Are McLarens rubbish?

Are McLarens rubbish?

Author
Discussion

Clarkedontgo

Original Poster:

315 posts

66 months

Wednesday 2nd September 2020
quotequote all
70 plate McLaren Gt breaks down outside a friends flat today about 11am, guy sits in it for a while on the phone , a dealer assistance van arrives 3 hours later , no joy , 2 hours later an aa van arrives with 2 guys , no joy , 3 hours later it’s towed away by the aa, can’t have done many miles as probably picked it up yesterday!

RobDickinson

31,343 posts

261 months

Wednesday 2nd September 2020
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Isnt this the character people are always talking about?


tbh almost hand built high end car in limited numbers isnt ever going to be the most reliable of cars.

Johnspex

4,439 posts

191 months

Thursday 3rd September 2020
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I am so far out of the market for this kind of car it's ridiculous.

A phenomenally expensive had-built car and you don't expect it to be reliable?
Which component in that car would you expect to fail at that price?
Would a similar component in a Dacia be more reliable?
I don't understand how any modern brand new car can be allowed to leave the factory if it is expected to be unreliable.






Apologies if you were joking, which, having given it some thought, I imagine you were.
On parrot watch now.


RobDickinson

31,343 posts

261 months

Thursday 3rd September 2020
quotequote all
Not joking at all.

A mass produced dacia that isn't trying to be bleeding edge on performance is going to have fewer components, all built with far larger margins of tolerance and tested in higher numbers.


samoht

6,278 posts

153 months

Johnspex

4,439 posts

191 months

Thursday 3rd September 2020
quotequote all
RobDickinson said:
Not joking at all.

A mass produced dacia that isn't trying to be bleeding edge on performance is going to have fewer components, all built with far larger margins of tolerance and tested in higher numbers.
F



Ok, I accept that you're right but to just blithely accept that you've spent those kind of eye-watering figures and you can't reasonably expect it to get you to your destination is ridiculous. Good job they don't apply that to aircraft or super yachts.

RobDickinson

31,343 posts

261 months

Thursday 3rd September 2020
quotequote all
Johnspex said:
Good job they don't apply that to aircraft or super yachts.
I've got some bad news for you...

Targarama

14,661 posts

290 months

Thursday 3rd September 2020
quotequote all
No they are incredible cars. Have a drive or ride in one.

As for this car, who knows, mechanical failures often occur within the first 500 miles or nothing for 50,000 miles. Might just be a sensor which needs resetting (a plague all new cars are afflicted with, but you might ignore it in a Dacia and not in a McLaren). I wager it is a minor electrical glitch.

The Mad Monk

10,612 posts

124 months

Thursday 3rd September 2020
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Targarama said:
As for this car, who knows, mechanical failures often occur within the first 500 miles or nothing for 50,000 miles. Might just be a sensor which needs resetting (a plague all new cars are afflicted with, but you might ignore it in a Dacia and not in a McLaren). I wager it is a minor electrical glitch.
Interesting - isn't it?

The more you spend on a car, the more tolerant you are of its faults and failings.

CooperS

4,540 posts

226 months

Thursday 3rd September 2020
quotequote all
The Mad Monk said:
Targarama said:
As for this car, who knows, mechanical failures often occur within the first 500 miles or nothing for 50,000 miles. Might just be a sensor which needs resetting (a plague all new cars are afflicted with, but you might ignore it in a Dacia and not in a McLaren). I wager it is a minor electrical glitch.
Interesting - isn't it?

The more you spend on a car, the more tolerant you are of its faults and failings.
Exactly what I was thinking.

I don't think I'd accept such poor workmanship it I had spent multiples of what a Dacia would cost me.

I guess that where VW with Bentley/ Lamborghini or BMW with Roll Royce give you. The ability to have confidence that they have the tried and test engineering processes and rigour to produce a reliable car

Mouse Rat

1,883 posts

99 months

Thursday 3rd September 2020
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Why do people on here associate reliability with price.

You dont spend 200k on a McLaren and expect toyota reliability.

Anyway, maybe the DAB radio wasn't working.







Edited by Mouse Rat on Thursday 3rd September 07:16

s m

23,510 posts

210 months

Thursday 3rd September 2020
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The Mad Monk said:
Targarama said:
As for this car, who knows, mechanical failures often occur within the first 500 miles or nothing for 50,000 miles. Might just be a sensor which needs resetting (a plague all new cars are afflicted with, but you might ignore it in a Dacia and not in a McLaren). I wager it is a minor electrical glitch.
Interesting - isn't it?

The more you spend on a car, the more tolerant you are of its faults and failings.
Yes, it’s an interesting phenomenon

Supercars often seem to be forgiven things ( like randomly catching fire, failure to proceed ) that cheap cars are denigrated for

BrettMRC

4,450 posts

167 months

Thursday 3rd September 2020
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Because character!

Why else did the old NSX get called boring etc?

berlintaxi

8,535 posts

180 months

Thursday 3rd September 2020
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Where is it dark in the UK at 7pm currently?

Taylor James

3,111 posts

68 months

Thursday 3rd September 2020
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I wouldn't expect it with the most expensive Porsche. McLaren do seem to be building a slightly dodgy rep with the OCD Ron, operating theatre style factory marketing hype vs the reality of unreliability and after sales. Similar to how TVR had the awesome power and vfm vs guaranteed breakdowns.

I love the cars but I find unreliability in a car quite soul destroying.

anonymous-user

61 months

Thursday 3rd September 2020
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Depends what is wrong with it and, more importantly, how McLaren sort it

If it is a simple thing that they fix with no fuss very quickly, provide some sort of alternative transport and cover a couple of taxi fares, then that is one thing

If it is a systemic failure, or they drag their feet about fixing it and don't look after the owner's transport needs in the meantime, that is another

And then, once it is back, if it does it again, that would start to get irksome

Don1

16,065 posts

215 months

Thursday 3rd September 2020
quotequote all
berlintaxi said:
Where is it dark in the UK at 7pm currently?
Last night was miserable - dark cloud and rain.

Clarkedontgo

Original Poster:

315 posts

66 months

Thursday 3rd September 2020
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Don1 said:
Last night was miserable - dark cloud and rain.
Ayrshire, scotland

durbster

10,734 posts

229 months

Thursday 3rd September 2020
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Not sure I buy reliability getting a free pass because of the expense. Would you expect reliability if you bought a Rolls Royce? I think I would.

It reminds me of when I was driving my MX-5 and pulled up at some traffic lights alongside a Ferrari 360. We both had our roofs down and I complimented the Ferrari driver on his car and then he went off on a rant about how he couldn't enjoy it because it was giving him endless grief.

It's not easy to feel smug sitting in a car probably worth a hundredth of the one alongside you but when the lights turned green and we both drove off, I had a little chuckle about my relentlessly reliable Mazda smile

AngryPartsBloke

1,437 posts

158 months

Thursday 3rd September 2020
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From what i have gleamed from the various conversations and incidents on social media, vloggers etc. isn't that people take issue with reliability but more how McLaren react to it and treat customers. On top of that, they do a poor job where it comes to the used car market and protecting customers from depreciation compared to other similar priced brands.