‘ORDINARY’ CAR HITS 328 KM/H
McLaren says the 570S is ‘sporty’ and the ‘most accessible McLaren’ ever. Just don’t call it a supercar, even though it looks and sounds like one as it warps to 100 km/h in 3.2 seconds, writes
This is not — appearances are obviously deceiving — a supercar.
Yes, I know it looks like one. Sounds pretty much like one, too. Even wears a McLaren badge. Heck, it wears Pirelli PZeros (extra-sticky Corsas), boasts a high-revving, twice-turbocharged V-8 and is built around a carbonfibre tub so incredibly robust that it has withstood 14 crash tests without blemish.
Despite the resumé, McLaren insists its new 570S is definitely not super. It’s “sporty,” say Woking’s marketing mavens, the 570S being the first of what McLaren promises will be a complete lineup of Sport — as opposed to Super (650S/675LT) and Ultimate (P1/ P1 GTR) — Series cars. This is the “most accessible McLaren model to date,” claims the company.
“See,” says Wayne Bruce, McLaren’s communications manager, “it’s even got vanity mirrors!”
“And,” continues Chris Goodwin, “it’s the first McLaren with dual windshield wipers!” The exclamation point ascribed to his excitement is even more surprising, since he’s McLaren’s chief test driver and a veteran of England’s rock ’em, sock ’em Touring Car series, as well as GT (in a McLaren F1 no less) and GT3 championships.
Their protestations, however, seem somewhat pitiful in light of the facts.
Those two turbochargers I mentioned earlier, for instance, boost the same double overhead cam V-8 that powers all McLarens and are, in ideal supercar fashion, located directly behind the driver’s right ear. Carbon ceramic brakes adorn all four wheels, there’s 562 horsepower to test their efficiency and the 570’s 3.2-second zero-to-100-km/h acceleration time sounds suspiciously super as well. The car’s chassis — its “tub” in Formula One-speak — is, as I mentioned, fully carbon-fibred. Full racing seats (i.e., devoid of any adjustments) are an option. And the dihedral doors do a fair gull-wing impression; that’s a sign of true super-ness if there ever was one.
Indeed, it all begs the question: What — other than vanity mirror (without lights, it should be noted, so toupée and lipstick might still end up askew) and wipers — is it that renders this McLaren something less than super?
Well, according to Bruce, the difference is as much about intent as execution. So despite our little scurry around Portugal’s tortuous Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, McLaren sees the 570 spending a lot less time racing round closed circuits than any of its previous models.
So inhibited, there was no need, for instance, for the 650/675’s Pro-Active Chassis Control suspension, which not only adjusts the shock damping individually but cross-links the dampers so they semi-actively stiffen during hard cornering. As deliciously subtle as they render handling, all the high-tech trickery costs a bunch of money so, instead, the 570 makes do with — shades of Chevrolet! — roll bars. Yup, the 570S may be the first McLaren with a vanity mirror but it is also the first car from Woking with plain old anti-sway bars.
There is also, according to Goodwin, a lot less aerodynamic trickery to the 570S, McLaren apparently less worried about Formula One-like downforce in a car that will supposedly seldom clip a curb. Oh, there are still diffusers and efficient routing of air through the body, but Goodwin says that’s just so the car remains neutral — aerodynamic forces are balanced front to rear — rather than forcing a tighter compact with the tarmac.
Unlike so many other technological changes — where the changes are more in the engineers’ minds than in the car’s comportment — one does notice the 570’s reduced downforce. Roaring into Portimao’s Corner One at some 270 km/h, things get decidedly wallowy when you latch onto those big Brembo binders, the 570 swaying in a very, well, unsupercar-like way.
The tires — 225/35R19 front and 285/35R20 rear — are also a tad skinnier than most supercars, McLaren trading outright grip for lighter steering. So if your dream is a track car that is more glued to the ground the faster it goes, McLaren would prefer if you park your posterior in a 675LT.
On the other hand, devoid of wind-cheating foofery and Fancy Dan suspension, the 570 is a more visceral car than any of its stablemates, relying almost completely on good-old-fashioned mechanical grip (those Pirelli PZero Corsas again) rather than, like the rest of the McLaren lineup, brute aerodynamic downforce. Flip the handling selector to Sport or Track and some goodold-fashioned power slides are but a caress of the throttle pedal away. Even those a little intimidated with the prospect of sliding a 562-hp mid-engined (non-) supercar around can have their fun: the Performance Traction Control’s Dynamic mode has the 570’s electronic stability control perfectly calibrated for long, semilurid slides.
Think of it this way: What McLaren taketh away in highspeed stability (all that previously mentioned downforce), it giveth back in low-speed hijinks. Unless you’re planning on setting the lap record at Mosport, it’s not a bad trade-off.
As for other compromises, no doubt much will be made of the fact that the 570 boasts “only” 562 hp (those wondering where the other eight horsepower went should know that McLaren bases its model names on European “metric” horsepower, labelled PS, which is slightly smaller than the domestic breed; the 675LT, for instance, makes 666 real Society-of-Automotive-Engineers horsepower).
You’ll never notice the difference, even if you do venture onto a closed circuit. The 570S scoots to 100 km/h, as I mentioned, in but 3.2 seconds, and to 200 km/h in just 6.3 seconds more. Keep the loud pedal floored long enough and it will eventually top out at 328 km/h. Not super indeed.
Besides, the 570S certainly sounds more “super” than the original MP4-12C, which, you might remember, was castigated for sounding about as exciting as a Maytag on its delicates cycle. Thanks to a tubular header, there’s actually some aural excitement when you wind the 570S’s M838TE V-8 to 8,000 rpm. Oh, it’s not quite the urgent saxophone solo that is Ferrari’s 458, but my ears seemed to pick up a hint of “supercar” tonality.
Where one might grant McLaren’s contentions some credence, however, is the work it has done inside. The 570’s cabin, at least in its fully optioned guise, borders on luxurious.
My tester, its cabin fully alcantaraed out, was stitched together with a precision that might make Audi jealous.
There are 1,280 watts — not to mention 12 speakers — of booming Bowers & Wilkins audio system on offer and the centre console’s infotainment system is positively modern. The navigation system is, as seems far too common in expensive supercars, infuriatingly obtuse but the rest of the system is superior to a Porsche Turbo’s.
Hell, there’s even a stop-start button that shuts down the engine at stoplights, McLaren suddenly concerned about its greenhousegas emissions.
And finally, there’s the most important determinant of supercardom of all: price.
The Canada-bound 570S will start at $219,750, an MSRP that almost borders on reasonable, a quality seldom ascribed to a supercar. Let’s just call it supercar adjacent, then.
In something of a surprise (mainly because it will not be sent to the United States), it appears that McLaren’s Canadian importer, Chris Pfaff, will also offer an even cheaper alternative to the 570S: the 540C.
Essentially the same car, but with the turbo boost ratcheted down a notch, the 540C will retail for $196,500 when it arrives next summer (the 570S is due this December). Besides the drop to 533 horsepower, the 540C rides on cast, rather than (lighter) forged, aluminum wheels and lacks the 570’s standard carbon ceramic brakes. The 570’s option Carbon Fibre Exterior Pack is also not available on the 540. Oh, and it only goes 320 km/h.
It’s still underpinned by McLaren’s F1-like carbon-fibre tub and passersby will still be wowed every time you open those dihedral doors. Try convincing them the 540 isn’t “super.”