RE: McLaren 540C Coupe revealed

RE: McLaren 540C Coupe revealed

Monday 20th April 2015

McLaren 540C Coupe revealed

Sports Series range expands further with 540hp, £126K 540C Coupe



What is the 540C Coupe? It's the 'most attainable McLaren yet' says Woking. These things are all relative of course as the 540 is still £126,000. But that's still £20K less than the 570S, and the the Audi R8 V10 and Porsche 911 Turbo at £120,000 will surely be the key rivals .

More road-biased than 570S, says McLaren
More road-biased than 570S, says McLaren
As the name suggests, the C loses 30hp compared to the S. Torque is down 45lb ft as well, with 398lb ft playing 442. Obviously it's still incredibly fast, 0-124mph taking just 10.5 seconds and top speed claimed at 199mph.

Marking the 540 out from the 570 visually are 'a subtly revised aerodynamic package' and a new wheel design. It will take a keener eye than ours to spot much difference! Underneath the suspension has been tweaked over the 570S with greater focus on road driving and its own damper settings.

Other than that it's very much as the 570S, with an identical interior and the same 1,311kg 'as low as' kerbweight. Furthermore, unlike the 625C, the 540C will be available globally. It's being exhibited at Shanghai for the next few days with pre-orders being taken now; deliveries will begin early next year.





Author
Discussion

Frimley111R

Original Poster:

15,537 posts

233 months

Monday 20th April 2015
quotequote all
Nice but McLaren definately have learned from the Porsche school of car design. Already i cant see the differences easily between models.

is1

188 posts

147 months

Monday 20th April 2015
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They also seem to have nicked the Cayman GT4's wheel design!
I would describe this model as "taking aim and hitting the bullseye". Very good.

Matt UK

17,649 posts

199 months

Monday 20th April 2015
quotequote all
For a young Brand trying hard to make an impression on the establishment, I'm already struggling somewhat to understand / remember their model line up..

ZesPak

24,423 posts

195 months

Monday 20th April 2015
quotequote all
Wow, really can't see anyone taking an R8 over something like this?

But, I find it hard to keep track of their lineup.

While porsche has various iterations of their 911 to cover everything from £90 - £160k before options, it seems to me that the McLaren range is a bit more stuffed over a range 40k, isn't it?

julian64

14,317 posts

253 months

Monday 20th April 2015
quotequote all
Porsche don't have a school of design. Its a bug ugly car by any standard, and hasn't changed for millennia.

It is good to have a standard design to identify your brand and make initial purchasers feel like they haven't been deserted, but to compare the classic racing car shape of the mclaren to the beetle design disaster is a stretch too far for me.

Monty Python

4,812 posts

196 months

Monday 20th April 2015
quotequote all
Frimley111R said:
Nice but McLaren definately have learned from the Porsche school of car design. Already i cant see the differences easily between models.

alock

4,224 posts

210 months

Monday 20th April 2015
quotequote all
What is the difference between the 540, 570 and 650 apart from the engine map and a few subtle bodywork differences?

I assume there are fewer exotic materials used in the cheaper cars but then this isn't mentioned in the press. Maybe I've just missed the details.

vz-r_dave

3,469 posts

217 months

Monday 20th April 2015
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Ridiculous!

Yet another supposed 'model' that should be on the options list!

SydneyBridge

8,500 posts

157 months

Monday 20th April 2015
quotequote all
wonder how possible it will be to actually buy one at £126k, how many essential extras will be needed.

Like it very much though - enough real world performance for anyone

pozi

1,723 posts

186 months

Monday 20th April 2015
quotequote all
Another week another cheaper McLaren using the same carbon tub and engine, I wonder if the plan is to just keep offering lesser models until they are eventually competing with Lotus/Zenos etc ??

I suppose this going backwards philosophy is currently being used by their F1 team so it would make sense smile




Vee12V

1,329 posts

159 months

Monday 20th April 2015
quotequote all
Interesting design process, just keep downtuning the same engine over and over again (while emphasising on how hard they've worked on 'recalibrating' it - read probably using cheaper components), and then slapping a 'new' name and lower price tag on it.

Another week, another 'new' mclaren.

Edited by Vee12V on Monday 20th April 11:03

Vee12V

1,329 posts

159 months

Monday 20th April 2015
quotequote all
alock said:
What is the difference between the 540, 570 and 650 apart from the engine map and a few subtle bodywork differences?

I assume there are fewer exotic materials used in the cheaper cars but then this isn't mentioned in the press. Maybe I've just missed the details.
Biggest difference is that the 650 relies on McLaren's hydraulic linked clever suspension (without anti-roll bars), where the lesser models rely on a more conventional setup, including an anti-roll bar - though still using active dampers.

xRIEx

8,180 posts

147 months

Monday 20th April 2015
quotequote all
Frimley111R said:
Nice but McLaren definately have learned from the Porsche school of car design. Already i cant see the differences easily between models.
I'd say it's more the Aston Martin School; I can actually spot differences between 911 models, not so much with AM's two door models.


Matt UK said:
For a young Brand trying hard to make an impression on the establishment, I'm already struggling somewhat to understand / remember their model line up..
Same here.

Dave Hedgehog

14,541 posts

203 months

Monday 20th April 2015
quotequote all
ZesPak said:
Wow, really can't see anyone taking an R8 over something like this?
I would for the glorious N/A V10 noise alone, although it would have to be a spyder with sports exhaust mod to max out the noise

The performance is irrelevant, all these cars are so far beyond the average enthusiasts ability and a light year beyond what you can use on the road, may as well just enjoy the noise smile



jezzaaa

1,867 posts

258 months

Monday 20th April 2015
quotequote all
I think it's great that you can get something that looks like that for the price of a 911 turbo/R8...I'd deffo have the McLaren of the three. But I can't help feeling that the higher end ones aren't differentiated from the humbler ones enough externally.

I do think that the 12C/650 were never pretty enough to really compete with the 458...so this one competing with Porsche and Audi is a much better proposition and I wish them great success with it.

Given that we've lost JLR, I'd really like to see McLaren go more mainstream and do 4x4s and saloons too...just so we can have a British mainstream manufacturer again *runs for cover*

wink

Nickyboy

6,700 posts

233 months

Monday 20th April 2015
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I'm confused by all the different models now, more so as they don't seem to be any different than the last except maybe a restyled back end

F-Stop Junkie

549 posts

199 months

Monday 20th April 2015
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It does amaze me that people say they can't remember the McLaren model line up, but will argue the difference of a 996 vs a 997, an E46 vs a E36, or how vile an X.90 is.

Hypercars aside, there's far, far fewer models than Mercedes make, essentially two road cars with two states of tune.

I wonder if the 540C is only being made available internationally because it can be? It's nice having a cheaper car available, but it looks like McLaren's 'From only....' model where most buyers buying new will go for the 570S. Both McLaren's 'C' models are intended for markets where higher taxes make the standard models far less appealing. so why would you buy a less powerful, soggier McLaren as an alternative where it doesn't matter so much?

crmcatee

5,691 posts

226 months

Monday 20th April 2015
quotequote all
Another McLaren.. Hard to tell the difference..


Oh and : " and the the Audi R8 V10 "

ZesPak

24,423 posts

195 months

Monday 20th April 2015
quotequote all
Dave Hedgehog said:
I would for the glorious N/A V10 noise alone, although it would have to be a spyder with sports exhaust mod to max out the noise

The performance is irrelevant, all these cars are so far beyond the average enthusiasts ability and a light year beyond what you can use on the road, may as well just enjoy the noise smile
Pfft, if that's your premise, get an SL600 with a custom exhaust. Makes everything this side of a Zonda sound very tame.

DonkeyApple

54,932 posts

168 months

Monday 20th April 2015
quotequote all
It's good to see someone other than Porsche thinking of the back office staff of London. smile