It’s Christmas, we won the lottery, we love cars and besides a Ferrari or a Lamborghini, we want to appreciate other of the best sports cars in the world: make way for the McLaren 720S
Our hands are sweaty, the outside of the car smells like ‘ferodo’ as the veterans would say and when we step out of our car through the spectacular and practical door that opens vertically, the brakes creak and ‘sound like popcorn’ like a good friend say. the cold of
on our back you can see the mountains of Madridmoistened by the tension, more than by the effort, and it is that, although this machine is not physically demanding, it needs all available mental attention to connect the turns as we have done so far, after two hours behind the wheel they started in a discreet parking lot on the outskirts of Madrid, where they gave us the car keys.
Of all the brands on the market, not a McLaren had yet passed through our hands, a press unit we mean. Both as a passenger and behind the wheel we had ‘tasted’ a few examples, especially the first MP4-12C, the name with which the brand launched its model range in 2011, but as private cars we never commit excesses.
This absence of
testing units it’s partly because the brand is very young. The racing team is one of the greats of Formula 1 and is now also in Indycar or Formula E. As for the road cars, McLaren launched the McLaren F1 in the 1990s, a three-seater center-drive car with which they arrived at the 24 Hours of Le man. But the current project is very different.
The brand embarked on the colossal odyssey to overtake Ferrari or Lamborghini by making sports cars and has put all its know-how into it:
carbon fiber chassis, a very powerful V8 engine that almost races and, almost from the start, the launch of a hybrid supercar like the P1. This allowed McLaren to be placed in the Olympus of “must have” brands since its entry into the market in 2011 if you have high purchasing power and collect cars, but after those early years you have to stay in the “lightweight”, and the brand has refined its launches and expanded its commercial network, in the case of Spain with a dealer in Barcelona that is simply the best in the world for the brand.
McLaren now has a range of ‘more comfortable’ models – GT or Gran Turismo –,
one of the sportiest cars –Super Series or Sport Series– and an exclusive and very limited edition range called ‘Ultimate’ –like the famous McLaren Senna–, and the best part is that each of its cars is named after its power and category, so the 720S is a 720 hp model from the Sport series. How far has that McLaren MP4-12C come on the market with!
The 720S comes into our hands with English registration although it drives on the continental side,
ie to the left, and although we can have it for several days, caution makes us take it for a single day of mountain travel. The 720S impresses to see it, and even more so in the yellow McLaren color our unit wears. The doors have an opening forward and upwards that may seem ‘postureo’, but that is very comfortable for accessing a sports car that, as canons dictate, is not very wide.
The carbon fiber body and chassis, designed by the team that implemented this material in Formula 1, are visible and make the cabin slightly narrower than usual. The engine sits
in rear center position, the best for a sports car, and the propulsion is later, although we will go into detail about the mechanics later. In terms of design, McLaren has managed to find its place without copying others, with shapes that are easy to identify with the brand. I especially like the way they solved the air intake on the side, thus hiding the opening of the doors. The headlights don’t look the most attractive, but they’re very personal, and the rear is just brutal, unique, a role model of integrating beauty and functionality: lights, grilles, exhausts… everything fits.
The show ends inside, and is it that compared to the outside it’s an ‘average’ car, or is it that we’re starting to get used to the extravagances? The point is that
the steering wheel is round! Hard to believe, and it has no controls or integrated button, unlike the likes of Ferrari, who have removed the indicator levers to integrate all controls on the steering wheel together with the ‘manettino’. Two different ways to offer the same thing: riding with passion to the limit.
Yes indeed,
McLaren clock box it holds a trump card and in sport mode it rotates vertically to provide the driver with only minimal information. In the center of the console, vertical and well presented, are the gear buttons, the driving modes and the one that allows you to choose the degree of slip in the new ‘drift type’ mode, as well as the screen.
We let the four-liter V8 roar, two turbos and 720 CV, illuminated by red LEDs, and
we went to the mountains of Madrid. The numbers for this car are outrageous: it accelerates from 0 to 100 in 2.9 seconds, exceeds 340 per hour and weighs just 1,500 kilograms with the driver on board. Still, we go ‘slow’, enjoying what would be a ‘grand tourer’, ie a car to cover long distances with good suspension comfort. This car serves that purpose, another thing is the luggage, which would go something right in the front trunk of 150 liters or the rear of 210 litres.
We don’t go more than 120 an hour for fear that those who are recording us on their cell phones and risking their lives will put us on the networks, and while the McLarens are starting to become normal in sports concentrations, they are not so much on the street, and the ‘neck twisting’ effect remains of the first order.
We look at the saw and start the sports mode. There’s an extra that would keep us afloat by regulating the slope of it, and while the large skier car parks, empty in the last days of autumn, are tempting, the truth is that we want them to leave us another McLaren, and crushing the Pirelli PZero by making ‘doughnuts’ at the first opportunity would wipe out our chances of a second round. So we hit the corners.
The steering of the 720S perfectly mimics what happens under the tarmac. It is very sensitive and fast, and allows you to judge the grip of the car and whether or not to step on the accelerator again.
The exhaust in sport mode fills the interior, with a nice sound, albeit not with the melody that came out of atmospheric engines a few years ago. It doesn’t seem as hard to drive as other cars of this calibre, so we started speeding up the braking with the carbon ceramic brakes, to connect the corner and feel comfortable in the car. We are not experts in this kind of model, but the driving comes naturally, it is not like other sports cars where the sensations come from strong braking, great acceleration or a lot of noise. Here, each line is a “whole,” with turns and acceleration intertwined incessantly.
It’s time to crank up the adrenaline, so we speed up the gears and the engine enters a second, sportier phase of operation. It revs faster, revs up with more fury, and the whole car accompanies the engine in its new job: cutting over and over again. The tarmac is a bit wet but still the 720S makes no strangers and moves and corrects everything we do with the steering wheel with crushing speed.
We put our feet down in the short straight lines, and the McLaren wakes up to its zigzagging rear end, and you have to be careful not to lift your foot so as not to engage the electronic controls. It is easy to carry in a way, without commanding the respect of the Italians, made of steel or aluminum and therefore heavier, and with pointed engines, with more character, but we don’t know if they are as effective in speed like this Briton’s 720 CV, whose seven-speed dual-clutch automatic works with inexhaustible precision.
It’s time to appraise the car. You fall in love with this McLaren for its precision, for the comfort in the interior, for the easy handling of our mistakes in drawing or with the paddle shifters. figuratively, of course.
It’s impractical inside, it has few places to leave items, it’s not very technological and
your media equipment does not try to surprise with false artifices. The 720S shines with its striking body, but loses some power with its understated interior. The mechanics, yes, are on another level, one where after stopping at a bend in the road, we took off thinking that although we’re not going as fast as possible, there wouldn’t be a car that could top it in this way, regardless of power or brand.
That’s what surprises us.
It doesn’t have the fury of an AMG GT, nor the refinement of a Porsche 911, nor the character of a Lamborghini Huracán, nor the charisma of a Ferrari F8, yet it attracts us to the maximum. It might be its extraordinarily effective mechanics, the kind that don’t make you realize you’ve raised your driving level just to take it up a notch or two, maybe that’s why your hands are sweating, we didn’t think we were capable of that much.
We cool the car and stop to record the accompanying video for our YouTube channel and they ask us the price. We haven’t even looked at it, it’s not something that often worries those who look at these cars, but of course you should know, and it’s about 285,000 euros, options barred, of which our unit certainly has a good pinch. It’s more expensive than its rivals, and that’s also a statement of intent, because we’re not dealing with a McLaren, but the most powerful of the Super Series before we get to limited editions.
We return to the capital and give the keys to the spell of this car. Shall we put it in the garage for one of the sporty “classics”? It is difficult to know, because with ‘el Gordo’ there has been no luck
We are waiting for the ‘Niño lottery’ to see if the future puts us in this fantastic position. For those who can buy it without a lottery, this car may be missing a rogue point, either inside, in the sound of the exhaust or in the response of the engine and gearbox. The 720S is very ‘racing’ with every part following a function, but a spicier version would delight fans, who would certainly pay extra for those doses of exclusivity…
Source: La Verdad
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
