New McLaren Super Car: No Longer Just a Rumor

Mclaren said they made the shape understated and under dramatic, so that it will look timeless. So perhaps we can look back in a decade or so and see if they were successful. I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt on this at the moment. It has to be said it's not an ugly car, but its not beautiful either.

Unfortunately for the 12c, it's always going to be compared to its older brother by many people and that is of course going to be a problem, since the F1 is widely regarded as one of, if not, the best super car in history. For a car that was aimed as 458 competitor, this was always going to be an impossible task.

So what should people have expected? Well the Ferrari 458 certainly is fierce competitor, so if the the 12c can match it, then it's definitely got to be considered a success and if early road tests are to go by, its certainly done that.

It seems by all standards (except perhaps exterior styling) it has set the benchmark (for its class at least), and that's exactly what I expect from a Mclaren road car, just like the F1 set the Bench mark for supercars (by some margin) many years ago. There are a few mentions of a lack of passion, but I see passion in exceptional engineering, that's part of what I saw in the F1, so I am certainly glad to see a glimmer of that in the 12c.

All that said, I have heard rumours of a Mclaren making a supercar, which would be the true successor to the F1, in which case, it would be a fair comparison and I cannot wait to see it.
 
Thanks for that video link. I think it's a brilliant car, sounds good too. Would I take it or the 458? In terms of looks, the 458 wins hands down, but as a drivers car? Not sure that I could pick between them to be honest...
 
Wow, really hooks up that McLaren doesn't it? I guess the figures tell you that though since it's as quick or quicker than the F1...
 
BigYoSpeck
Clarkson also describes car engines as having torgues (plural) the man is an idiot :)

This car is the shape it is because it's the best combination or aerodynamics, structural rigidity, weight distribution and visibility possible.

Yes you can make a car any shape you want if you don't want it to achieve those goals but then McLaren aren't Alfa Romeo they are engineers.
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That Is true they are engineers and in terms of drivers car it's top of the pops. But I would like it to be a bit prettier. Like said above McLaren wanted it to be timeless so I guess il wait till I can afford one =).
 
CarreraGT
Thanks for that video link. I think it's a brilliant car, sounds good too. Would I take it or the 458? In terms of looks, the 458 wins hands down, but as a drivers car? Not sure that I could pick between them to be honest...
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Yeah someone should make a direct comparison review.
 
The MP4 doesn't have a slippy diff, so it'll be almost impossible to drift with any consistency.

In addition, I read the traction control and ESP systems are not fully switchable... the pre-production versions have more slack here, but the production cars will be stricter in this regard.... something to do with the way the car uses the brakes to improve turn-in (the brake-steer system).
 
Driver aids were clearly killing the power, no one would be able to do much better with the way it was set up.
 
Cool video to see them compared though it didnt really answer the question of comparing the two, just showed them both being driven around with lots of nice words said!

I suspect the F1 GTR is still the faster car by quite a margin, being the racing car version.
 
The original one still looks better after all these years.
 
Its a shame they had to used the GTR version for that comparison, the standard F1 would probably be a much better comparison.
 
I wish the video featured more of the GTR, still...

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That the orange one from tiff needels review of the gtr and an enzo on fifth gear. Love that car and no matter how awesome the new one is I just dont see the old one being de-throned.
 
The F1 is one of those timeless cars, Like the GT40. I don't think the MP4-12C was meant to de-throne it in any way, or even give it serious competition as the pinnacle of McLaren's line. Rather, It's a car built to show that McLaren's serious about competing with Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Porsche. There's no reason to even bring up that one's better than the other.
 
Jim Prower
The F1 is one of those timeless cars, Like the GT40. I don't think the MP4-12C was meant to de-throne it in any way, or even give it serious competition as the pinnacle of McLaren's line. Rather, It's a car built to show that McLaren's serious about competing with Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Porsche. There's no reason to even bring up that one's better than the other.
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I think this analysis is entirely correct.

The 12C will always be compared to its older brother, even if it was never designed to compete with it. As such, it will always be considered a disappointment by some. Which is a shame.

If Mclaren do aim to build a new hypercar though, I think comparisons to the f1 are fair game.
 
^ You're right, the MP4-12C was never meant to compete with the F1. Mclaren have said so themselves that this car is to showcase what they can do, and that they would add models to the line up (including a more powerful, F1 successor) down the track.

I can't wait to hear what they have in store...
 
Bigbazz
I read the full review in the mag, he basicly sais its awesome and does everything better than a 458 but he would still rather a 458.
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I agree with him though. The McLaren is no doubt the faster car but isn't nicer to drive. I feel the same in gt5. That power and lightness just don't feel as nice as they would do. Whereas the fezza is so much nicer.
 

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