3rd McLAREN 750S

THREE-TENTHS OF A PERCENTAGE POINT – THAT was the paper-thin margin between McLaren’s replacement for the 720S and Alpine’s most extreme A110 road car to date. To illustrate the 750S’s popularity in a snapshot, every judge had it in a podium place, James making it his top pick. Neither Peter nor Adam could split the McLaren and Lamborghini, both awarding them equal third. John scored it equally with the Civic.

“It’s just everything McLaren does,” said Dickie, who placed it equal second. “The steering feels lovely, the gearshift, the damping feels great, the electronics work really, really well. But the way you engage with the car and access the technology, that’s where you discover different bits of its character. I think McLaren has got better at giving the cars character, and it feels like the cars have let their hair down more than ever. The 750S feels special all the time.”

The car’s engine and the resulting performance dominated the majority of 750S conversations, but it was also how it felt at normal speeds, as James explained: “It just blew me away every time I drove it. And one thing that struck me is how rewarding it is to drive slowly, because there’s so much information flowing to you, through the pedals and the steering and the seat and the chassis.”

Henry felt similarly: “Driving along on the first morning, roads soaking wet, traffic making progress sporadically ponderous, the 750S was an absolute delight. It felt so special, reclined in that bowl of a seat with delicious, hydraulically assisted power steering weighting and unweighting with the undulations in the road…”

When you did let it go, the 750S never left any of our judges wanting more. “This really is light-the-blue-touchpaper stuff. It’s almost impossible to portray how quick the 750S is without resorting to profanities,” said a rather breathless Peter. “It’s certainly the quickest car I’ve ever driven – explosively, mindalteringly fast – and it feels light and lithe as it skims the road.”

Adam feels it’s the best McLaren he has driven and nothing short of one of the greatest purely ICE supercars ever made. To some it’s too much of a mild evolution of a 720S, but the detail changes have created an enthralling, purebred supercar. Every journey is an event, every drive a memory creator. It reacts with instantaneous responses and excites at every level. What’s not to like?

Well, John isn’t keen on how the pedals are set up for left-foot braking and Henry wishes it had a more appealing soundtrack. The last word goes to James: “If McLaren’s brief was for the 750S to be a little bit more tactile and hard-edged than the 720S, and less intense than the 765LT, it nailed it.”

SO CLOSE. SO VERY CLOSE. BUT WHEN THE VOTES were all finally cast, the A110 R’s blistering eCoty journey came to an end on the second step of the podium.

From his first drive, back in the summer of 2023, Dickie Meaden always thought it was a better road car than the track car Alpine told us it was, and our group test in the summer backed this up. On eCoty the stripped-back, superlight A110 was a revelation. It required so few miles to understand it and discover just how special it is that each judge in turn would actively push their colleagues towards it. “Go on, have a go in it on this road. It’s sensational,” was the only encouragement I needed from Peter Tomalin one particular afternoon.

Adam was first with the superlatives when the votes were being cast: “I love this car. I wanted to put it top but my adoration of the GT3 RS was just too strong. Nevertheless, as an A110 fan I was pre-sold on the way this car drives, and the R spec only adds to the experience.”

Henry was equally enthused. “As rare and refreshing as having a sorbet halfway through a hefty meal,” he purred. “Every time I got behind the wheel of the Alpine it felt at least half a tonne lighter than whatever else I’d been driving.”

Its 1082kg kerb weight was a welcome reminder that less is so much more where mass is involved. “Why can’t more cars be like this?” pondered Peter. “You can sense literally from the instant the wheels start turning just how light it is. Brush the throttle and there’s real urgency, a sense of almost zero inertia.” The lightweight approach also benefits damping. “Even on really dilapidated roads that pretty much anything else would struggle with, the R doesn’t flinch,” said James, while Dickie added: “I just like the way it goes down the road. It’s a horrible motoring journalist cliché but as soon as you drive it out of the car park and onto the road it just feels so good.”

Then there’s its size, perfectly suited not only to tight UK roads but any road. And the fact that it’s such a simple, straightforward car to operate. There’s no agonising over which mode to select; it’s a simple driver’s car that simply does so much brilliantly.

What counted against it? The engine and transmission still didn’t find favour with a handful of judges. Some also felt it required a specific type of road to perform at its best where others thought it great everywhere. But in this company, over this week, in all weathers, the small, blue sports car delivered a performance beyond expectation and was beaten to the top spot by a measly 0.6 of a point.