My McLaren GT - Ownership Thread

[DRZ]

So, the day has finally arrived and I signed the paperwork to buy a new car to replace the M5. I've failed spectacularly to keep previous ownership threads updated but this one I'm really going to try and keep up to date (I promise!)

Before I talk about the car, a little bit of back story. Like a great many people, the last two years have been pretty tough for me. My Mum is terminally ill and my Dad has had some very scary health issues, both of which have basically robbed them of their lifelong retirement plans. I have decided that, while I am keeping half an eye on my retirement, I'm going to push the boat out and achieve an achievable dream now while I am able. I've wanted a "special" car in various forms since I was old enough to know what a car was so I thought well **** it, lets go buy one. Carpe Diem and all that.

I wanted a car that I could have loads of fun with on a weekend so initially went down the road of looking at Lotus Exige S3s. The mrs rightly suggested that we'd want to use it for long trips away and so on and an Exige would be a living hell for that. I didn't want another M car - as good as they are and as much of a BMW fanboi as I am, I wanted something much more special. My attention turned to a long term dream car of mine, a Ferrari 599. Unfortunately, they are just a little bit too old, not all that great to drive due to the F1 gearbox and the sheer size of the thing and the running costs can be berserk. I really wanted to like the California T and Portofino but they fell a bit flat for me. Great engine to drive but a bit soulless for a Ferrari and the interior quality isn't all that great IMO in terms of perceived quality. The Aston Martin DB11 AMR was another serious consideration. I loved a lot of things about the DB11 - the engine is absolutely ridiculous, the 'aura' around the car and the prestige of the brand is top notch as well. The seats are super comfortable and the split personality between GT mode and Sport/Track is the starkest of any car I can recollect meaning it is great to just pootle around in but fast when you want it to be. Unfortunately, it weighs quite a lot and can't hide it so when pressing on I was left with the impression that I'd be disappointed when I got off the autobahn/autoroute/autostrada and onto more fun roads. Merc ruled themselves out from consideration with their ridiculously rude service on multiple occasions. I'm never going back to them as a brand in future, bridges fully alight there. A shame, as I like the look of the GT R and it sounds like God gargling on spanners down a megaphone.

I've had a few conversations with people over the months and was repeatedly nudged to actually take a look at a McLaren 570GT and, for a bit more cash, a 720S. A lot of YouTube later and I had a booking in to go test drive a McLaren GT.

Sometimes, you get into a car and you just know its the one for you. That is what it was like for me with the McLaren GT. It is sporty enough to have serious fun - more than enough on the roads at least - without being absolutely totally bonkers like the 720S. 612bhp and relatively low weight means it isn't exactly slow even if it is 100+hp down on the 720S. It is at least as refined as the M5 in terms of ride comfort albeit very slightly noisier over savage bumps but is so so much sharper to drive, faster absolutely everywhere and feels just insanely special to be in and around.

So there we have it, my new car is a 2021 McLaren GT Luxury in MSO Defined Papaya Spark. It has the MSO Black Pack (largely good except the black wheels which are getting sorted) and some interior CF bits like the wheel and paddles which won't have been cheap knowing McLaren. There are other must-have options like the practicality pack, premium pack and panoramic roof as well, so the spec is pretty much exactly as I'd want it.

Dealer pics as I've not collected it yet:







Somehow I need to find a way to sleep between now and collection day!

 

[DRZ]

Lovely colour, what's the plans for the wheels?

Unless I can get a hold of a set of the tungsten wheels they'll be going... tungsten-ish. BMW Ferric Grey is an option I'm considering as well but it isn't obviously OE and I want it to remain OE as much as I can although I can always repaint them gloss black in time.

 

[DRZ]

I'm sorry to hear this. I lost my mother earlier this year, gone some thirty years too early by my book however what I'm getting at, in due course or whenever you want, if you needed someone random to chat to about it I'm here.

Apt username is apt! Thanks, I appreciate the offer and the world needs more people willing to listen.


In other news, insurance is a lot better than I was expecting. I shopped around a bit and there's basically two ways to insure a car like this - a specialist supercar insurance broker with access to a couple of underwriters who do well with these sorts of cars or take a chance on a mainstream insurer.

The former type have a relatively predictable pricing model - 1% of the value of the car plus IPT. The policy quality varies but they are all around that. Of the people I talked to, Lockton Performance seemed to offer the best policy. Agreed value of the invoice price of the car in the first year and then based on a written valuation from a main dealer obtained when the car is in for a service or whatever. Comprehensive cover to drive any car not owned in the household (rather than the usual third party cover), comprehensive cover for anyone over 35 to drive my car with my permission, etc etc. Couple of negatives - Limited mileage only - 5k maximum and little to no leeway if you happen to go over. They will not cover anyone on a named basis that doesn't have performance car experience/ownership history. That creates the perverse situation that my partner couldn't drive my car but I could throw the keys to the old woman next door who doesn't have a single straight panel on her car. Annoyingly illogical but there we go.

Mainstream insurers are sort of the opposite really, pricing is wildly variable but you don't have to have a strictly limited mileage policy and things like adding on drivers here and there isn't a chore of proving their experience etc. The downsides are in the event of a claim you're well outside of their normal parameters and there might be a struggle on getting paid out an appropriate value. This is minimised to some extent by GAP insurance but it is still a potential hassle.

I've elected to go for a mainstream insurer for year 1, driven solely by the mileage cap. I think I'll want to drive it a lot more than I expect in the first year due to it being the shiny new thing. I'm driving down to the French GP in the summer and that'll be not far off half the total annual mileage cap of the Lockton policy. £850 for the year (36yo, 10 years NCD, car garaged). Relatively happy with that all things considered!

 

[DRZ]

Certainly one of the best colours for a Macca, enjoy it. You gonna bring it to Supercar Fest in May?

I've got tickets for both days as I'm not sure what I'm doing yet. I put an application in for the runway on the Saturday but we'll see.

I'll be back at Salon Prive and Sports Cars In The Park as well because both of those events were superb last year.

 

[DRZ]

You gonna bring it to Supercar Fest in May?

I put an application in for the runway on the Saturday but we'll see.

Just had the email through accepting me for the Saturday on the runway Not sure if I'll stick around for the Sunday as well, might make that a last minute decision.

 

[DRZ]

Incredible car. Big fan of the GT and Im not a Mclaren guy.

Interesting hearing your thoughts on the DB11. Have you driven the DBS SL? I know its a different price bracket completely.

I’ve not had the opportunity to try a DBS SL, no. They are mega in the flesh but given they are significantly out of my reach I didn’t even ask. Perhaps one day I might be in a position to seriously consider one.

Congratulations, great choice and a bold colour. Hope your ownership experience is a happy one, look forward to reading all about it. Is it from Ascot? I used to walk past regularly and have a nose at their stock, usually the part ex stock they'd get it as there was all sorts of exotica in their compound.

Not Ascot no, but I was talking to them about the Lantana purple 720S they have in stock at the moment. The thing that swung my decision away from the 720S is that they are so insanely fast I think it would leave me realistically nowhere to go afterwards in terms of performance I could ever hope to afford. Love everything about them though including the eye socket headlights! Running costs are a significant uptick as well, warranty is significantly more and definitely required plus I believe there’s a few uncommon issues which are expensive and not covered by the warranty which was also a bit of a turnoff.

 

[DRZ]

The GT is always a bit of a strange one for me personally though - it's not that much more practical than the other cars in the McLaren range, but it's considerably less practical than something like a 911.

I was quite surprised but you’re in the right ballpark. It’s all in the margins, the frunk lid being slightly higher and flatter adds a decent amount of convenience in terms of geometry if not overall space and the rear area is an odd shape but is pretty big all things considered.
Of course you’re right in that it isn’t quite as practical as a 911 or anywhere near as practical as a DB11 but it is just practical enough which is the right balance of things for me.

I did go and look at 911s btw inc a nice GT3 but they didn’t really grab me at all. I know they are worshipped by some but they leave me kinda cold. Horses for courses

 

[DRZ]

Jeez, nice one! Things have moved on a little from the days where I was "chasing" you in my Supra to the RR day and you were in some battered old Citroen van! Well done man, enjoy it.

I think you might have me confused with someone else… I’ve been to many a rolling road day but I have never once owned any sort of van or even driven a Citroen van! Trying to think of cars I’ve been to rolling road days in…

Mondeos (1.8 and an ST200), MR2, Alfa 159, supercharged mx-5, think I came to one in my 535d as well. Probably others as I’ve owned too many cars over the years!

 

[DRZ]

JayEmm just published his thoughts on the McLaren GT
https://youtu.be/jrWhvoCo630

In summary : a great supercar but not so great at the GT part.

Interesting to hear his opinion. I think I agree with some of what he’s saying but I think he’s missed the point somewhere along the way - probably because he doesn’t really do a long drive as part of the review.

Watch the Harry Metcalfe video where he drives one down to the South of France for example and I think he “gets” it far more because he’s using it for long drives etc.

There is clearly an understanding gap around the marketing of the GT but I think people seriously interested in this sort of car will draw their own conclusions vs the DB11 and Conti GT. Open the boot of a Vantage vs DB11 for example and you wonder if you really could do the same trips in both from a luggage POV (probably!) but have a much sportier drive doing it (definitely!). It’s that sort of bias/tipping point which the GT sits on the other side of to the more traditional GT cars. Which is why I loved it enough to buy one

 

[DRZ]

Picked it up earlier today. Couldn’t be happier!



I’d managed to keep it a secret from my partner as well, so I’m pleased to report that I am still alive and unhurt. A Jo Malone candle might have influenced that outcome somewhat!

L322 Range Rover, Mk7.5 Golf and a McLaren GT. Not a terrible 3-car garage

 

[DRZ]

Given that I moved house on the Saturday and collected the car on the Monday, the garage was in something of a state. I cleared enough room to get the car in but had about 1" front and rear clearance between the racking and garage door. Last night I spent some time clearing a much bigger space, moving the racking etc etc so now I've got about 2ft of room front to back.



Future plans are to seal and tile the garage floor in something like ribtrax, insulate/board the walls and ceiling and replace the doors and window. The walls are just a single skin of brick so I want to at least try and keep the temperature above the outside temp in the winter to some extent. Not so much for the car but for the other stuff in there. I've got a dessicant dehumidifier on the go in there in the mean time to take the edge off any moisture in the air. It doesn't feel particularly damp but still, it'll help.

 

[DRZ]

mate those things on top of the plastic tubs to the right look like they are about to fall on the car ?

It looks like that but they were rock solid and aren't there any more in any case, don't worry!

 

[DRZ]

I run a dehumidifier in my garage which pumps out warm air, think its 700W at maximum power and it typically keeps my concrete double garage around 5-6c above the outside temperature, so when its around 0c outside the garage stays around 5-7c. I keep the dehumidifier set to around 60% so it works well for my double garage, no damp.

Yeah this is a dessicant type so the air coming out is warm - the manual says about 10c warmer than ambient so we'll see.

Sounds very similar to mine, i've never checked but with the new door my garage is always a few degrees warming than outside, never warm though! do you have a single door into it, or just the main door?

I have a side door as well as the main door (and the window). Both the side door and the window are functional but not great looking or efficient so will be getting replaced with something better.

 

[DRZ]

One week update!

Had a few minor issues First one was that every single time I started the car I'd get a call from the tracker company. Seemingly a litany of random BS issues from the GPS signal being weak in the garage to being around tall buildings or it moving before the engine was started (wtf?!) etc. That is until I spoke to someone there who knew what they were doing and correctly diagnosed it as a weak battery in the tracker fob. Replaced that, did a reset and all my tracker woes were resolved! Second issue was that I was struggling to get it to lock and unlock sometimes but not always. After the tracker fob issue I thought I might as well try a new battery in the key and again, instant resolution of those issues. BMW replaced the batteries in my keys (where possible) on handover of previous cars so I'd presumed McLaren would have done the same but clearly not.

My only other issue so far is that the angle/height/curve of the front plate clearly disagrees with some ANPR systems I regularly use. This is a minor gripe but extremely irritating as doing something as simple as getting your arm out the window to wave a fob/card/whatever at a regular-height post is actually quite hard. In previous low cars (and I've had a few!) you could simply pop the door open a bit to get some more lean angle but that is impossible with dihedral doors... First world problems and all that but still...

Everything else is mega - the performance is more than adequate, the interior is a nice place to be and to live with on a long journey, the B&W sound system absolutely rocks and on a steady cruise at regular motorway speeds in regular motorway traffic over 200 miles it returned 32.2mpg which I did not expect. I have of course averaged somewhere around 11mpg elsewhere as it is definitely not frugal when you open the taps! One pull 0-60 saw the predicted range drop from 225 miles to 45 miles

The positive attention it gets is really surprising - so many people who love McLaren through the F1 team or the road cars have come up to ask to take photos of/with it. Obviously it is hardly subtle being bright orange and I expected it'd get the odd bit of attention but not quite this much. Especially because it is a GT which isn't top of the list for most people when it comes to desirable McLarens.

Took it to a couple of events over the weekend, one at The Motorist near Leeds and the other to Cars and Coffee Cheshire. Both events were superbly run and well attended and I'd recommend both to anyone into cars.

 

[DRZ]

With regards to the garage wouldn't it be more cost effective to insulate the garage properly rather than running a dehumidifier for hours at a time? Especially with the electricity prices, and also potential fire hazard of leaving an application like that on? Or am I being silly?

I think it needs both, and that is the plan. Running a dehumidifier 24/7 isn't expensive even at current electricity prices - its about 600W at full blast but it has a humidistat and sleeps when it isn't needed, plus I don't have it set to be really really dry, just about 50% RH is enough. I think it'll cost a few quid a month at most, well worth it to keep the stuff in the garage from being ruined slowly over time. At 50% RH it was removing 4-6L of water per day initially which has slowed right down now it has been running a while.

Regarding the fire risk - sure, it is a risk but these are designed to run 24/7 on boats and in garages etc. I don't see it as more risky than the lithium batteries for my tools or the petrol etc.

 

[DRZ]

I've yet to park it anywhere in the rain so I guess I'll find out. I'm not overly worried about the car really, it is a car and it is getting used as much as possible so I am sure it'll be alright. It is the "stuff" in there which I'm trying to protect.

We too have a log burner and 2-3 ton bags of logs, most of which are from the many trees on our property so cost nothing.

 

[DRZ]

The best bit of that car is the key as I designed it

Nice work! I love that the back of the key is painted to match the car, a nice touch.

Ordered some new plates from fourdot and assigned my plate to the car. They arrived this morning and I have to say that I'm reasonably impressed with the quality but then for the cost of them they ought to be decent!

 

[DRZ]

Update time!

I am coming up to about 600 miles driven now which is plenty of time to get to know things on a better level than any test drive could give you. I could write a very long post here but I will try to keep it brief.

I am still getting used to the way the numbers on the speedo increase. On paper and certainly at lower speeds it shouldn’t be all that different to the M5 - but it is. Significantly. It doesn’t actually feel all that much faster in a strange sort of way except at full throttle beyond 6k rpm - but if I accelerate so that I feel like I’m getting shoved at about the same rate as I did in the M5 and actually look at the speedo, it is absolutely insane how much faster I am travelling. I need to completely recalibrate my senses as I cannot yet quite fathom the immediacy with which big speeds appear on the dashboard. I think the refinement of it all helps mask a significant chunk of the speed which I wasn’t expecting at all.

The steering is sublime and gets better the more I get used to it. Initially, to me it felt a bit like it weighted up too quickly and made the car feel “heavy” but that’s just years in FR cars and compromised steering to train out of my brain. I need to remember my previous mid-engine car ownership experience and consciously apply it - and when I do I am very much rewarded. It is a total joy to actively thread down a country lane at legal speeds (or indeed at any speed).

The ride is superb. I don’t mean “for a McLaren” or “for a sporty car” I mean in general, compared to almost anything it is eerily good. It is definitely better than anything else I was looking at, better than the M5 and probably on par with the Range Rover. Not as quiet by a long chalk but in pure physical comfort terms it is sensational. How they’ve done it I don’t know but it is magical to be in a car like this driving down cobbled streets in total comfort.

Finally, the measure of customer service is rarely when buying something and invariably when things go wrong does the truth of an organisation emerge. I have noticed a slight (and I do mean slight) clicking when I open the driver side door. The passenger side is silent so I put a call in to the dealer to ask if it is normal/expected for such a noise to be there. They offered me a slot straight away to come down and demonstrate the noise to them and get an opinion on it. I only had to open the door once for them to confirm that no, the noise is not normal. The master technician said it would be only the second time he’d seen the issue in his many years of working on these cars and the gas strut needs to be replaced. While I was there I also asked him about a couple of other absolutely minuscule items I had noticed (like the frunk being more difficult to close than I anticipated but only when it is a cold day) and all of them were acknowledged, understood, diagnosed and are being addressed without question. Frankly I wouldn’t have even bothered with anything so trivial on any previous car I’ve owned but they are bending over backwards to help as they want the cars to be absolutely perfect. The entire experience was superb and exactly the opposite of what The Internet would have you believe about dealing with warranty stuff at McLaren.

 

[DRZ]

As promised elsewhere, here is a mini review of my courtesy car, a 2022 McLaren 720S!



As mentioned, the GT has a few little things that need to be sorted so while they are attending to that I have use of this 720S. I did shortlist a 720S Luxury but decided it was a compromise too far from what I needed the car to do so this is a great opportunity to really see what life would have been like had I gone the other way.

This car is in an interesting spec and not one I personally would have gone for myself but they did it for a display of "you can have the car configured any way you want if your pockets are deep enough" I think. It is McLaren Orange (not Papaya Spark like my car) with a dark grey metallic frunk lid, spoiler and rear bumper with a dark blue stripe running front to back down the middle of the car. There are other dark blue bits here and there. I'll take some better pictures of the front when I get some time and you'll get a better idea of what I'm talking about. The interior has the manual seats which are not especially uncomfortable but neither are they comfortable. They hold you well enough in the right places but they are very firm. I certainly prefer the comfy electric memory seats in my GT!

Speaking of things that are better in the GT, the infotainment and screens are much better than in the 720S. I honestly don't think I could live with the system in the 720S, it is pretty much as bad as the system in my Dad's Mitsubishi Outlander. The screens are visibly dated by any modern standard and coming from the GT it is immediately quite noticeable. With this being a 2022 car I thought they might have filtered the newer screen tech into the parts bin for the 720S but no. Audio is still B&W in this car but it is different, the speakers look smaller and it is either not quite as good or the extra road noise of the 720S makes it harder to hear music when on the move. Other than that, despite McLaren's claims the GT cabin is roomier and so on, it isn't. Or at least not in any meaningful way. My head is about 1.5cm from the roof in the GT and it is about 4cm from the roof in the 720S which probably helps that feel. Width is not noticeable inside the cabin but on the road the 720S definitely feels narrower.

Performance is stratospheric. As fast as the GT is, this is on another level entirely. I was convinced by my test drive that the 720S was too much car to be responsibly enjoyed on UK public roads and this extended experience is just confirming it. I know the measured numbers say the 720S is 7.8s to 124mph and the GT is 9.0 but it feels at least 50% faster than the GT even if it isn't. Part of that is down to how refined the GT is in comparison, part of it is the extra 100bhp, part of it is the way the power is delivered. Part of it might be McLaren heavily sandbagging the performance claims. Whatever the recipe might be, the overall impression is of a car that is sensationally fast. I truly cannot begin to convey in words the reality of what this is like to someone who hasn't experienced it for themselves. I don't think I have driven anything on the road quite as potent as this car. For reference, the new M5cs does 0-124mph in 10.4s, a Ferrari F40 did it in about 11s and the "holy trinity" hypercars were all just under 7s. Rapid.

Noise is seemingly always a "thing" when people talk about McLaren. The 720S sounds very different to the GT in tone and loudness and I think overall it is a bit more brash. I love how in-your-face the noise is, it is a lot higher pitched than the GT which is more of a baritone sound. My GT has the optional sports exhaust and I think this 720S has one too and I would say that the 720S in its quietest mode is as loud as the GT in Sport. Full chat in the 720S is a wonderful noise to my ears. No, it isn't a Ferrari V12 or anything like it but it is still a supercar soundtrack to relish while we still can!

Overall, very happy with it as a courtesy car (but come on, how could I not be?!). I do think I've made the right call buying the GT for what I want from a car plus it won't ruin every other car for me in terms of performance like a 720S long term would...

 

[DRZ]

Super, super happy with how the wheels have turned out. BMW Ferric Grey II remains one of the best wheel colours to my eyes and that is *exactly* what these wheels are painted in. Not a colour match, I gave them the paint code and they ordered the correct BMW paint.

I was a bit nervous as to if the colour would work with the Papaya Spark or not but I needn’t have worried, it works amazingly well and pops even more in the flesh than it does in photos.