Woking, England - When it comes to building sports cars, McLaren tends to take the uncompromised route, with speed and dynamics taking centre stage, but now the British carmaker has built something for those wanting more everyday usability.
Enter the McLaren GT, which is defined as the company’s first true Grand Tourer.
Not only can it cross countries in comfort, but it can also take your sporting kit, the 420 litre rear luggage compartment designed to fit a golf bag or skis and when it’s time to embark on that epic road trip, it will swallow a decent amount of luggage. Owners can also stash 150 litres of kit in the ‘frunk’ upfront.
Even the low-speed steering and braking settings have been optimised for everyday use, as has the ride height and ground clearances.
It might be more usable than other McLarens, but the GT is also designed to be more dynamic than the average GT car, and to that end it sports a lightweight MonoCell II-T carbon fibre structure, aluminium body panels and rear-mounted 456kW, 630Nm 4-litre twin-turbo V8.
And there’s no guessing who gets to the country club first - with launch control activated, you can expect to get from 0-100km/h in 3.2 seconds and to 200 in just nine secs flat, while the top speed is listed at 326km/h.
To find the best balance between comfort and control, the GT gets a new Proactive Damping Control suspension system.
Inside, the new infotainment system is said to be McLaren’s most sophisticated to date, featuring Here navigation mapping and real-time traffic information.
Other niceties include a 12-speaker Bowers & Wilkins audio system, hidden-until-lit ambient lighting as well as machined and knurled aluminium switches and controls, while buyers can opt for an electrochromic glazed roof panel that can darken or lighten at the touch of a button.
“The new McLaren GT combines competition levels of performance with continent-crossing capability, wrapped in a beautiful body and true to McLaren’s ethos of designing superlight cars with a clear weight advantage over rivals,” McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt remarked.
“Designed for distance, it provides the comfort and space expected of a Grand Tourer, but with a level of agility never experienced before in this segment. In short, this is a car that redefines the notion of a Grand Tourer in a way that only a McLaren could.”