"Groagun" (groagun)
04/05/2015 at 16:11 • Filed to: None
1
6|
"Groagun" (groagun)
04/05/2015 at 16:11 • Filed to: None | 1
| 6 |
After what proved to be a very exciting NY International Auto Show, a few stories emerged as interesting and blog worthy too me.
Lincolns' new Continental Concept was fabulous, even if you think it was a rip off of a Bentley: love that throw back 70's interior with modern technology and materials. The Honda Civic Concept was interesting and leaves me with more questions. Cadillac's CT6 got great coverage but I was kind of 'meh', while the new Malibu didn't get the coverage I thought it deserved.
Way up scale Range Rovers and cruel teases from Subaru and VW, STi and R400, I'll believe it when I see them. Ford Focus RS, hot damn, a new Maxima, Lexus RX, Jag XF, a couple of new Scions, who cares, and even a new Kia Optima that was beaten with the ugly stick. What a show, in a place where the car is least needed in the entire nation.
The one I found and I'm sure most Jalops and OPPOnauts where most excited about was the new McLaren 570S. What a thing!
I loved this car like no other McLaren before it, except of course for the F1 and P1, but they don't count on average human scale. No I'm making a direct comparison to it's big sister the 650S and it's predecessor the MP4-12C.
I was lukewarm to the 12C: I respected it greatly but just couldn't muster up enough mojo to raise my man sausage. Then the 650S came along and it addressed the performance gap to the competition, the Ferrari 458 Italia and eventually the Speciale.
But, and it's a big but, in this arena of competition, not just performance counts: looks go a long way and the 650S is just kind of ugly. I think the 12C looked even better than the 650S. I'm not entirely sure why I dislike the 650S so much but I just do.
Now the 570S has come along and I think it looks awesome. Small details and changes for the typical McLaren aesthetic and they have produced a beauty. Not just on the outside but in the interior as well.
Attention to detail and the small things matter. The 570S is simpler and less cluttered than the 650S which was minimalist to start with. It just looks more spacious and 'airy' than the 650S. Those seats look the business and the overall package and integration of surfaces and lines seems very smartly done and very visually appealing.
So, visually the 570S gets the better of it's siblings and we turn to the performance aspects of the family. This is where many of you may find a real problem with my opinion.
I do not care about the numbers and the performance of this car, at all!
It's a McLaren, what the hell would you expect from them? Of course it's going to be fast. Of course it's going to handle. Of course it's got the overall performance envelop that you simply will never stretch to it's limits. It's all the car you and I would ever need or want.
So now I have to ask, why would you ever buy the 650S?
The performance of the 570S is just a 'tick' behind the 650S: the dollar amount is not however. Is it just the idea of bragging rights or vanity that says you need to be seen in the more expensive car? I honestly cannot understand why any average Joe, and that makes up %95 of all drivers, would buy the 650S over the 570S.
Yes I'm really arguing from a first world perspective and from a position I can't count myself in: I can't afford any of these. I just found it strange that McLaren would release this car and I think almost guarantee the cannibalization of 650S sales.
The 570S is prettier and has all the performance you and I could ever want or use. There just isn't enough of a gap to convince me to spend the extra money on the 650S, It will be interesting to see how the sales roll out over the next few years and whether or not the 650 survives.
Herr Quattro - Has a 4-Motion
> Groagun
04/05/2015 at 16:27 |
|
I liked the MP4-12C. I mean sure it was a little plain, but it was also McLarens first car, and I liked it hell of a lot more then the 458.
It looked like a sports car, and I respected it after I heard how great it was.
However, then came the P1, & the 650S.
I am lukewarm to the P1. I want to like it, I really do. It seems the most special. But holy hell, tell the head designer that the McLaren emblem doesn't need to be integrated into every facet of the design language.
Sure I'll take the taillights & the hood.. But the headlights? Comeon. Can't you be a little more original?
Now they took something I liked: the MP4-12C, and then gave it something I hate... The fucking headlights. They didn't even change the rear of the car. REALLY? Now of course I understand they made a bunch of hardware changes, but it looks like a face lifted MP4
Now here's the 570S... This is was the 650S should've looked like from the beginning. The Headlights are so much better, and are more directed forward, so they look like headlights, then they curved down so it looked like more of a design hint, like "I see what you did there". Instead of the 650S, how they literally grafted the logo into the headlight and then slapped it onto a MP4...
djmt1
> Groagun
04/05/2015 at 16:33 |
|
Average Joes are not the ones buying McLarens, people who have a bunch of money are and their minds work in mysterious ways. I'll give you an example, the most popular Range Rover trim level is the top of the range Autobiography and despite only being 20% different to the next trim level carries a 50% premium. So the 650S will hang around because rich people want the highest numbers. As for the 570S that is for a different market specifically the 911's successful lawyer/doctor/banker market. Either way all supercar companies either need an owner with a shit ton of cash or a cash cow and I'd rather McLaren keep making various performance levels of the same car than start building SUVs.
Sam
> Groagun
04/05/2015 at 16:49 |
|
Don't forget the best feature of the 650S and 570S - it's making the 12C go down in price.
I bet they'll be at <$110,000 in the next 4 years.
Arben72
> Sam
04/05/2015 at 17:02 |
|
Holy shit these are cheap. Anyone know how reliable they are?
boxrocket
> Sam
04/05/2015 at 18:29 |
|
Apparently there's already a 700+hp 650S replacement in the works to better compete with the Aventador, but price will stay nearly the same, and have the family tail lights, so the pricing and performance of the 570S makes more sense. I hope a 570S Spider isn't much more than the coupe, as the 650S/MP4-12C Spider is my favorite of McLaren's more pedestrian offerings.
|
boxrocket
> Arben72
04/05/2015 at 18:31 |
|
Pretty reliable, but the dealer network is a bit spread out, and servicing is still supercar-territory. The closest McLaren dealership to me is up in Chicago (I live in Saint Louis), but I hope that changes soon, as I've seen a few 12Cs out and about nearby.