2016 MCLAREN 570S COUPE FIRST

Uncharted Territory: Driving Where No McLaren Has Driven Before

Starting at $187,400, the 570S is the least expensive and most ambitious McLaren to date. Competing among sports cars such as the Audi R8 and Porsche 911 Turbo, the 570S is the first McLaren on a budget, and it has a much broader competition field than anything previously attempted. McLaren intends the 570S to be both the most usable and the most attainable McLaren offered—and a benchmark.

With the million-dollar P1/P1 GTR hybrid hypercar representing “all we know” in what McLaren calls the Ultimate Series and the quarter-million-dollar carbon-bodied track-attack 650S/675LT comprising the Super Series, the 570S Coupe completes the three-tier model strategy as the first in McLaren’s Sport Series. (A 570S Spider is expected in 2017.) It takes 370 technicians 11 days across 72 workstations with nine quality checks to produce one 570S Coupe. The scissor-doored 570S looks like nothing else on the road—except, of course, another McLaren.

Competitive performance in this highly regarded segment is a must. To that end, the mid-engine, rear-drive 570S is fortified with a 3.8-liter, twin-turbo, flat-plane-crank V-8 with dry-sump lubrication developing an impressive 562 horsepower at 7,400 rpm and 443 lb-ft of twist at 5,000 rpm. Power runs through a seven-speed dual-clutch automated manual transmission as slick as a Porsche PDK, but no limited-slip or electronic differential sorts where all that power will go. McLaren has already demonstrated in the Super Series the effectiveness of its sophisticated brake steer system, but it’s still contrary to our logic that applying a brake will ultimately make the go car faster. With this conundrum, as with others, McLaren seems to have found a way to make the impossible possible.

The McLaren is very light. Owed in part to the mere 176-pound carbon-fiber MonoCell II derived from that of the Super Series, the one-piece tub showcases lower, narrower, ingress/egress-friendly side sills. The tub also supports front/rear aluminum subframes that locate the engine and the Series-specific suspension with anti-roll bars. The majority of the car is wrapped in impossibly thin aluminum, and in terms of weight to power, the claimed 3,200-pound 570S flings just 5.7 pounds down the road with each horsepower. Compare that to a 911 Turbo S’ 6.4 lb/hp; there are only a handful of cars to rival the 570S. To say that the 570S feels light and immediate is a disservice. It feels like the chassis wants to and could tear itself free from under the shrink-wrapped bodywork and leap out in front. McLaren’s estimate of a 3.1-second sprint to 60 mph with launch control is entirely believable, if a little modest.

Autódromo Internacional do Algarve is a mouthful and a handful: a 2.9-mile, 15-turn track with several blind-rise corners that are difficult to learn in just a few laps. Still, we had the opportunity to probe the limits of not only the standard Pirelli P Zero Corsa tires and carbon-ceramic brakes but also the dynamic stability- and traction-control modes. All those inch-precise head-of-a-pin qualities we tickled on public roads were on full display at the track. The brakes were phenomenally powerful and more easily modulated in anger than they were when seeking smoothness in the mountains. The steering that before felt on point was now directly wired into the nervous system, thinking its way through corners as if preprogrammed. And those buttery shifts transformed into rifle recoil with the powertrain system’s otherwise-latent spark-retard and inertia push protocols reserved for the track. And that’s when the differences between the Sport Series and the Super Series revealed themselves. Unlike the Super Series, which benefits from wider tires and useful downforce, the 570S’ relatively narrow (225/35R19 and 285/35R20, respectively) tires and low-drag aero package allowed the car to dance and pivot and slide in a wholly unexpected and wonderful way. We had no idea until then that the car was designed to be so playful and loose. Don’t get us wrong; it still grips and goes as a mid-engine, 562-hp sports car should, but it’s not intended to set lap records like the others in the McLaren portfolio. No, it’s not a giant slayer but a dynamic marvel that allows a skilled driver to dance on the edge of control within a margin of safety and with the maximum amount of deliberate fun.

So has McLaren succeeded in its mission? Absolutely, unequivocally yes. It might not turn a quicker lap than an all-wheel-drive 911 Turbo S, but it will certainly paste a smile on its driver as wide as the grin on the front of the 570S. Mission accomplished, pure sports car greatness achieved, and a tip o’ the hat to the mates back in Woking.

2016 MCLAREN 570S COUPE FIRST

2016 McLaren 570S Coupe
BASE PRICE	$187,400
VEHICLE LAYOUT	Mid-engine, RWD, 2-pass, 2-door coupe
ENGINE	3.8L/562-hp/443-lb-ft twin-turbo DOHC 32-valve V-8
TRANSMISSION	7-speed twin-clutch auto
CURB WEIGHT	3,200 lb (mfr)
WHEELBASE	105.1 in
LENGTH X WIDTH X HEIGHT	178.3 x 75.4 x 47.3 in
0-60 MPH	3.1 (mfr est)
EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON	16/23/19 mpg (mfr est)
ENERGY CONSUMPTION, CITY/HWY	211/177 kW-hrs/100 miles (est)
CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB	1.06 lb/mile (est)
ON SALE IN U.S.	December, 2015