McLaren's latest comes with a spec sheet that's a little bit different for the supercar company. The all-new GT boasts cargo space, real-time traffic, and ride comfort.
This McLaren is designed for grand touring, hence the highly creative GT badge. It's positioned separately from the automaker's Sports, Super, and Ultimate series cars. This one, the company says, is aimed at a different buyer. One looking for long-distance and high-speed comfort with room for luggage.
Offering up 570 L of storage space, that's more than a Toyota Camry and much more than any other current GT car. It's split between a 150 L compartment in the nose and a 420 L space (which ties it with that Camry) in the rear under a full-length glass hatch. The rear area will hold two pairs of skis or a golf bag.
The interior is designed to provide loads of comfort on those long journeys, including 12-way power adjustable seats that are unique to the GT. The company says is offers excellent visibility front and rear, and controls located for ergonomics instead of track-day gram-shaving. There's more padding in those seats, and the car gets an available 12-speaker Bowers & Wilkins audio system with carbon fibre subwoofers. Because McLaren.
Nappa leather and Alcantara are on the order sheet, but cashmere will become an option near the end of the year. The automaker says that's the first time an automaker has used that material in a production car.
With touring in mind, the car gets a new high-performance infotainment system which McLaren calls "among the fastest-operating in any car." It also includes real-time traffic data and a 7.0-inch centre screen. The driver uses a 12.3-inch digital dash display that includes the rear-view camera when in reverse.
McLaren has made the car quieter and more refined, with engine mounts half as stiff as the 600LT, and taking measures to reduce low-frequency noise. As opposed to the Senna, which is designed to actually amplify those noises. It's one of the longest McLarens but has a higher approach angle to handle traffic calming measures like speed bumps. McLaren says it's "the equal of mainstream sedans" in this regard when in lift-mode.
Reading that, it's easy to think that McLaren is making some sort of April Fools joke. That they've gone all soft on us. But there is still plenty of performance on offer here. The 4.0 L twin-turbo V8 puts out 620 hp and 465 lb-ft of torque. This is still a very light car to go along with that power, which means a claimed 0-200 km/h in 9.0 seconds and a top speed of 326 km/h. The 21-inch rear wheels, the largest the company has fitted, come with bespoke Pirelli tires designed for performance and comfort.
So the car is still McLaren quick, it's just a little better suited to full-day drives. Orders are open now for the car, starting from £163,000. Deliveries are set to start "towards the end of 2019."
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