McLaren’s junior car…

McLaren’s 10,000

Recently, Mike Flewitt, CEO of McLaren, posed proudly with the picture of the 10,000th McLaren built.  Congratulations to the guys from Woking, but it’s never about how many cars you build, it’s about how many you sell.

And it’s impossible to take anything away from this entry level McLaren as it literally has everything McLaren dealers want, except people willing to buy it.

The McLaren 570S is simply the best car in their stable when you consider looks, performance, and practicality.

McLaren 570S

With the exceptions of the 675LT and the hyper car P1, the 570S is rapidly becoming like the 650S; overlooked, and that’s too bad because it’s simply incredible.

Pop the scissor door and drop into a wonderfully simple interior, your sight falls on a flawless leather and alcantara trim.

570S interior

A button push and this car is gone in an instant. Thanks in part to a svelte 3200 pounds, a 3.8 Liter turbocharged V8 catapults the baby McLaren from 0-60 in 2.9 seconds and on to a top speed of 204 MPH.

It eats up the road as quickly as any exotic and could seemingly care less at your entry speed to any corner.

But the price is killing sales.  The McLaren 570S has an MSRP of $185,000, but as tested, my ride went out the door at $220,000, and that puts it at lots more money than a 2017 Porsche 911 Carrera S and spitting distance from a year or two old exotic from Ferrari and Lamborghini.

McLaren 570S

It’s an easy decision for the guy with $300K to spend on a sports car and people flock to the Prancing Horse.  On the flip side is the enthusiast with $100-150,000 to spend and everyone understands why they choose Porsche.

McLaren has unfortunately caught itself in no mans land with the 570S and more’s the pity, because it’s the whole enchilada, but with an unjustifiable price point.

The answer to McLaren’s problems may be the 540C, a car not sold in the US, but maybe just what the doctor ordered.  Slightly less HP at 533, 0-60 in 3.5 seconds and 199 MPH top speed for a real, out-the-door price of $165,000 is what the enthusiast wants.

Build them, and they will come…

Thanks to Lake Forest Sports Car for lending me a test car and special thanks to Tyler Dean for always making sense of how the automotive .wind is blowing.

Lake Forest Sports Car: 847-295-6560