Who is the McLaren GTS for? It’s a very valid question as, six years after its introduction, you’d be perfectly entitled to assume it had quietly shuffled off into retirement with the hybrid Artura nabbing the ‘everyday carbon-tubbed supercar’ baton with its hushed e-range. But no. McLaren has taken the GT and added more than an ‘S’: there’s another 15hp to carry ten fewer kilos plus smarter aero. The front air intakes are more pronounced and the rear wing more dramatic. Very handsome it looks, too, its perter details helping extend the life of a design that looks like a honed and chiselled evolution of the original 12C’s ‘subtle supercar’ aesthetic.
Its hatchback tribute act continues, the mid-mounted engine hidden out of view beneath a long, slender, 420-litre luggage compartment that won’t haul holiday suitcases but should accommodate a weekend away or a bougie arrival at a wedding or business shindig with your suit crease-free. And probably lightly warmed by the 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 beneath…
Its new 635hp peak is allied to the same 467lb ft as before, shifting the GTS’s 1,520kg to 62mph in 3.2 seconds and onto a 203mph top speed. Both are unchanged, although the last thing this car wanted for was speed. The interior is curiously untouched too, its carryover 7-inch portrait infotainment meaning – yikes – no smartphone mirroring. Perhaps the bikers among us can appreciate a fresh opportunity to drive disconnected from the electronic ether…
Its powertrain and handling controls also remain tucked in the centre console rather than atop the instrument cowl (and a fingertip stretch from the steering wheel) as in the more modern Artura and 750S. That grates, but doesn’t mar the otherwise brilliant McLaren cockpit aura. Its goldfish bowl screen and near-as-dammit perfect driving position are familiar from any other McLaren Automotive product of the last decade and immediately set out the stall of a car that inspires utmost confidence within your first mile. Even if the pedal positioning continues to favour left-foot brakers – if the GTS charmed you into using it every day, perhaps you’d indulge its whims. Especially with carbon-ceramics as standard.
While McLaren has turned down the dial on the GT’s continent-crushing pretensions – ‘the McLaren of Grand Tourers’ claimed the original bumf – there are still some sops to luxury, chiefly the options of a trick Electrochromic sunroof (£5,200) and a 12-speaker Bowers & Wilkins stereo. Both of which help justify words like ‘debonair’ cropping up on the configurator while eating into those kilos carefully shaven off with the facelift. Curiously a nose lift system is now a £2,200 option, though I didn’t once require it on my (admittedly speed bump-free) hour in the car. I wonder how many dealers would let you reach the ‘confirm’ button without speccing it?
I was fairly besotted driving the outgoing GT to the South of France in those halcyon pre-pandemic days to meet a pair of grand touring alternatives. It helped that I took in Route Napoleon on my way, happy to overlook its inferior cruising skills for the laser focus it added once I’d left my last Péage booth. And boy, was it fast, shedding any purported softness as soon as its Powertrain and Handling dials were cranked up. I stuck in the McLaren – rather than switch to a clearly cosier Bentley Conti GT – for the journey home, its talkative hydraulic steering and satisfying rocker-switch paddles livening up slip roads and lane changes to keep me alert as the miles slipped by.
Nevertheless, shrugging off the GT billing, adding a schporty S and talking up its supercar credentials is clearly a sensible way to go. The retirement of the Sport Series cars helps clear up its place in the oft-bewildering McLaren landscape – this is now the entry point of Woking coupe ownership, priced from £179k before options. Which makes the bombardment of speed and sensations even more noteworthy.
If it’s your first experience of the brand – or you’ve clambered under its dihedral door somehow unaware McLaren makes anything else – you’ll be staggered by what it can do. Only back-to-back exposure to an Artura or 750S reveals the chamfered edges of the GTS; in isolation, it’s still a mesmerising and enrapturing thing to fling down a well-trodden road. It shrugs off the worst of British tarmac without stifling your flow and while the steering wheel is a touch on the large side, it sits perfectly at bent arm’s length and moves around with a fluidity that’s absent in a flighty Ferrari rack. There’s no learning curve.
It arcs intuitively into turns and while more decisive driving brings flashes of the traction light on corner exit, it doesn’t cramp your style. Loosen the electronics and this remains a biddable car, though crucially it drives so naturally with them left on that it’ll be far from the first thing you do. It drives with real alacrity before you’ve even prodded the Active button to awaken its separate engine and chassis mode switches, so hopping in and just enjoying the thing is tremendously easy.
The metal paddleshifters of this particular spec don’t titillate like the carbon offerings in other McLarens. They still operate on a rocker (meaning you can push the right paddle to downshift, or pull the left for an upshift, a la Formula 1) but their snug positioning and curiously sharp leading edge mean you won’t. A pernickety complaint, but I’ve always quite liked the option and some careful configurating should get you a more amiable paddle setup. It’s just one of those minor but well-considered touches that help make a 600hp+ sports car inspiring even on a gridlocked M25 – because an ongoing byproduct of its chassis compliance and coddling visibility is that you can easily drive it like it’s any other car, forgoing most of the nerve-shredding compromises a slice of mid-engined exotica would normally demand.
On which note its 570 litres of combined luggage volume is unchanged; for the record, that’s more than a Cayman with its frunk and boot combined or a match for a Focus estate with its seats still up – albeit in a much less practical shape. You’ll still need to pack with care and if you really don’t need the practicality, an Artura costs 20 grand more and feels the more amiable option for every day with its 20-ish miles of electric running. Perhaps the old-school vibe pervading the GTS will earn it fans among the golfing set who do want its boot (which should swallow their clubs). No hybrid gubbins, CarPlay nor lane-keep interruptions – maybe that’s the schtick. Mind, you can acquire much the same thing for nearly half the price if you’re lucky in the classifieds. There’s even a PH buying guide.
This remains a charming car, which makes its dated tech feel like an astonishing own goal given improved usability is the key selling point. It’s like the clever kid forgetting their homework or the sports captain leaving their kit at home. But while other McLarens feel designed to trade blows with targeted rivals, the GTS remains a uniquely pitched proposition. A caveat that ensures it’s easy to feel warm and fuzzy about McLaren sticking with it. And hey, it’ll provide solace from all those WhatsApp group pings…
SPECIFICATION | MCLAREN GTS
Engine: 3,994cc, twin-turbo V8
Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch auto, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 635@7,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 465@5,500-6,500rpm
0-62mph (secs): 3.2
Top speed (mph): 203
Weight (kg): 1,520
MPG (WLTP medium): 23.7
CO2 (WLTP) g/km: 270
Price (from): £179,260
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