The stables from the otherwise nondescript town of Woking, England, have started making noise yet again. And this time around, with a 4-litre twin turbo V8 grand tourer. Yes, you read that right. Grand Tourer. The all new McLaren GT. This new mid-engine supercar has phenomenal ‘Continent crossing capabilities’ and in McLaren’s own words, goes up against the Ferrari Portofino, Bentley Continental GT and the Porsche 911 Turbo S.
At 4.7 meters, the GT is by no means a small car. It has elegant character lines flowing around a teardrop shaped cabin that merges into the gently sloping tailgate. Upfront, the headlights are rather docile and take the shape of the upper half of McLaren’s trademark swoosh headlamps. The remaining profile is completed by contours in the bumper and is faintly reminiscent of the P1 and the Senna. At the back, there are red strip lights set into the median of a spearhead like profile and are surrounded by a honeycomb mesh. The most distinctive feature is the side scoops that gather air to keep that brute of an engine cool.
The chrome exhaust tips protrude from the end of the rear diffuser and tend to affect its performance, but that’s alright, given that this machine prefers the Alpines to the Nurburgring. That being said, the GT is by no means a slow car. Zero to hundred comes at a measly 3.2 seconds, with the 4-litre V8 mobilising 612 hp and 630 Nm of torque.
The inside of the cabin is a beautiful congregation of many a fine material. The car is equipped with an electrochromic sunroof that changes transparency according to the user’s whim. Seats are carbon fibre buckets upholstered with the most exceptional quality Nappa leather, although options such as Alcantara and Cashmere will be available in future. Billet aluminium is used for making embellishments on the steering and around the console. The rather cleanly and minimalistic interior has many little features like “Hidden until lit” plaques on the glove box that go a long way in calming frayed nerves, and bringing colour back into monochromatic life.
In terms of convenience, the car comes with a culminated storage space of 570 litres of which 420 litres sit right under the glass tailgate while the rest of it is tucked under the hood up front. The seats are electrically adjustable and the tailgate, electrically foldable, with the soft close option. Sound is delivered by a 12-channel Bowers and Wilkins setup. There is dual zone climate control in a car that seats two, along with two displays. One is a 7-inch infotainment system that comes with satellite navigation and digital radio, while the other is a 12.3-inch driver assistance module.
The car sits on Pirelli P Zeros with 20 inches of rubber for the front wheels and 21 inches for the rear. The automaker claims that with the adjustable suspension, the car can achieve ground clearances equal to those of mainstream sedans and an increase in the angle of attack by 3 degrees over the slight 10 degrees when the car is down on the ground.
The way it sits, the car looks phenomenal in the burnished copper paintwork set off against diamond cut alloys and contrast coloured rooflines.
With such cars coming from manufacturers of lethal track weapons and endurance monsters, questions as to their relevance are bound to arise. McLaren happily provides an answer, describing it as the fifth pillar of product philosophy, the others being the Ultimate series, the Super series, the Sport series and the Motorsport series.
The car is available at dealerships around the globe and bookings have commenced. The retail value of the car will be starting at £163,000 for the United Kingdom, whereas US-bound vehicles are expected to start at $210,000.
