How does the 600LT stack up beside the mighty 675LT?
To find out what a tough act the 600LT has to follow, we got a prototype version together with a 675LT in the UK. Doing this ahead of the press launch meant that weren’t allowed to drive the 600LT, but even from the passenger seat, it was clear that a common strand connects the two cars, and also that the game has moved on a fair bit in the past three years.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that the 675LT was one of the major milestones in Mclaren Automotive’s history. Before it, there had been a perception of an emotional disconnect with the 12C and even 650S, two cars that had been engineered to deliver enormous speed, but that couldn’t match their best rivals on pure emotional appeal. The 675LT Coupé, launched in 2015, was a magnificent response — a trackfocused hellion that suddenly made everything else in its part of the market feel excessively plus and flabby. The appeal was obvious: Mclaren sold out a run of 500 Coupés followed by another of 500 Spiders.
Although the 675’s success made other LTS a racing certainty, it was more of a suprise that the next LT would be based on the cheaper Sports Series. On paper, it looks like a bargain at £185,500 before options compared with the £259,500 of its predecessor, but its more humble origins mean that it does without the 675LT’S rollreducing hydraulic suspension and active aerodynamics.
“That gave us the opportunity to do the top-exit exhaust,” says Tom Taylor, the Sports Series product manager, “which looks amazing but also frees up the space needed for a bigger diffuser.”
Putting the two cars together side by side also reveals a few surprises: the 600LT looks slightly bigger than the older car but also seems to possess much more aggressive wingwork, especially the vertical vanes that come off the side of the rear bumper. The 675LT’S cabin feels even more basic than I remember — beyond the central touchscreen, pretty much every surface seems to be covered in grey Alcantara — and Mclaren’s heritage car is also one of the few to have been built without air conditioning.
Beyond the heat soak of a hot late summer’s day, refinement in the 675LT is also less good than I remember it. It’s bone-shakingly firm on public roads, the engine fills the cabin with booming harmonics at cruising speeds and — even on dry tarmac — bigger throttle openings have the stability control fluttering as the rear axle struggles for grip. I know it’s mighty on track, but it’s a bit of a pig on the road.
A passenger ride in the 600LT with vehicle line director Darren Goddard shows how far things have come in just three years. Fittingly, the prototype has also been made without air-con, although the cabin is less sweaty than the 675’s, but on the roads of Surrey, it’s immediately obvious that the Sports Series car is a much more civilised proposition with chassis and powertrain in their gentlest modes. For a start, we can talk without shouting.
“The idea was to bring the best of three vehicles,” Goddard explains, “the engagement and sound and connection of the LT, the agility of the 570S and the stability and steering feel of the 720S. The way we’ve done the rear axle comes very much from the 720. It’s much more secure. I wouldn’t say the 675LT was unpredictable, but this is much more predictable.”
At this point, I admit to having spun a 675LT on track at Silverstone during the original launch, to Goddard’s obvious amusement.
So to turn the obvious question around: what does the 570S do better than the 600LT, other than costing £36,500 less?
“Other than a couple of luxuries, I’m having to think about that,” Goddard admits. “I don’t think you really lose anything that matters. Every day of the week, if I had the cash, I’d take an LT.”