Gallery: Review: McLaren 570S
McLaren01McLaren 570S Coupe Launch 2015 Portimao
In this new world order where sports cars and supercars rub elbows, the baby 570S, starting at $184,900, enters that nebulous area with trickle-down styling that recalls its big brothers, the 650S and P1.
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McLaren (humbly) rectifies the disparity by calling the 570S a “Sport” model, as opposed to its the Super Series designation of its 650S/675LT models or the “Ultimate” series P1.
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Though it offers a less lavish, more compact presence on the road, the 570S isn’t necessarily a compromised 650S.
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It delivers a potent power-to-weight ratio, a top speed of 204 mph, and combined EU cycle fuel economy figures of 26.6 mpg—good enough to avoid the gas guzzler tax.
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The company’s monocell carbon fiber chassis, used across its lineup, has been modified with narrower sills easier entry and exit.
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Once inside, the mood is decidedly functional, with generous Napa leather surfaces but otherwise spartan expanses of space.
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There’s a tad more friendliness to this interior, with tiny water bottle-sized cubbies in the doors, more accommodating seats, and McLaren’s inaugural use of vanity mirrors.
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Knobs and switches actuate with reassuring clicks, and even the turn signal stalks—ergonomically curved slivers of aluminum—deliver a sense of tactile satisfaction.
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With its squinty face, sonorous exhaust and jarring color palate, the 570S carves through town with the subtlety of a freight train.
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At the core is the latest iteration of McLaren’s carbon fiber chassis, which weighs only 165 pounds and keeps the 570S to a svelte 3,186 pounds.
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The 570S’s athleticism seems oversized on public roads, like wielding a saber to slice a grape.
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The $3,860 sport exhaust makes the car’s intentions audibly clear, both inside the cabin and to anyone within earshot.
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More than once, the long-winded wind-up made me giggle out loud, just like I used to while power sliding my Big Wheel.
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The optimal track setting requires Dynamic mode, which sends the nanny home for the day, facilitating satisfying tail slides and drifts.
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The ability to rotate the car more freely enables a level of artistry to track driving, allowing you pitch the nose and tail with ease by stabbing the brakes or jabbing the throttle.
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The tight hug of wind increases the volume of air that enters the engine’s cooling ducts, and subsequently keeps the overall openings smaller, enabling a more diminutive footprint.
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The 570S lacks the active aerodynamics of its 650S, so the chassis wiggles a bit on hard braking.
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The brakes, massive carbon ceramic rotors, with vise-like calipers, are more than up to the task of hauling you down from speed.
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Sharp, lightweight, and oozing with seat-of-the-pants feedback, the 570S is built for drivers, not poseurs.
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McLaren may deny it, but the 570S is a supercar to us.
