk on the A170, back to Helmsley, north up the B1257, over to Blakey Ridge and back south down that off the moors.

And it was absolutely brilliant! I love the car, the poise and intimate steering and brake feel give so much confidence to carry speed into corners, ramping up the lateral loading, feeling it through the wheel and seat of the pants. Coming down Blakey Ridge was fabulous, but I think every single corner I've gone around in the last three days has put a smile on my face.

I'm really blown away by it to be honest, I never imagined a car could exist that's so much more connected and exciting than anything I've driven.

The power is good, as expected, but hasn't dominated my subjective impression of the car - rather it just feels like the 'right' amount of power to let you enjoy such a great chassis on the road.

I take my hat off to car journalists here, because I’m struggling to say much more about the driving than it’s wonderful. It’s an easy car to get into a flow with, I started to get to the point of feeling at one with it - in my memory it’s as if the car itself dissolved and I was flying over the landscape myself.

Far less issues than I'd feared with scraping or bottoming out, being too wide (the steering helps you place it really precisely), discomfort, ingress/egress, or luggage space - it's a really useable car. Also the driving position was great.

I found other drivers' reactions positive - if anything, a few more people were willing to give me a bit of space or let me past than normal. No-one showed any resentment that I was driving a bright orange McLaren.

This isn’t to say that it’s perfect. I thought the engine noise really boring, as if they skipped the 'make it sound nice' part of powertrain development. And while infuriating pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey touchscreen HVAC adjustments are far from unique to McLaren, the forces involved in enjoying a good road do exacerbate its utter unusability.


But honestly, none of those issues are more than minor irritations. I really, really love this car; I can see why so many owners like them so much.




PS Sports Car Hire Shrewsbury are great - friendly, reassuring, and fair - I wasn't hit with any unexpected charges, just paid for the mileage I'd enjoyed. The 'data logging and monitoring' wasn't an issue - I enjoyed the car and pretty much pushed as hard as is sensible on the road in an unfamiliar car, and there wasn't a problem. I won't mention the speeds I did for obvious reasons, but just say it's not a barrier to enjoying the car and getting a good feel for it. The car was also cosmetically and mechanically A1 despite its six years and ~20k miles, it wasn't at all a tired and ratty example as I've heard of elsewhere. So yeah, a really good honest bunch of genuine enthusiasts. If you can justify the considerable cost, which they're entirely upfront about, otherwise it really is a great chance to enjoy getting to know a great car.

Edited by samoht on Tuesday 21st June 00:08

[samoht]

RSbandit said:

Glad OP enjoyed the experience they are a great package at the money...taking mine to Spa and The Ring next week can't wait just hopeful the weather plays along!

Yeah, seem like a real bargain at +- £100k for how great they are.

Funnily enough it did cross my mind yesterday, if it's this much fun on the Moors while keeping one eye out for sheep and the other eye out for Plod, I bet it would be great on a suitable track like Spa.

Hope you have a great time

[samoht]

drcarrera said:

Glad you enjoyed it and I think your feelings about it after a weekend pretty much mirror mine after a year! It's the steering that did it for me first time I drove one and I never get tired of the feeling of it, whether going through a bend quickly or slowly.
I'd thoroughly recommend the Spider version, though. Same driving experience but with a bit of extra sensation thrown in! I have my roof down year round, unless it's raining ...

Great to hear that this joy doesn't fade after 12 months of ownership :-)

Honestly, money no object, I'd get a Spider too - just as most of the original buyers did after the open variant was introduced. However, cost is an issue, so I think it'd be sensible for me to have one less thing to go wrong, plus an extra £10-15k in the kitty for whatever issues may crop up, boring as that may be.

[samoht]

david-j8694 said:

The 570s is an extremely attractive proposition at £100k. It's in a league of its own as a used purchase.

I also prefer the looks over a lot of the other McLarens. It's so well proportioned and looks special without going over the top. The LTs can look a little try hard for my tastes.

Out of interest, what did the rental cost you in the end?

Yeah, I can't really see past McLaren at this price point, either this or a 650S. Just trying to get my RX-7 ready to sell and get our garage doors widened, and I'll be looking to buy. Just remembering the weekend still puts a smile on my face


Sat lunchtime to Mon late afternoon, c. 450 miles cost a total of £2,325

The cost was entirely as anticipated given the planned mileage, and I've not really found anywhere else that actually looked to come out better.


Hopefully that makes you owners feel happier about your running costs