I ended up following this rare beauty last night. When stopped at the light, to my surprise, I heard 2 women comment, not about the McLaren but about the Crossfire and how it would be their prefered choice. A chick magnet! Personally, I would switch with the McLaren anyday! Double wet clutch paddle shift 7 speed gearbox. This thing not only is sharp looking but it has the sound to match. Some may assume that the MP4 12C is a 12 cylinder, however it is a V8, twin turbo. Looking at the video, I can see 2 calipers(a 4 piston and what seems to be 1 single piston one). Could this other caliper be the "emergency/parking brake"? I believe the Mercedes SLR shares some of it's technology...

Feel free to comment about this exotic?


2011 McLaren MP4-12C

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6__Hro5NvY

 

There is a new McLaren dealership not far from me in Newport Beach, CA and I happened to stop in a few days before it officially opened. I had an opportunity to get inside one of these cars and, although very nice indeed, I found it a bit underwhelming given the circles this car plays in. The exterior styling looks almost dated to my eyes, being neither groundbreaking nor exciting in the way a Ferrari 458 Italia or a Lamborghini Aventador is. Granted, the Aventador costs almost double what the MP4-12C costs, but still. And I think the Aventador is the best looking Lamborghini since the Miura of the 1960s!

No doubt the McLaren is an amazing car to drive, although both Tiff Needel and Jason Plato of Fifth Gear gave the 458 Italia better marks as a driver's car, I still don't think I'd have one if I had the means to acquire it. I'm still a huge fan of the styling of any of the current crop of Aston Martins, even though they basically all look the same and the basic design has been around for many years. But getting into a V8 Vantage all the way up to the latest Virage (stunningly beautiful inside and out) just makes my heart race. Even the outgoing Ferrari 599GTB Fiorano speaks to me more than the McLaren does - maybe because I've actually had the chance to drive one and the sound of the V12 in that thing is just flat out intoxicating.

But the McLaren, to me at least, is just lacking something in the looks department. Let's face it, all of the current crop of super cars have blistering performance and if all you're into is chest thumping about your car being 0.06 seconds faster to 60 then I think you're priorities are screwed up. When performance gets close, the driver makes all the difference in the world. And since I don't claim to be a Jenson Button or Fernando Alonso, splitting performance numbers matters little to me.

For the roughly $230,000 asking price of the McLaren, I'd rather have an Aston Martin V8 Vantage, an Austin Healey 3000, a Mercedes 190SL and a BMW 2002tii - combined.

 

The strength of the McLaren, as far as I've read, is its driveability while still being fantastic and fast. I think it was Car and Driver that reviewed it as the most "daily driveable" supercar around...

 

~ i saw 2 in one week in my area... the white was not a good color in this car... but the black showed off the lines of the car... pics don't do this car justice.

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That rear is just so damn sexy

 

Note the extended rear spoiler. Hmmmmm, I swear I'v seen that feature on another car before...

 

A few weeks ago at our local cars and coffee get together, a black one rolled in. Then a graphite (very pretty color on that car) and a posche GT.

Graham Rahall brought one of his McLaren's and the porsche all CF GT, it was a good time.

 

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