“Make no mistake, it’s much more than a minor tweak on the 650,” McLaren’s representative told me. As if it were possible for me to hear anything but war drums, mere seconds away from being handed the keys to $392,741 worth of misslecar.
On Sunday morning I was driving a rented Kia Rio through Newark traffic. One train, one plane, one bus and one Double Double to go later I picked up what I was told is “essentially a prototype” of McLaren’s latest supercar; the 675LT.
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The body is almost all carbon-fiber. The engine is a 3.8 all-aluminum twin turbo V8 with 666 horsepower, 515 lb-ft of torque and a redline over 8,000 RPM.
In theory, the car is capable of 205 MPH.
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But you can read the brochure at your convenience. You’re here to read about what it feels like, right?
It feels much heavier than its lithe 3,000 pound curb weight; in a good way. It’s glued to the Earth so hard you can saw the wheel like you’re shooting a music video and the thing won’t even think about flipping over.
It might make you sick though, because the car turns quicker than you can think; forget about worrying if the steering rack can keep up with your hands.
The transmission is also remarkably… intelligent. Better than any gearbox I’ve ever used; it knows exactly what gear to be in. Not only when you’re just cruising, but when you’re on it a little too. And most impressively; it seamlessly flows between states. The car’s extremely intuitive about when you want a quick spat of scream and when you want to rejoin traffic.
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We only have 250 precious miles to spend with the car, but after they’re all used up I’ll come back with tales of triumph and adventure. I hope.
Until then, what would you like to see, hear, learn more about and look closer at on this baby?
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