McLaren - Exit Interview - 600LT
Discussion
OK thought this might be handy for anyone sitting on the fence with regards jumping into a McLaren. 2.5 years back I found myself being bitterly disappointed with a 991.1 RS 3 months and it was gone and good riddance!
I was going to bide my time a bit it was just going into Summer though and the original plan to pick up a Lambo or 458 over the winter turned into the hunt for a 570S just to have for the DN annual 'Ring trip. I had driven a couple of 570s and not been all the bothered with them but figured it would be an awesome car to have for a cool track event. I called a pal of mine who advised me to have a look at the 600LT which lead me to revisit all of the 2019 Youtube videos I had already seen back in the day and I was hooked.
I went out in a Spider at Leeds and had a deposit on it having been blown completely away with a test drive but they made a few errors in the deal and wouldn't properly bottom out the none working AC so I went with a Coupe I think it had 8000 miles on it when I bought it 12000 at the end. I actually bought it privately theres a long story behind why which I cant really summarise here but my advice I to NOT put your car on SOR with a main dealer anyway put it that way.
I have a bit of a ritual thats developed with a new car once I have run it for a couple of weeks we do a trackday at Donington
It was predictably awesome at Donny very quick I was 3/4 seconds up on the lap time for the 991 RS but more importantly the car was just better to drive and much more fun.
Had another trip out to Hethel to do a trackday there with Goldtrack a rare none Lotus track event it was superb again devastatingly quick!
I never got to do a road trip in it with 3 kids and 3 businesses to run its hard to get solid blocks of time away but I have to say one area where the 600 is pretty poor is motorways! The awful din the exhaust makes on the motorway makes it a pretty poor GT car really I actually have noise cancelling headphones I use from my years of dealing with driving Lotus cars up and down but whilst thats fine when you are on your own its not a friendly car to go long distance in really.
We did manage a few short breaks in the car and being a Supercar they do open some nice doors and priority parking was always on offer!
It was also called into service as a wedding car
You'll notice by now there has been no mention of reliability. If you read into the thread expecting tales of issues and problems you are going to be very disappointed. The 600LT was flawless through my ownership. Not so much as a dropped window. I think the nearest I came to a true fault was that occasionally I got a "key not found in vehicle" message which opening and closing the door normally fixed. On the sale inspection McLeeds found a misting damper which was replaced under the warranty seamlessly. That was the only warranty claim. I put a fresh set of front pads on it and that was about it. Oh replaced the rear trofeo tyres. For the last year and a bit it was just on PS4S. I only did one trackday out of the manufacturer warranty so avoided the area and post track inspection nonsense although I think some dealers might have a degree flexibility on that. They should bin the requirement really as I feel that does put a lot of people off.
So 2 and a bit years of fun - 3 points on my licence from a pair of jealous coppers and a loss of 20 grand on the car about sums it up!
Dealing with McLaren has been OK I do feel their service guy is overworked as he's the only one there and he must be snowed under all the time. I'm facing a little bit of a battle getting a £2500 refund for an unclaimed warranty extension I paid for so will update the thread on the outcome of that. 3 weeks in for something that should be a phone call so I hope that doesnt sour what has been a great ownership experience. Slight Leeds gripe/feedback when my car was in for its sale inspection I asked them for an Artura as I fancied a try of one and think I might have had one given the mega deals on the finance for them but they just ignored the request, Their loss and a GT4RS has been purchased arriving in December.
So overall I'm glad I did it. It's not a car you would want to own when they are 10 plus years old. The drivetrain is solid but the tech and build quality is a tad flaky oh I thought I had got away with the cracked door hinge thing but it did have a small crack in one door hinge. I don't know whats going on with that as the new owner took that battle on. I think as a manufacturer McLaren kind of do the best they can in the circumstances.but they have a long way to go to be in a position where you feel looked after as a customer.
The car itself though oh my what a thing! Superb steering absolutely blistering performance endless braking performance on track looks to die for and a positive reception wherever you go. The throttle cut gear changes are a real event very hardcode as are the near solid engine mounts. 4 ft flames out the back in the dark are pretty cool too!
Certainly recommended they are stupid value at 120/130k I would say easily the best value supercar there is right now.
I was going to bide my time a bit it was just going into Summer though and the original plan to pick up a Lambo or 458 over the winter turned into the hunt for a 570S just to have for the DN annual 'Ring trip. I had driven a couple of 570s and not been all the bothered with them but figured it would be an awesome car to have for a cool track event. I called a pal of mine who advised me to have a look at the 600LT which lead me to revisit all of the 2019 Youtube videos I had already seen back in the day and I was hooked.
I went out in a Spider at Leeds and had a deposit on it having been blown completely away with a test drive but they made a few errors in the deal and wouldn't properly bottom out the none working AC so I went with a Coupe I think it had 8000 miles on it when I bought it 12000 at the end. I actually bought it privately theres a long story behind why which I cant really summarise here but my advice I to NOT put your car on SOR with a main dealer anyway put it that way.
I have a bit of a ritual thats developed with a new car once I have run it for a couple of weeks we do a trackday at Donington
It was predictably awesome at Donny very quick I was 3/4 seconds up on the lap time for the 991 RS but more importantly the car was just better to drive and much more fun.
Had another trip out to Hethel to do a trackday there with Goldtrack a rare none Lotus track event it was superb again devastatingly quick!
I never got to do a road trip in it with 3 kids and 3 businesses to run its hard to get solid blocks of time away but I have to say one area where the 600 is pretty poor is motorways! The awful din the exhaust makes on the motorway makes it a pretty poor GT car really I actually have noise cancelling headphones I use from my years of dealing with driving Lotus cars up and down but whilst thats fine when you are on your own its not a friendly car to go long distance in really.
We did manage a few short breaks in the car and being a Supercar they do open some nice doors and priority parking was always on offer!
It was also called into service as a wedding car
You'll notice by now there has been no mention of reliability. If you read into the thread expecting tales of issues and problems you are going to be very disappointed. The 600LT was flawless through my ownership. Not so much as a dropped window. I think the nearest I came to a true fault was that occasionally I got a "key not found in vehicle" message which opening and closing the door normally fixed. On the sale inspection McLeeds found a misting damper which was replaced under the warranty seamlessly. That was the only warranty claim. I put a fresh set of front pads on it and that was about it. Oh replaced the rear trofeo tyres. For the last year and a bit it was just on PS4S. I only did one trackday out of the manufacturer warranty so avoided the area and post track inspection nonsense although I think some dealers might have a degree flexibility on that. They should bin the requirement really as I feel that does put a lot of people off.
So 2 and a bit years of fun - 3 points on my licence from a pair of jealous coppers and a loss of 20 grand on the car about sums it up!
Dealing with McLaren has been OK I do feel their service guy is overworked as he's the only one there and he must be snowed under all the time. I'm facing a little bit of a battle getting a £2500 refund for an unclaimed warranty extension I paid for so will update the thread on the outcome of that. 3 weeks in for something that should be a phone call so I hope that doesnt sour what has been a great ownership experience. Slight Leeds gripe/feedback when my car was in for its sale inspection I asked them for an Artura as I fancied a try of one and think I might have had one given the mega deals on the finance for them but they just ignored the request, Their loss and a GT4RS has been purchased arriving in December.
So overall I'm glad I did it. It's not a car you would want to own when they are 10 plus years old. The drivetrain is solid but the tech and build quality is a tad flaky oh I thought I had got away with the cracked door hinge thing but it did have a small crack in one door hinge. I don't know whats going on with that as the new owner took that battle on. I think as a manufacturer McLaren kind of do the best they can in the circumstances.but they have a long way to go to be in a position where you feel looked after as a customer.
The car itself though oh my what a thing! Superb steering absolutely blistering performance endless braking performance on track looks to die for and a positive reception wherever you go. The throttle cut gear changes are a real event very hardcode as are the near solid engine mounts. 4 ft flames out the back in the dark are pretty cool too!
Certainly recommended they are stupid value at 120/130k I would say easily the best value supercar there is right now.
Nice write up and you captured the essence of how brilliant these cars are and what a great ownership proposition they can be when all goes to plan! Will be interested to hear how the GT4RS compares once you’ve run it in …hope to see you at the ring again some time, enjoy the new Porsche!
Have to echo your thoughts and ownership summary. Epic cars, underrated and misunderstood due to too much online bashing by people who have no clue or ownership experience. Had my Spider almost 5 years from new, just a few niggly issues, but no worse than any other brand out there, and better than many so called trophy brands.
Mines on SOR with my supplying main dealer, I will miss it enormously as they are so so good and such an event to drive.
I, too have an Alpine A110 really good but never an event to drive.
Mines on SOR with my supplying main dealer, I will miss it enormously as they are so so good and such an event to drive.
I, too have an Alpine A110 really good but never an event to drive.
Good write up. Agee also on points about Service manager at Leeds, he's great but when not around its like no one else cares. I was Loaned a nearly new BMW estate for 3 days while my car was in for servicing and they also fixed some issues under warranty without even telling me they'd found them/made a claim which was good.
You make a valid point about when the cars get past 10yrs, given there are no indies up north I can see the 2nd hand value dropping a bit as mclaren aren't going to cover much under warranty given they are already turning their back on hinges and paint unless pushed.
You make a valid point about when the cars get past 10yrs, given there are no indies up north I can see the 2nd hand value dropping a bit as mclaren aren't going to cover much under warranty given they are already turning their back on hinges and paint unless pushed.
Yes the car is at that age where it would be crossing over into Indie servicing it will be at V Engineering with the new owner its a real shame we don't have anything in the North thats an equivalent. The stuff like having to fight for the door hinges is a bit of a joke really it should be a safety recall and probably will be when a door drops on a kid and kills them. The shortening of the corrosion warranty after the fact was a bit of a low blow from McLaren as well all these things add up to making them a less attractive car to buy. You would be a brave man to buy a new one really with their approach to aftercare. The Artura was interesting as there were such amazing under the counter deals going on but Leeds never seemed to want to engage.
When I was looking they had my car on SOR up at the Glasgow sister site and I tried to buy it via Leeds and also direct from Glasgow but they both told me it was sold and tried putting me onto other cars I'm assuming they were redirecting me from the SOR car to their own stock. Very poor show and especially given that the owner of my car had an Artura on order with Glasgow. I only happened on the car as I put a wanted ad on the FB group and was offered the same "sold" car direct from the owner. This might have pissed off the sales manager at Leeds (who at the time was a bit of a slime ball he left a while ago thankfully) but it was one of those situations where I tried everything possible to be a customer but the cocked up a deal for themselves on a Spider and then lied to me about a Coupe being available. What can you do?
I probably would have had an Artura but hey ho they must be doing really well to just piss sales away for fun! I dont know if they thought I was a porper because I sell Lotus cars for a living but thats a lesson you should learn early in the car game. I could have a 765 if I really wanted to it's only a finance document away!
When I was looking they had my car on SOR up at the Glasgow sister site and I tried to buy it via Leeds and also direct from Glasgow but they both told me it was sold and tried putting me onto other cars I'm assuming they were redirecting me from the SOR car to their own stock. Very poor show and especially given that the owner of my car had an Artura on order with Glasgow. I only happened on the car as I put a wanted ad on the FB group and was offered the same "sold" car direct from the owner. This might have pissed off the sales manager at Leeds (who at the time was a bit of a slime ball he left a while ago thankfully) but it was one of those situations where I tried everything possible to be a customer but the cocked up a deal for themselves on a Spider and then lied to me about a Coupe being available. What can you do?
I probably would have had an Artura but hey ho they must be doing really well to just piss sales away for fun! I dont know if they thought I was a porper because I sell Lotus cars for a living but thats a lesson you should learn early in the car game. I could have a 765 if I really wanted to it's only a finance document away!
Nice write up FP. £20K for a couple of years in a car like that is a bargain. I'd guess many spend similar on generic 'premium SUV' dailys.
You've a bit of experience of car negotiations so no doubt a fair deal. You brought private, did it go back to a trade or a franchised dealer for cash?
You've a bit of experience of car negotiations so no doubt a fair deal. You brought private, did it go back to a trade or a franchised dealer for cash?
200Plus Club said:
Out of interest also what was your experience of the 991 RS as that's another on my potential wish list at some point? The mclaren was absolutely pin sharp in terms of steering/handling/brakes, like a big elise with additional giggle factor of power.
Honestly dont bother especially if you have had a McLaren. They are slow due to high gearing/inability to access the small amount of power they do have at 7000 plus RPM. The rear steer is horrible just fake eagerness to turn in which feels un natural. The rear engine ness is exaggerated somehow It was a bitter disappointment to me having wanted one for years and my 718 GT4 was a vastly better car in every way for 2/3 of the money. They are all hype honestly just a very rubbish car really it was even quite boring on track. Rick101 said:
Nice write up FP. £20K for a couple of years in a car like that is a bargain. I'd guess many spend similar on generic 'premium SUV' dailys.
You've a bit of experience of car negotiations so no doubt a fair deal. You brought private, did it go back to a trade or a franchised dealer for cash?
Oh the selling process I should have covered this in the original post. This was not an easy car to sell at all. Advertised it for top money in May and reduced it down and down. I sold it privately but I would have sold to trade but they just attract "interest" fro the wrong type of trade people absolute jokers who probably wouldn't be able to stump the cash up if you did engage with them. Buying over 100 cars per year as I do for my own business it was pretty funny to see just how inept these dealers are at buying cars. Cocky attitudes etc my favourite was a new startup possibly looks like a keep out of trouble business set up for some young lads they were telling me chapter and verse about the market etc and how they had this McLaren and that McLaren. They had literally never even stocked a McLaren just young lads playing at being a car dealer with daddy's Money. Had a few of the typical county lines types people using clearly fake western names when they were clearly asian drug dealers that type of thing. You've a bit of experience of car negotiations so no doubt a fair deal. You brought private, did it go back to a trade or a franchised dealer for cash?
You would be lucky to sell one of these privately I think. If I wasn't on damage limitation with the money I had lost I would have stuck it in with Scott Hardy they seem to move the most McLarens outside the main dealer network.
fridaypassion said:
You would be lucky to sell one of these privately I think.
I did sell my 720S very easily privately. 2 people viewed it. First thought the (Azores) colour was too lairy. Second bought it on the spot at the asking price.It was a perfect, like new, good spec example though.
fridaypassion said:
Oh the selling process I should have covered this in the original post. This was not an easy car to sell at all. Advertised it for top money in May and reduced it down and down. I sold it privately but I would have sold to trade but they just attract "interest" fro the wrong type of trade people absolute jokers who probably wouldn't be able to stump the cash up if you did engage with them. Buying over 100 cars per year as I do for my own business it was pretty funny to see just how inept these dealers are at buying cars. Cocky attitudes etc my favourite was a new startup possibly looks like a keep out of trouble business set up for some young lads they were telling me chapter and verse about the market etc and how they had this McLaren and that McLaren. They had literally never even stocked a McLaren just young lads playing at being a car dealer with daddy's Money. Had a few of the typical county lines types people using clearly fake western names when they were clearly asian drug dealers that type of thing.
You would be lucky to sell one of these privately I think. If I wasn't on damage limitation with the money I had lost I would have stuck it in with Scott Hardy they seem to move the most McLarens outside the main dealer network.
+100%You would be lucky to sell one of these privately I think. If I wasn't on damage limitation with the money I had lost I would have stuck it in with Scott Hardy they seem to move the most McLarens outside the main dealer network.
we simply don't buy mclarens anymore
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