Test drive: McLaren MP4–12C

Fifth Gear's Tiff Needell takes the eagerly awaited British-designed and built supercar for a spin

By now the first lucky buyers should have taken delivery of their McLaren MP4-12Cs, the keenly anticipated replacement for the McLaren F1 supercar, which has been elevated to hypercar status.
Of those new owners, 99 per cent will be delighted. This McLaren bristles with F1 innovation, from the carbon-fibre monocoque chassis to the brake steer system, which will help guide you round corners swiftly and safely. With McLaren's own lightweight twin-turbo V8 engine and underfloor aerodynamics, it's all very high tech.

The luxurious interior is a work of art – the switchgear and
dials are kept to an elegant minimum and, best of all, the steering wheel is just a steering wheel. It's sumptuous – the only slight spoiler being two large bucket-like cup holders that look out of place. From the outside McLaren's car is understated, and not quite as stunning as its rival, the Ferrari 458. The design is elegant but not really thrilling.

Underneath the carbon-fibre bodywork, the individually controlled wheel damping allied to the brake steer makes for a comfortable road-quality ride. And if you drive sensibly, you'll get better fuel consumption than other cars of this power.

So, almost everyone will love the car. Beautifully made, it's very safe and you can choose between different settings for both the transmission and the chassis when it comes to performance and ride quality.

Clearly most buyers won't reach 205mph in the MP4-12C and they won't want to launch it to 62mph in 3.3 seconds, but when you build a supercar people who buy it want to know what it can do. This brings us to the one per cent of customers who might want to head for a race track where they may well be disappointed – as I found out when I tested it.

The concerns begin when you discover you're unable to turn off all the driver aids, so when the car starts to slide it reduces the torque of the engine, taking away some control and, in extreme cases, reintroducing brake steer. You don't want that because this is when you would like to be steering yourself.

The end result is a car that doesn't give the raw feedback that race drivers demand. For the one per cent who might want to take it onto a race track, it may disappoint. Unfortunately there's more. Even on public roads pure petrolheads like me will miss the orchestral sound of a high revving, normally aspirated engine, which is one more reason why the Ferrari is the car for me.

The MP4-12C will still be a huge success. McLaren has built its own engine, it's the first all-McLaren road car, and these are proud achievements.

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