From a AM V8 Vantage to a 12C / 540 / 570

[anonymous-user]

Hello,

Chatting with my wife this afternoon and we are looking to start a family over the next year or two.

We discussed the possibility of trading in my Vantage (2008 so not worth anywhere near as much as the cheap McLaren) for a McLaren of some sort, now our budget would be £60-80k, say 50/50 deposit / finance.

I really like the 12C Convertible at Tom Hartley Jnr, but it is out of budget and I am concerned about the cost of CCBs.

I guess my question is how comparable would the running costs be, my Vantage costs next to nothing to run outside normal servicing.

Also was the 12C the first which evolved Into the 540 then 570?

Thanks in advance.

[justin220]

That's the exact move I made. I owned two V8 Vantages, one 4.7 coupe, then an N420 roadster and traded it in for my 540C.

Anything specific you'd like to know?

I've got a thread on here somewhere about making the move that might help you

[anonymous-user]

Thanks, I’ll have a look Justin.

[Lee Jones Jnr]

Lord.Vader said:

Hello,

Also was the 12C the first which evolved Into the 540 then 570?

.

The 12C was the first but it evolved into the 650S.
The 570S came later and is theoretically a model down, the 540C is a slightly pared back version of the same car with slight downgrades in performance and trim.

[justin220]

Lord.Vader said:

Thanks, I’ll have a look Justin.

Any questions. Fire away

[anonymous-user]

Will do and I appreciate it.

Just working out the boring details, mid house renovation so no looking until Jun / Jul anyway!

[AndM]

I had V8 Vantage (4.3) for six months as a daily after I got my 12C. Very pretty and sounded great but ancient in many respects and staggeringly slow. Supposedly 380hp but felt like about 250. Slowwww.

Returned it for a full refund just inside six months after a repeat break assist failure message that multiple visits and assessments couldn't resolve. Very strange. Certainly scratched the Aston itch and left me with no desire whatsoever to get another.

The 12c is so much better and faster that I wouldn't dignify the comparison by mentioning it in the same paragraph.

Not trying to put anyone's car down (I may have been unlucky) but it you make the move you will understand what I mean. Do it!

Edited by AndM on Monday 1st February 10:40

[macdeb]

I came from 4.7 vantage (not exactly the quickest car by any means), sounded good but wasn't as fast as that sound would have you believe. Had it for 3 years and simply fell out of love with it. Got my 12C start of November and as someone said, it doesn't belong on same page as the 12C is AWESOME and believe it or not a lot more comfortable (super series suspension) and even better on fuel too! AM Vantage V8 is GT car and a gorgeous one at that, but McLaren is a Supercar. Any McLaren is so damn cool.

Edited by macdeb on Monday 1st February 14:54

[Mr Cod]

I did exactly the same thing! From a 4.3 to a 12C spider shortly before having a child. This is in absolutely no way intended to be patronising, but you really really do need to think about the running costs on these. I wish someone had sat me down and done so, really. A warranty is necessary, particularly if you won't be able to foot a big repair bill. A month after purchasing my CCB discs needed replacing (this was not through wear but through a fault so covered under warranty). This was £6k just for the fronts. Thorney is a more of an option for the warranty than McLaren, nowadays, so keep that in mind. But the annual service can be 2k easily just with a couple of minor bits.

I'm not a Mclaren basher - I love the brand and in the round my car was extremely reliable. It's just that they are £250-300k motors, and the running costs are commensurate.

I absolutely loved my 12C - but given that I too had started a family, the opportunities to use it were fewer and fewer. It's when you're doing hardly any miles and you really have to find excuses to take it out (by yourself, and from Point A to point A) that the running costs really start to grate. I decided to move it on. Now in a Macan Turbo which is of course absolutely no way comparable...but we can all get in it and I still have a lot of fun!

Maybe I couldn't really afford such a car in the first place, and your circumstances may be different. So this is just my experience and my opinion. If you go into it with your eyes open and pick a good, inspected, warranted car, there is absolutely nothing that can touch a Mclaren pound for pound (IMHO).

[davek_964]

I had a 4.3 Vantage for 4 years and p-ex'd it against my 650.

I liked my Aston a lot - and I expect I'll have another at some point - but the 650 is better at everything. The (premium) audio was better in the Vantage - that's it.
As somebody already stated - the McLaren makes a better GT / daily than the Aston - it's soooooo easy to drive if you want it to be and very comfortable. Plus - obviously when you get to the twisty stuff, there is no contest.

But, it will cost you more. Servicing isn't expensive - and somehow my 650 tyres last better than any car I've owned before. But you will probably need the warranty and that adds to the annual running costs.

[davek_964]

Mr Cod said:

But the annual service can be 2k easily just with a couple of minor bits.

I don't think that's common at all - especially since the warranty does take care of most unexpected surprises. I've had two services - one was around £1k I think, and the last one was £1,250 - and that did include a few bits I wanted sorted.
I've seen plenty of posts from other owners on here / MOC and I think you're very unlucky if a service costs you £2k - especially if it's more than once - if you're running the warranty anyway.

If you keep the warranty then that certainly makes annual running costs pretty high. But it is comprehensive, and while you've got it - annual servicing shouldn't be anything like £2k.

[justin220]

In comparison with the 540C, I'd actually say it's about on par running cost wise..

V8V

I seemed to average around 24mpg. Although I had decatted it and drove it as expected to hear that wonderful V8 noise.
Servicing was always around £1k ish.
Tyres were much and such the same as the 540C.
Warranty. I braved it and didn't renew the AM warranty although I wish I did, as I shelled out £1400 for a single headlight when the LEDs failed.

540C

Ive renewed the warranty - £2800 but its very comprehensive. And McGlasgow were great when I had a couple of cooland leaks, and brake hose corrosion. No arguments all of it was sorted under warranty.
I'm averaging around 26mpg. I'd say I'm actually travelling faster in the 540C but driving it less hard. Its effortless performance and doesn't need hammered to really make quick progress.
Tyres. As above, no huge differences in wear or costs. I just paid around £200 a corner for OEM but considering MPS4 next.
Servicing. Minor and major but averages around £1k per year

As mentioned above the car and performance are in a different league and think the costs are very reasonable. I do miss that V8V noise though. And the interior was lovely

[macdeb]

^^^^ oh yes, inside was glorious as was the 'Premium audio' which was better than any standard offering I've heard and even the McLaren DSP doesn't compare. But, I hardly ever have the audio on anyway unless caught in traffic. That was the only thing that the Aston was better at, the audio. Interiors of McLarens are so far out there that the Italians are left wanting. The way it flows throughout with dash meeting doors etc. Italians seem to just dump a great black dash in at the end regardless of the lines or colour. OP, do it! Long time dead.

[Smoothound]

macdeb said:

^^^^ oh yes, inside was glorious as was the 'Premium audio' which was better than any standard offering I've heard and even the McLaren DSP doesn't compare. But, I hardly ever have the audio on anyway unless caught in traffic. That was the only thing that the Aston was better at, the audio. Interiors of McLarens are so far out there that the Italians are left wanting. The way it flows throughout with dash meeting doors etc. Italians seem to just dump a great black dash in at the end regardless of the lines or colour. OP, do it! Long time dead.

As above to be honest. Mine is driving me insane at the moment because of a stupid issue but the minute it's back here all will be well

Indulge yourself, you will be dead forever...

[Mr Cod]

davek_964 said:

Mr Cod said:

But the annual service can be 2k easily just with a couple of minor bits.

I don't think that's common at all - especially since the warranty does take care of most unexpected surprises. I've had two services - one was around £1k I think, and the last one was £1,250 - and that did include a few bits I wanted sorted.
I've seen plenty of posts from other owners on here / MOC and I think you're very unlucky if a service costs you £2k - especially if it's more than once - if you're running the warranty anyway.

If you keep the warranty then that certainly makes annual running costs pretty high. But it is comprehensive, and while you've got it - annual servicing shouldn't be anything like £2k.

It is deeply tiring to not be able to post anything in this forum about McLaren ownership experience, without someone piping up to tell you that your own personal lived experience is incorrect or doesn't fit the narrative. If you manage to regularly service a super series Mclaren for meaningfully less than 2k, then well done. I'm looking at the invoice for my last service as we speak: £1694 inc VAT - and that was with nothing at all done apart from the service and MOT. That was 6th year service for a 12C at Ascot. "You were mugged" I'm sure will be the reply. Well at the time there was zero capacity in the network so there was no shopping around even if I could have been bothered to (answer: I couldn't). And yes, if you bought your own oil and negotiated I'm sure there could be savings, and always took care of all consumables outside of the service cycle, but the fact is that is what I was charged, and you can't tell me I'm wrong.

And even if I were over, by a couple of hundred quid: the point is that a buyer of a super series Mclaren approaching 10 years old should not be afraid of a 2k bill. If that does frighten, or if a bill being £1250 rather than £2k makes a meaningful impact on buying decision, then I would say stay well away from 12Cs.

[Dino550]

I’ve just taken the plunge. Hope to collect my 12C this week. I’ve part exchanged my SL 63 and Maserati GTS for a low mileage 12C coupe. Very excited.

I enquired about the 12C at Hartley’s. Got a standard email bragging about their brilliant customer service and heard feck all after that. I’ll not go near them again.

I’ll go down the Thorney warranty route. I’ll be running the one car rather than two so that will help cover the extra cost of the McLaren.

The only thing I think I’ll miss is the noise of my mazer. Hopefully compensated by McLaren performance!

The 12C’s are very good value at the moment. I know it will cost more to run than my current cars and the Ferrari before them, but overall I think great value.

I’ll keep you posted.

[ghost83]

Dino550 said:

I’ve just taken the plunge. Hope to collect my 12C this week. I’ve part exchanged my SL 63 and Maserati GTS for a low mileage 12C coupe. Very excited.

I enquired about the 12C at Hartley’s. Got a standard email bragging about their brilliant customer service and heard feck all after that. I’ll not go near them again.

I’ll go down the Thorney warranty route. I’ll be running the one car rather than two so that will help cover the extra cost of the McLaren.

The only thing I think I’ll miss is the noise of my mazer. Hopefully compensated by McLaren performance!

The 12C’s are very good value at the moment. I know it will cost more to run than my current cars and the Ferrari before them, but overall I think great value.

I’ll keep you posted.

I believe thorney want to fully inspect the cars before warranty so before you buy you might want to ask if you can get an inspection done, you don’t want to be left with no warranty and it needing 10-15k in bits doing

[Dino550]

McLaren Leeds inspected it last week and it comes with a decent 3 month warranty so I’ll get it inspected by Thorney before that one expires. Had a load of work done before Christmas off the back of an earlier Thorney inspection.

I’m keeping a close eye in snow forecast for collecting it 🥴

[anonymous-user]

I think I’ve been really lucky with my Vantage, which is why I started this thread, I’m under no illusion it’ll be cheap to run but I put £250 a month aside for the Vantage (no warranty) and the most expensive year I’ve had has been £1,500 odd.

I don’t really want to be spending more than £3k pa in running costs, which seems to just about cover the warranty.

Are there any specialists in the NW?

[davek_964]

Mr Cod said:

It is deeply tiring to not be able to post anything in this forum about McLaren ownership experience, without someone piping up to tell you that your own personal lived experience is incorrect or doesn't fit the narrative. If you manage to regularly service a super series Mclaren for meaningfully less than 2k, then well done. I'm looking at the invoice for my last service as we speak: £1694 inc VAT - and that was with nothing at all done apart from the service and MOT. That was 6th year service for a 12C at Ascot. "You were mugged" I'm sure will be the reply. Well at the time there was zero capacity in the network so there was no shopping around even if I could have been bothered to (answer: I couldn't). And yes, if you bought your own oil and negotiated I'm sure there could be savings, and always took care of all consumables outside of the service cycle, but the fact is that is what I was charged, and you can't tell me I'm wrong.

And even if I were over, by a couple of hundred quid: the point is that a buyer of a super series Mclaren approaching 10 years old should not be afraid of a 2k bill. If that does frighten, or if a bill being £1250 rather than £2k makes a meaningful impact on buying decision, then I would say stay well away from 12Cs.

All I said was that your figure of £2k was not representative as common from many owners figures I've seen. I didn't say it were 'wrong' - I simply said that I do not think £2k service bills are common.

As for prices - Ascot quoted me literally double what two other service centres quoted me for non service work which is why I no longer use them.

(My last service was also a 6 year service - I didn't get an MOT, but did have a few other bits which took my service cost from £1,100 to £1,250 Inc vat - I didn't negotiate or use my own oil).

Edited by davek_964 on Monday 1st February 21:36