McLaren 720S
Hello everyone, my name Hugo, I am 23 and I am living in Paris, France.
I always had this impression that journalists, especially Youtubers (if we can call them journalist) liked to criticise the 720S for its lack of soul, of sound... Maybe they allow themselves this type of comment because McLaren does not have yet the aura of Ferrari or Lamborghini. However, I wanted to have my personal opinion on this car .
So, after a couple of phone calls here I was with a McLaren 720S, for 3 days kindly lent by McLaren Press.
I have to admit that I prefer the 650/75 S/LT in terms of styling, however, I like the ethos of "form follows function" and the work done by Robert Melville and Frank Stephenson is impressive. I also hand washed the car and this is how I understood the way the panels were working together and how the air was managed by watching the water slowly running off the body.. Sexy no?
Build quality is ok and I am very pleased that McLaren borrows no switches from other brands. The digital cluster can rotate in race mode (or by a simple button), it's useless (still less useless than the drift mode on M5, E63, CLA 45 and new RS3 ), but cool. The infotainment is nice when you don't use it and the navigation acts like your friend who thinks he knows a city, but in reality doesn't. At least you discover new places. However, as an anorak I love that the "home" button is the home of McLaren, the MTC.
But I was really impressed by the way it drives. The engine (M840T) is explosive, the rev's needle is thrown to the redline when you have your foot down and you have no inertia at all! The gearbox is very fast and I love the "clic" of the paddle shift, it creates a sort of interaction between the driver and the gearbox. The TC is not intrusive and works hand in hand with a perfectly calibrated suspension, which, by the way, is very confortable, another proof that low weight (+/-1300kg here) has only advantages. The steering is great but I find it a bit loose on tight turns. Great chassis, great powertrain, great gearbox but the sound is a bit muted albeit very discernable. Having a car that is this fast and this safe at the same time is a real engineering achievement . The seating position is really nice too and the visibility excellent. Maybe it is just too good? What do you think?
In 10 years the progress made by McLaren in just mind-blogging. Yes, there is the reliability part. As far as I am concern, during my 3 days nothing alarming, one or two electronic glitches like the alarm going on when accessing the boot. It is funny at 4pm, but less funny (and a bit irritating) at 2am in a very calm neighborhood .
I deeply think this car deserves more praise, but for the moment it is what it is. C'est la vie.
P.S. in the next post I will provide you some pictures of the inside of the car, but not of the interior. I think I am the only one to understand this sentence... That's sad but it's ok.
PP.S. sorry for my approximate English.
Regards,
Hugo