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New Arrival: McLaren 720S Spider

New Arrival: McLaren 720S Spider

Back in May I did an article on the McLaren 720S Coupe vs. Spider.  In the summary I wrote:

The 720S Spider losses nothing over the 720S Coupe. In fact, you gain a tiny bit in ride quality and the option of a ton of fresh air on a sunny day. If I had to choose today, which one would I opt for? Without a doubt it would be the 720S Spider. Will we be trading the Coupe in for the Spider? Despite some strong and not exactly subtle hints from Mrs. SSO, it’s unlikely. The man math doesn’t work as the delta between our late 2017 Coupe and a 2019 Spider is just too large to justify the switch.

And yet today we have a brilliant Aurora Blue 720S Spider sitting in the fall sun on our driveway.

So, what happened? Basically, two things: first being reminded that the one thing you can’t buy is time and second, the realization that we suffer from acute spider bias. Coming to grips with the latter of these two things lead to a calculation on the former and the result was an Aurora Blue 720S Spider now sitting in the garage.

I’m not ashamed to admit that the Spider bias has been lurking around for a very long time. There is no trigger word that sets it off and we don’t need a safe space to retreat to when it happens. It’s just a fact that on a nice day, all things being equal, both Mrs. SSO & I will opt to take one of the Spiders out for a drive over a closed roof alternative. In this scenario the McLaren 720S Coupe was almost always getting passed over in favor of the McLaren 675LT Spider or the 650S Spider. When it came to the coupes currently in the garage, all things aren’t exactly equal and the 720S Coupe, as good as it is, rarely was getting the call over the Ferrari F40 or McLaren Senna. More than anything else, it was probably the arrival of the Senna this summer that put the 720S Coupe on our garage exit ramp. If there is one family rule that we are religious about enforcing, it is that cars that aren’t getting used need to go to new homes where they will be. In the end the 720S Coupe fell victim to a combination of Spider bias and Limited Edition preference.

While the McLaren 720S Coupe did suffer from acute bias towards its open-air capable brothers, it was still a brilliant car to drive and one that I have a deep appreciation for its capabilities.  As a result, the simple solution was to trade the 720S Coupe in for a 720S Spider.  Back in May I indicated that this was unlikely due to the delta between the two in terms of value.  While that delta really hasn’t changed, a few strategically dropped hints from Mrs. SSO, who is a big fan since she saw it at the McLaren Ball last year (720S Spider Launch), and the realization that the LT Spider version of the 720 wouldn’t be showing up on our doorstep (if I am fortunate enough to get one of the build slots) until 2022 at the earliest given my strong preference for very late build slots.  When we added all this together, it came down to a calculation on if it was worth keeping the 720S Coupe for another 2 ½ years knowing that it would not get used anywhere nearly as much as it should or do we bite the bullet and shell out for the 720S Spider now knowing that we will be able to enjoy it for several years before a decision on if it gets traded for the 7XXLT Spider needs to be made.  As all the money in the world can’t buy you more time, we decided the wait wasn’t worth any potential saving on total depreciation between the older coupe and newer spider should it get traded for the 7XXLT Spider.  The fact that McLaren Dallas (Great Dealerships) just happened to have a new 720S Spider in a spec we both really liked clinched the deal.

While we have only had it a couple of weeks, the 720S Spider already has a few hundred miles on it. I’m trying to get the break in miles out of the way quickly so we can begin exploring all of its immense capabilities. First impressions are it is even better than what I remember from the weekend I spent with a loaner 720S Spider back in May. The 720S Spider does seem to ride slightly more smoothly than it closed roofed brother but otherwise performance is identical. The transparent electrochromatic roof is brilliant for the rare occasions it is closed as it keeps the passenger cabin light and airy. Personally, this is a must have option. The second piece of brilliance is the use of glass buttresses which preserve the excellent rearward side visibility of the coupe. It’s a huge improvement on the prior McLaren Spiders which do have significant blind spots on the rear three quarters.

As we buy our cars to be used, being true to this philosophy meant that the 720S Coupe had to go and the 720S Spider was the natural replacement. In my experience, the 720S Spider losses nothing over the 720S Coupe. In fact, you gain a tiny bit in ride quality and the option of a ton of fresh air on a sunny day. The next hard decision will be which of the current cars gets traded in for the 7XXLT Spider as one will need to go as we are out of garage space.

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Buying the McLaren P1 & 650S Spider

Day 1 Challenge McLaren P1 & 650S Spider

Buying the McLaren P1 & 650S Spider

I really like the memories that the #day1challenge, currently circulating on Instagram, is generating.  It has brought back a ton of recollections about the wonderful cars that we have been fortunate enough to have owned over the years.  In several cases we acquired cars in different countries in Europe and promptly drove them back across the continent.  The most memorable and insane experience was picking up the Ferrari F40 in Germany in November and driving it to Portugal (Day 1 Ferrari F40).  Prior to embarking upon that journey, I had about 10 miles of driving experience in an F40.  However, the biggest #day1 experience we have had was collecting both the McLaren P1 & 650S Spider on the same day.  It wasn’t originally planned that way, but the stars aligned, and we were schedule to pick up both together. 

For the record, McLaren does not do either BOGOFs (buy one get one free) or gifts with purchase like most UK based retailers.   While I did hint that either would be highly appreciated, I was very politely informed that McLaren trading approach is very different to Tesco’s or Sainsburys.  In fact, these two acquisitions were not related, and it was only a coincidence that the delivery timing on the cars happened to overlap.  The P1 had been in the works for quite some time and the deal on the 650S Spider came together in just a few days.  At the time I wasn’t even looking to trade the year old 12C Spider for a 650S Spider but a very persuasive McLaren Sales Manager convinced me of the significant merits to do so.  Looking back, I’m very glad I did and the 650S Spider has been a terrific daily driver for the past 4 ½ years (650S Spider Daily Driver). 

While I know some owners plan elaborate parties for the unveiling and delivery of their new supercars, we tend to prefer low key affairs normally held in the back-parking lot of the dealership or the service center.   For the 650S & P1, it was the back-parking lot of the McLaren dealership in Dallas.  The handover of the 650S Spider was short and concise, consisting of basically “here are the keys, you probably know the car as well as we do”.  The P1 was an extended educational process.  While the general layout and controls are McLaren familiar, there are a number of new buttons and settings to learn.  School on how to activate race mode, DRS, IPAS, electric mode, and activate the rear wing lasted about 30 minutes before we moved on to setting up the battery charger.  The battery charger connects to a port under a flap on the top left side of the car.  It’s massive and must weight 30+ lbs.  We nicknamed the charger the iron lung.  If the P1 isn’t driven for a few days, it will die if not on the charger and resurrection comes with a six-figure price tag.  In the end, this was a key driver on our parting with the P1 (P1 Farewell).

A world apart from the epic #day1 drives across Europe in the Ferrari F40 and F355GTS (Our Ferrari History F355-F40), our first drive in both the P1 and 650S Spider was an uninspiring 5 mile crawl across Dallas.  After much debate, it was finally decided that I would drive the P1 and Mrs. SSO followed in the 650S Spider.  I actually wanted Mrs. SSO to drive the P1 home but she insisted on spending more time in the car with me driving before she took it out on her own.  The adult in me completely understood her position given the complexity and value of the P1 but my inner 3 year old has completely baffled at the passing on a chance to play with the new, new thing.

1st Impressions

Unlikely other hypercars I have owned, the P1 was not intimidating to drive at first. It feels quite compact, the sightlines are excellent, and it is easy to place on the road. After the Koenigsegg CCR and Ferrari F40, the cacophony of noises happening right behind you feels reassuringly familiar. The P1 is hard, brutal and more race than road car, however with the push of a few buttons it manages to be far more civilized than any other car I have driven in this category. Of the relatively few miles we put on the P1, I don’t think we ever got remotely near its full capabilities.

After several years in 12Cs (Our McLaren History), becoming comfortable driving the 650S happened very quickly.  Compared to the 12C, the ride is definitely more compliant on poor surfaces, but it is the increase in torque that stood out the most.  On the 12C, if I were just cruising on the highway at roughly the speed limit, I would always do so in 6thgear as 7th left you with no power to accelerate.  In the 650S, you can cruise in 7th and the car will pick up the pace quickly with a jab of the right foot.  With the massive ceramic rotors, breaking feels slightly improved and turn in is a bit sharper.  While the 650S was designed as an evolution of the 12C, it improves in so many areas that it could easily be a completely new model. 

If you had asked me on day 1, which of the two we would still own four and a half years on, I would have replied the P1 without giving it a second thought. My plan at the time was to use the 650S Spider as my daily driver for a couple of years and then trade it in when the next McLaren model came out. While we did acquire a 720S, the 650S Spider has turned out to be so good as a daily, we decided to keep it in that role. The P1 left long ago, a casualty of its complexity.

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McLarens & Reliability – Nov 2019 Update

McLarens & Reliability – Nov 2019 Update

McLarens & Reliability – Nov 2019 Update

As we have finished the service cycle for our McLaren’s this year, I thought it would be a good time to update the article on reliability. This year, more so than any in the past, we really put the cars to the test. On top of its duties as my daily driver, the McLaren 650S Spider also got to stretch its legs on a 2,000 mile road trip from Dallas to Boston. The 675LT Spider spent several months being run hard in the mountains and then was called to duty for a 2,750 mile road trip from Montana to California. The Senna arrived in June and has seen plenty of road time lately. As the Senna and I continue to bond, I can only see this growing once the season of snow, salt, and ice passes. Of our four McLaren’s the only one that has had a quiet year is the 720S for reasons that will be explained in an upcoming article.

The updates on the service history and issues of our four current McLarens are:

McLaren #5 – 2015 650S Spider: This car has been my daily driver for the last 4 ½ years now. No issues and only time it has been back to the dealership is for its yearly service. There have been a couple of minor recalls, all of which have been handled as part of the annual service. This year we also replaced all four tires and did a full wheel alignment. Four years of driving around the lunar surface like roads of Dallas had not be kind to either. The only other very minor tantrum the 650S Spider has thrown was over a dislike for 64GB Scandisk USB drives. When I tried to use one with the IRIS infotainment system it repeatedly crashed. Once I swapped the 64GB USB drive for the 32GB drive I had been using prior, IRIS immediately returned to life.

McLaren #6 – 2016 675LT Spider: This car has done multiple 1000+ miles road trips and been driven hard in the mountains its entire life. The 675LT Spider has never had a single issue and it’s only has seen the inside of the workshop for its annual services. Like the 650S Spider, a few minor recalls have been taken care of during the annual visits to the McLaren service center. To date the largest cost has been this year’s windshield replacement. The damage was caused by a rock that flew off the back of a large dump truck in Pennsylvania. It sounded like a gun shot when it hit the windshield.

McLaren #7 – 2018 720S: Never had a single problem and it just had its second completely routine annual service.

McLaren #8 – 2019 Senna: The Senna just arrived in June. So far, it’s had one recall item that was prompt taken care of.

In summary, we have now owned 8 McLarens, including 4 currently, over the past 8 years. Two have been used as daily drivers over the last six years. None of the McLarens have ever left us stranded and they have been by far the most reliable cars we have owned over the past couple of decades.

Original Article from February 2019:

Recently I have had quite a few people reach out and ask me about McLaren’s reliability.  I thought this was a bit odd so I checked to see what might be driving this sudden onslaught of queries. Apparently, a few vloggers have recently posted videos on YouTube bashing McLaren and complaining of major reliability issues.  To be honest, I haven’t watched any of the videos as I don’t spend any time on YouTube. Hence I really don’t have any idea what the issues being pontificated upon are.  What I do know is what our experience has been across 7 different McLarens in both the UK & US in the last 7 years ( https://karenable.com/my-mclaren-history/).  Of the 7 McLarens we have owned, 3 are still in our stewardship, and we have put close to 80,000 miles on this collective group.  In terms of issues and servicing, our history is:

McLaren #1 – 2013 RHD 12C Spider: This is the only McLaren we have owned that had steel brakes. I made the mistake of washing it once and putting it away with the brake discs still wet. The right rear caliper froze on the disc and we had to flatbed it to the service center to get it released. Also upgraded the infotainment system from IRIS v1 to v2 as the v1 was pretty useless. Only other time this 12C saw the service center was for its annual service.

McLaren #2 – 2012 LHD 12C Coupe: The only issue I ever had with the 12C Coupe was a faulty left front tire sensor. I had to take the car in twice before it was finally rectified. For most of my ownership, this 12C lived in Germany and spent many high-speed hours on the autobahn.

McLaren #3 – 2014 LHD 12C Spider: The only issue we ever had with our final 12C Spider was a temperature sensor that needed replacing. The car was out of service for a day. Other than that, it only saw the dealership for its annual checkup. This 12C Spider was my daily driver for a bit over a year.

McLaren #4 – 2015 P1: We had two issues with the P1, a loose rear side turn signal light and the IRIS Infotainment System failed and needed to be replaced. Other than that, it was just routine annual service.

McLaren #5 – 2015 650S Spider: This car has been my daily driver for the last 3 ½ years. No issues and only time it has been back to the dealership is for its yearly service.

McLaren #6 – 2016 675LT Spider: This car has done a few 1,500 miles road trips and been driven hard up in the mountains. Never had a single issue and it only has seen the inside of the workshop for its annual services.

McLaren #7 – 2018 720S: Never had a single problem and it just had its first completely routine annual service.

In summary, we did have a few minor issues with the early McLarens. None of these I would consider even remotely concerning, serious, or out of the ordinary. The later McLarens have all been poster children for reliability. I also have never had to add a single drop of oil or coolant to any of the McLarens that we have owned. When I compare this list to a similar one for other manufacturers, McLaren’s build quality and reliability has certainly been best in class in my experience.

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Hypercar & Supercar Market Saturation

Too Much of a Good Thing

Hypercar & Supercar Market Saturation

Never before have so many different manufacturers announced cars in the $1 million plus category. If competition is supposed to raise everyone’s game, then the cars we should be seeing on the road (or more likely mostly stashed in private collections) in the next few years should be extraordinary. However, I’m concerned that this isn’t quite how things work in the hypercar market. The delicate balance between supply and demand that has been established and carefully nurtured by the major supercar manufacturers over the past few decades appears to about to get tipped in the wrong direction. Throw in rapidly increasing price points, a slowing global economy, Brexit, and the on-going trade wars and it looks like history might just repeat itself, and not in a good way.

The 90s

The funny thing is, in many ways we have been here before. The supercar/hypercar market in the early to mid 90s had a lot of similar characteristics. A number of new players entered the market either via reviving a dead brand (Bugatti Automobili S.p.A) or as completely new entrants (Cizeta, Vector, Venturi, McLaren), and existing car manufacturers deciding to enter the hypercar segment (Jaguar). To make things even more interesting, you had Ferrari dropping about 1000 more F40s than originally announced into a huge market bubble that then went bang. The resulting carnage of oversupply, a market headed into a recession, and over hyped speculation was impressive. The first reincarnation of Bugatti went bankrupt after producing only 139 EB110s. Jaguar ended up well short of the 350 planned production run on the XJ220s and still had unsold units sitting in showrooms 3 years after production ceased. While the McLaren F1 is considered by many to be the greatest modern supercar today, back in the 90’s, McLaren struggled to sell F1s. Of the original planned production run of 300 units, only 106 units left the production line (despite asking politely and offering to pay full list price, McLaren has refused several times to allow me to place an order for one of the remaining 194 F1 chassis numbers). Cizeta, Vector, and Venturi have all long since disappeared into the dust of history.

2020+

Today we sit in a not to dissimilar situation. We have a global economy that is slowing with a huge amount of uncertainty being generated by both Brexit and the Trump trade wars with predictions that a recession is around the corner increasing by the day. There are a large number of brands that have recently reemerged from the grave and announced new limited-edition supercars including De Tomaso, Apollo, Pininfarina, and ATS. After being out of the hypercar game for nearly a decade following the lukewarm reception of the One-77, Aston Martin is back with a vengeance with two cars coming in the next three years. Both Mercedes & Lotus have $2 million plus projects well underway and SCG has announced that they will build 25 road legal versions of their Le Mans LMP1 Hypercar. You also have the track only Brabham BT62 and yet to be named just announced Lamborghini. Then just to make things a bit more interesting, Gordon Murray has jumped back into the game and announced that he will be building a spiritual successor to the McLaren F1, the T.50, of which 100 examples will be built with a price tag of $3 million each.

While all of the above are new entrants to the limited-edition/hypercar segment, the two biggest established manufacturers have also vastly accelerated their normal model launch cadence and broadened the number of different market segments they are developing models against. Ferrari has launched the new limited edition Icona line starting with the Monza SP1 & SP2, both built off the 812 platform. Ferrari has also added the SF90 Stradale to its regular production portfolio with the SF90 sitting in-between the supercar and hypercar categories. McLaren, which waited 20 years between the F1 and P1, closed the gap to 4 years between the P1 and Senna and now has two more hypercars, the Speedtail and Speedster, in the pipeline for delivery in the next two years. All of this is on top of Bugatti, Koenigsegg, and Pagani’s plans and doesn’t even take into account the P1, LaFerrari, and 918 successors which will probably arrive in the next 5-6 years.

Buyers

While all of the above is not a comprehensive list, it still represents a huge increase in the supply of cars over the next several years in the limited edition/hypercar market segment. While the volume of cars certainly is increasing exponentially, I’m really not sure the number of potential customers is expanding as rapidly. In fact, if anything I can see an emerging wave of concern among many who have been buying these sorts of cars for a long time. In general, I believe there are 3 groups of hypercar/limited edition buyers:

  • The immensely wealth for whom retained value is inconsequential and having the new new thing is what matters most. Their behavior is likely to remain unchanged.
  • Speculators will vanish overnight at the first signs of a change in the historic model of rapidly increasing values for the “new new thing”
  • The very well-off enthusiasts who is both buying a car to enjoy and an asset that he/she expects to retain value.  This group is going to become increasingly selective, and in some cases, if the downside risk looks to great, will depart the limited edition/hypercar market all together.

Added to the uneasiness on the demand side you also have the continued threat of US tariffs on European cars which could add 25% to the invoice price and crack downs on displays of wealth in China.

Winners & Losers

My guess is there will be a few clear winners and losers. The winners will be cars that have a purity of vision and age well. Technology showcases that are outdated quickly will struggle over the long term. While the Pininfaria Battista is a beautiful work of art, I just can’t imagine an electric car, even a $2.5 million one, aging well and ever achieving classic status. Same holds for the Lotus Evija, given Lotus’ challenges in getting its base portfolio updated, the Evija seems like a massive unneeded distraction. The ATS GT looks like a rebodied McLaren 12C and my guess is ATS will quickly revert to its former comatose state. Apollo & De Tomaso share an owner and from what I understand the De Tomaso P72 is based off the Apollo Intensa Emozione. While the P72 has certainly gather lots of interest on Instagram, I doubt that interest will turn into the number of deposits needed to give this latest iteration of De Tomaso long term viability. The Gordon Murray T.50 sits right at the high end of this group at $3 million each. Gordon’s name gives the car instant credibility and the fact that Murray is only building 100 T.50s certainly tics the exclusivity box which bodes well for the T.50 having the potential to be a long-term winner in this group. For this to happen though, the T.50 can’t just be a one-off unicorn and a long-term service support network needs to be established. It’s too bad that the T.50 isn’t being developed as a joint project with McLaren. If it was, I believe it would be the one “must have” car out of this whole group.

Of the large established manufacturers, the Aston Martin-Red Bull Valkyrie looks like a sure winner, but the Valhalla is a tougher call. The partnership with Adrian Newey and Red Bull adds a huge amount of credibility to the cars but Aston Martin’s recent financial performance is very concerning. If money gets very tight, it could impact development for the Valhalla which is still in early stages. Aston will also need to resist the urge to spin multiple variants off the Vahalla if it is going to hold value long term.

The Ferrari Icona line seems like the antithesis of everything Ferrari has ever stood for. Ferrari has always been a forward leaning organization where the next car was a leap forward on the last. While the SF90 tics all the right boxes, the Monza SP1 & SP2 seem like a shameless tactical exploitation of their back catalog. While I am sure Ferrari will sell every unit they produce, I do wonder how many would actually be spoken for if you didn’t have to raise your hand to avoid losing your place in line for the next Enzo/LaFerrari.

McLaren has probably been the most aggressive of the established manufacturers in the Hypercar segment with multiple models all launching in a very short time frame. While each is clearly positioned against a different market segment it is still a large number of $1 million plus cars chasing the same pool of buyers. Long term I can see the Senna doing well as similar to the F40, is has a purity of focus and is not encumbered by an overly complex hybrid system (full disclosure, I do have a Senna). The Speedtails will always be collectable given the low build numbers and uniqueness of the center driver’s seat concept. The recently announced McLaren Speedster is a tougher call as details on the car are still very high level.

Last but not least, the Mercedes-AMG One seems to be well behind schedule. How the “One” stacks up against the Valkyrie on both road and track will determine if it is a success or an overly complex misfire.

Summary

While almost all of the above hypercars are highly desirable in their own right, the laws of supply and demand don’t change. Almost all of these cars are chasing the same group of buyers. Even if you take affordability out of the equation, how many of these buyers will want to be adding multiple $1-3 million cars to their collections every year? The answer to that question along with how many buyers are still comfortable buying a $1 million plus a car that might not hold value, will determine just how this market plays out. If history is a guide, it could get ugly.

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