McLaren 650S Reviews

It was previewed at the Paris motor show and is now testing extensively, including at the Nurburgring. McLaren promises it will top the world as a track-ready road car, although a cabin with only left-hand drive means it won't be sold in Australia. 

Stumped about what to buy this Christmas for your person who has everything? There’s always some inspiration in the annual Neiman Marcus catalogue – the high-end US department store’s gift list for the incredibly well-heeled and insanely over-indulged.The star each of each year’s catalogue is always the car, and this one is sure to win the giver a smooch under the mistletoe – at the very least – after the wrapping paper is torn off to reveal the Neiman Marcus Edition McLaren 12C Spider.It will be one of just 12 built for Neiman Marcus featuring special finishes, wheels, upholstery – and a matching luggage set ready for the trip to McLaren Technology Centre in the UK for a private VIP dinner with the elite carmaker’s boss, Ron Dennis.Listed at US$354,000 ($364,000 here in straight conversion, but would add wads more in import and tax duties), the Neiman Marcus McLaren is likely to sell out swiftly when orders open on October 24. Previous Christmas edition cars have sold out within hours, last year’s 10 Ferrari FFs sold out in 50 minutes, and the 100 Camaro Convertibles in the 2010 catalogue were gone in just three minutes. Think even all the limited-edition trim isn’t enough on the McLaren? For an extra US$150,000 ($147,00) you can dive back into the catalogue and add the Bulleit Woody Tailgate Trailer – an upmarket bar on wheels.You’ll have to talk to Ron Dennis about adding a towball to haul it along. But he’s bound to agree once he sees the Woody’s fit-out of fine leather and wood -- the latter sourced from Bulleit Bourbon casks – sparkling glassware, state-of-the-art home theatre, and year’s supply of bourbon and rye. Just remember: don’t drink and tow.Or you might want to see if the McLaren can take a roof rack for you to carry the $90,000 Pinel & Pinel arcade trunk, with its F1 racing seats and Thrustmaster T500 RS Force Wheel to compete in a selection of PlayStation®3 games – or ramp up the karaoke action with the 1800-watt sound system and SingStar microphones.If wheels are not your thing, unleash your loved one’s inner James Bond and let them get away from the peak hour snarls with a Jetlev R2000 water-propelled jetpack. Put it under the tree for just under $100,000 – a lev-away price that includes helmet radios, boat unit and certification training and safety course. It also comes with a remote throttle control transmitter, which raises the dangerously tempting prospect of perhaps being able to put the wearer through some barrel rolls and spins while you stay dry and snug on shore.Looking for more of a stay-at-home gift? For around $250,000 there’s a one-off private dinner for 10, prepared in your own kitchen by four of the world’s top chefs -- Daniel Boulud, Thomas Keller, Jerome Bocuse, and Richard Rosendale. Accompanying them is the world's first female Maestra Tequilera, Bertha Gonzalez, to kick-start your party atmosphere with a tequila tasting.If you want to ensure the chefs have the freshest ingredients to work with, you could offer to let them raid your $100,000 Heritage Hen Mini Farm. Inspired by the Palace of Versailles, the top-roost hen house features everything a chook could want, nesting area, roosting room – and chandelier. Or for just over $1 million, you can declare your love with jewellery. This year’s ‘his and hers’ gift is a one-off pair of Poetic Wish watches from Van Cleef & Arpels, plus a trip to their Paris boutique and watchmaking workshop. Art lovers aren’t forgotten, with the catalogue featuring the $70,000 ‘Snowy Owl’ video portrait by Robert Wilson, who specialises in featuring video subjects in very static poses with just the occasional blink or slight movement to betray life. Rather like many of our politicians, but much more affordable. But you can also become part of the creative gift, if you’ve got $30,000 to shell out for a walk-on part in the enduring musical Annie “to help the adorably good-natured orphan and her canine companion teach the world that perseverance and unwavering hope can change lives”.It’s the most affordable of this year’s Neiman Marcus fantasy gifts, but still far out of reach of the Carsguide budget, even if we did enjoy nauseating saccharine sung by ginger moppets. However the Annie gift sparked some from two members of the household -- but each of those aspiring cast members has four paws. And even then, one said he’d want to speak to his agent first.Each of the gifts includes a donation from Neiman Marcus for a range of very worthy causes, so you can get the double glow of doing good and knowing that 'tis better to give than receive. Unless it's that McLaren, which we would keep. 

The McLaren P1 was the standout at this year's biggest European show, promising to re-write the rules for supercars and taking the fight right up to Ferrari and Lamborghini, and even challenging Bugatti. McLaren is holding back on exact performance details for its new car, but the name tells you everything. It's called the P1 because in Formula One shorthand that stands for Position 1. "Twenty years ago we raised the supercar performance bar with the McLaren F1 and our goal with the McLaren P1 is to redefine it once again," promises McLaren supremo, Ron Dennis. The P1 is a much more radical looking car than McLaren's first serious road-car effort, the MP4-12C, and it also incorporates F1-style aerodynamics that promise racecar grip and cornering levels. The car is expected to be powered by a upgraded version of McLaren's existing turbocharged V8 - perhaps with around 550 kiloWatts - and to hit at least 350km/h, but no-one is confirming anything. The 1980s F1 was the world's fastest road car at the time but McLaren says its targets have changed. "Our aim is not necessarily to be fastest in absolute top speed, but to be the quickest and most rewarding series production road car on a circuit," says Antony Sheriff, managing director McLaren Automotive. "It's the true test of a super car's all-round ability and a much more important technical statement." The P1 is known to be a two-seater with a fresh take on the McLaren carbon fibre chassis already used in the 12C, and it’s fitted with an F1-style drag reduction system to improve its top speed while generating massive cornering grip using an adjustable rear wing. But it will not be cheap. "Pricing is still to be confirmed. We expect the UK pricing to be in the 700,000-800,000 pound range, plus taxes," says Greg Duncan, who is responsible for McLaren in Australia. That points to a local pricetag in the $1.5 million range, or even higher, but he refuses to be drawn. "Australian prices are unknown. An announcement should be made by the end of the year," Duncan says. But there is no shortage of interest. "We have many hundreds of people on the list and we’re having a solid stream of visitors coming in and we’ve already started to take significant deposits," says Duncan. "We have some very keen interest. Some have already been to the factory and were blown away." McLaren has yet to confirm timing for its first deliveries but Duncan is hopeful. "The P1 is going to go into production next year and we’ll have something the year after that - but I can’t tell you about that yet."  

The eternal city is a perpetual snarl, with parking slots as rare as South Sydney premierships and one piece of road - the giant roundabout at the Arch d'Triumph - where all car insurance is automatically void.The Smart ForTwo could have been invented just for Paris, and not just because it's the four-wheeled equivalent of a handbag.But Paris is also the city of lights and the lights are shining this week on the Mondial de L'Automobile - Paris motor show to you and me - and an astounding lineup of dream machines and showroom bait.Europe is really struggling and the show is one way for carmakers to talk about their future plans and dreams, while trying to ignore for a few days the reality of a sales slide that's topped 10 per cent through most of this year.It's easy to be overwhelmed by a motoring menu that's top heavy with cordon bleu cars, but there is also a lot of meat-and-spuds stuff that will be relevant to Australia over the next few years.So, what did I see that I like in Paris? The star car, for me, has to be the McLaren P1. Anyone who knows a bit about motorsport will know that P1 is shorthand for position one, not just another silly jumble of numbers and letters like the company's current MP4-12C.The P1 is designed and developed to be best-of-the-best in the supercar world with the promise of a 340km/h top speed, ultimate luxury, and looks to shut down any Ferrari.McLaren turned the supercar business upside-down in the 1980s with its landmark F1, with cars still selling for more than $1.5 million second hand, and everything points to the P1 repeating the dose.Then there is the Jaguar F-Type. It's far more affordable, at least for people who can afford at least $200,000, with great looks and the promise of performance to match a Porsche.The F proves that Jaguar is finally back to its best - did I mention the millions from India that have funded the turnaround? - with a car that's also coming next month to Sydney. On the concept car front, the home teams at Paris always go all-out for something special.For 2012, the Peugeot Onyx is the head-turning supermodel. It looks great and makes all sorts of promises on the performance angle. But, like so many chic concepts in the past from Peugeot and Renault, it has about as much chance of reaching the road as finding a parking spot in Paris. Then we come to the real stuff at Paris, and two cars stand out from the crowd.First is the Volkswagen Golf, the car called the Mark 7. It's a total overhaul of the Volkswagen group's global flagship, which has to do the heavy lifting as it aims to overtake Toyota and General Motors in the next five years to become the world's leading carmaker.The Golf looks sharp and refined, much more than just the tizzie and a facelift for the current car, and I'm driving it next week to see if it delivers on the promises.Then there is the Hyundai i30 three-door hatch. It's a good looking car that would be a huge hit in Australia, if only Hyundai would get serious - as Renault plans, with the chic new Clio that's also unveiled in Paris - about taking cars from Europe and not just relying on the low-cost supply line to home base in Korea.

The McLaren P1, hailed by many as the successor to the legendary McLaren F1, will star for the brand at Paris motor show. McLaren has released few firm details so far, but some have emerged reportedly based on discussions McLaren had with prospective buyers during the recent Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. If true, those reports stack up to the P1's modified version of the MP4-12C's 3.8-litre V8 delivering 599kW, but lifting it to 718kW with help from a high-tech Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) that captures brake energy to feed two F1-style 80,000rpm flywheels to generate an extra 119kW. On a recent visit to Sydney, McLaren’s Asia-Pacific regional director Ian Gorsuch was reluctant to talk about the P1’s outputs, but said the brand didn’t play a numbers game. “We don’t get into the game of highest power figures,” Gorsuch said. “At McLaren we don’t believe that if a competitor has 1000 (horsepower) we have to have 2000. “You can do that with a muscle car. Throw lots of bits in there, bolt four engines together. But there is no real technology in that. “The P1 is about how it delivers power, how it handles. Technology is delivering performance with finesse.” Keys to that delivery will include next-gen aerodynamics and boosting the power-to-weight ratio by lightening the car as much as possible. The P1 is said to tip the scales at 1225kg, with McLaren's Monocell body – lightweight, but so robust they used the same car for three crash tests -- joined by innovative kilo-cutting technology. Some of the reports suggest heavy glass has been ditched in favour of the vacuum-formed acrylic used for fighter jet canopies – a non-stick surface that also means no need for windscreen wipers. That wouldn’t be surprising, since McLaren has already said the car will represent the height of their technology. A report on the Inside McLaren website suggests the P1 will have active aerodynamics to add to the enviable power-to-weight ratio, and that the result has helped it get around the UK’s Silverstone circuit an astonishing 24 seconds faster than any road-legal car before it. Acceleration figures being discussed are 0-100km/h in 2.8 seconds, then to 200km/h in just 6.9. The standing quarter-mile (400m) is said to take 9.1, and top speed of 385km/h. Gorsuch confirmed that P1 production would be limited to 500 cars. And the price? Anywhere up to $1.4 million.  

You'll need a long look, and a keen eye, to pick up the teaser clues from what appears to be a wind tunnel shot of the car currently known only as the P12. The supercar's lines are disguised by a blacked-out background and a string of fluoro lights, but it seems to be much more rounded and radical than the first of McLaren's 21st century road rockets, the MP4-12C. The world will discover the truth on September 27 when the pinnacle car from McLaren, the road car division of the super-successful grand prix team, is unveiled at the Paris motor show. The P12 was originally expected to go public in the week before the Monaco Grand Prix, but McLaren confirms its intention with a firm unveiling date at Paris before a private function afterwards for special guests. "McLaren Automotive will use this stage to showcase future plans, and unveil to the world its strategy to fast-forward the world of automotive," the company says. It's going to have a tough task, both to better the original McLaren F1 and to overcome current opposition led by the V12-powered Ferrari F12. The F1 was created in the 1990s as the world's ultimate high-performance car and set a string of new benchmarks, including a 391km/h top speed in 1998 that stood for more than a decade - and until the Bugatti Veyron - as the record for a road-registered car. The P12 is expected to eclipse the F1 by building on the foundations of the MP4-12C, the first road car from the new McLaren Automotive division. It's been a worldwide hit, including in Australia, thanks to everything from its Carbon MonoCell chassis to a twin-turbo V8 engine that makes 441 kiloWatts and fires the car to 100km/h in 3.3 seconds and on to a top speed of 333km/h. The basic and chassis are expected to be carried through to the P12 - or whatever it is called after September 27 - but with much more radical bodywork, even more power and performance, and a price that's way higher than the minimum $543,900 needed to land a 12C in Australia.  But one thing is certain, the radical three-seater cabin layout from the F1 - which put the driver ahead of two passengers who sat slightly behind in an arrowhead formation, will not be carried over.