Enhancements bring more oomph for final pure internal combustion model.

SUPERCAR shoppers idly pondering what the very latest from McLaren will set them back now have an answer.

Within hours of its international debut, McLaren here has been able to confirm the 750S, the successor to the 720S (surely you know, they’re everywhere after all), if secured in coupe form asks for a trust fund withdrawal of $468,000 plus on road costs.

The convertible – or ‘spider’ in McLaren-speak – that apparently didn’t avail on the old car will require an additional $52,900. Cos, clearly, lifting a lid isn’t cheap.

How does that compare with the predecessor? McLaren NZ no longer lists the 720S, but there’s a pre-owned 2022 coupe on TradeMe with 2300 kilometres on the clock for $499,995k, which is $10k down on original asking price. Given where the new places, perhaps further revision might yet occur. 

For a niche brand that puts sole focus into two-seater low-slung fast cars, McLaren Automotive actually has a decent spread of models, so you’re probably wondering ‘what’s the diff between the 720S and a 750S?’

Top Gear online is helpful on this subject. It assesses the new as being the old “turned up a notch.” Added power and … they said it, not me … pointlessness. But, anyway, it’s an update with a new badge rather than a wholly fresh thing.

McLaren has a different way of saying this. The brand view is that new car enhances and refines many aspects of its predecessor, with around 30 percent of the components new or changed.

The extra oomph out of the twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 engine comes to 552kW and 800Nm of torque, more than the McLaren P1. An updated seven-speed sequential gearbox with a shorter final drive ratio feeds power to the rear wheels. By the way, it’s probably important to note this car is the final application of the V8 in a form lacking electrical assist. From now on, all McLarens have battery-fed boost. 

Both types of 750S are identical with their 0-100kmh aptitude, this achieved in 2.7 seconds, however, the convertible is 0.1 seconds slower to 200kmh – 7.2 to 7.3 – and 0.6 seconds slower to 300kmh, which takes 19.8 and 20.4. Just a show pony, then.

The quarter-mile times also differ, with the coupe completing it in 10.1 seconds compared to the Spider’s 10.3-second time. Both can reach a top speed of 331kmh. Go on, dare you to.

The model has a six millimetre wider front track and new suspension geometry. It has McLaren’s new-generation Proactive Chassis Control III, with three-percent softer front springs and four-percent firmer rear ones. The automaker also improved its vehicle-lift system, raising the front of the car in four seconds. It took the 720S 10.

Though the generic look is pretty much the same, there are visual distinctions to minimise chance of ‘old or new’ confusion. As is plainly evident, the 750S’s nose is lower and smoother, there’s a longer front splitter, the ‘eye socket’ intakes that house the headlights are narrower and there are new sill air intakes and rear wheelarch vents.

The biggest single change is at the rear, with an undulating mesh cover spanning a reprofiled rear deck and funnels air towards a longer rear wing. That’s positioned above a new central-exit exhaust tuned for greater efficiency and more noise.

The wing’s surface area is 20 percent greater than the one on the 720S, but it weighs 1.6kg less because it’s made of carbon fibre. It’s not just to improve downforce in corners, there’s a DRS function for low drag high speed runs and high-speed braking sees the wing pop up in less than half a second for maximum retardation.

You’d hope heritage would make McLaren cars irresistible to Kiwis, but maybe only so far … just 13 were registered new here in 2022, against 23 the year prior. Out of last year’s tally, three wore the 720S badge, three were 765 LTs, five were GTs and the remainder were an Artura and a Senna. Orders for the new car are being taken. 

In other news, a magazine found in well-thumbed form in any bach has just named Toyota New Zealand’s most trusted car brand for the 18th year running.