McLaren 720S Review

There’s no denying that McLaren was, and remains a refreshing alternative take on the supercar genre, it coming without all the baggage, good and bad, associated with Ferrari, and likewise, Lamborghini. A very British, technological take on the supercar, which has been refined to the point that it arguably offers the broadest repertoire of any of its rivals, while not losing out to them in any particular area. 

Only you’ll know if the 720S is right for you, but the likelihood is you’ll have owned, and will still do, a number of other super and sports cars from those aforementioned rivals, and will like McLaren’s take on the supercar.

It’s difficult not to be seduced, either, as while the looks – those headlights – still divide opinion, there’s no arguing with the fact that the 720S is the most complete supercar you can currently buy, though don’t buy it with financial gain in mind, as the 720S, unlike some of its rivals, does actually depreciate. 

There’s only one engine to chose from, that being McLaren’s 4.0-litre twin turbocharged V8 petrol engine which produces, you’ve guessed it, 720PS, peak torque being 770Nm. It’s mated to a 7-speed SSG (Seamless Shift Gearbox) with paddle shifters for manual control. 

McLaren does have three differing choices to begin with on its online configurator for the 720S, these being 720S, 720S Luxury and 720S Performance, but they’re only really trim choices like interior and exterior finishes, and things like engine bay lighting, though the Luxury does include heated and electrically adjusted memory sports seats, though, like everything on the 720S, it’s all able to be personalised. 

Then, of course, there’s a Spider model, it opening its folding roof up to the sky above, so really the choice is coupe, or Spider, and only you can decide what’s best for you.

There are rich pickings in the circa £200,000-£250,000 marketplace for rivals. You’ll likely consider Ferraris, both the Ferrari 488 and Ferrari 812 line-ups, as well as the F8 Tributo. 

Lamborghini’s ancient Aventador might factor too, it, like the 720S having carbon fibre construction at its core, while some of Porsche’s more wild Porsche 911 derivations, like the GT2 RS would work as alternatives, even if they’re a bit more singular in their focus. The 911 Turbo S is difficult to ignore here, too, as while it’s 70PS down on power, four-wheel drive means it’s able to match the 720S’s 0-62mph time, while it’s also a supercar that works brilliantly day-to-day.  

The McLaren 720S is hand built in Woking, to your exact desires, McLaren, admirably, not having borrowed any interior bits and pieces from other manufacturers and instead having created its own. The finish is as you’d hope for in a car at this price point, McLaren’s style unashamedly racy and technical, meaning you’ll not find any wood trim in there, it not even on the, extensive, options list.  

Think lots of carbon fibre, brushed aluminium, Alcantara and leather, then, McLaren offering carbon fibre packs for the interior trim, and ask its MSO (McLaren Special Operations) department and it’ll even colour the weaves, and, indeed, do pretty much anything you like to the 720S’s interior and exterior finishes. 

Start dipping into those carbon fibre options and you’ll easily find yourself adding tens of thousands of pounds to the price, though at this level of car ownership, that’s the norm, and actually expected. There are some minor frustrations, the driver mode selection requires the pushing of an ‘Active’ button before the switches work, but overall, the 720S’s interior feels special, it focussed without being compromised, which is a difficult trick to pull off, but one that McLaren has convincingly achieved. 

While the entertainment in a car like this should all be centred around the drive, the reality is not every moment in it will be a hot lap around Monza, or carving up the Col du Turini above Monaco. 

McLaren preserved with its own infotainment since it started building cars, and it’s only partially successful. The portrait screen position is a masterstroke of McLaren’s logical thinking, but sadly the logic gets a bit fuzzy around its actual operation, it being a bit clunky, and buggy. 

As standard you get a four-speaker stereo set-up, but the chances are none leave Woking without the optional Bowers & Wilkins 12-speaker set-up. It sounds superb. You can connect and charge your smartphone via a USB socket, and there’s Bluetooth connection, but forget about Apple CarPlay or Android Audio, McLaren trailing its competition here. 

The instruments are a screen, too, with the different driving modes changing what’s displayed, Track Mode seeing the screen flip down to reveal a strip screen that contains just the essentials of revs, speed, gear indicator and shift lights. It’s as close to a gimmick as you’ll get inside, and actually one that proves useful if you do take your 720S to a track, as, indeed, you should.   

Those dihedral doors don’t just make an entrance, but they ease it, rising high and forward, and taking a good deal of the sill along with them, making it a bit easier to climb into the seats. That’s particularly true if you’ve optioned the most heavily bolstered, lightweight racing seats. 

Space inside is good too, McLaren’s intelligent design of the dashboard and cabin meaning it feels airy and genuinely spacious, the MonoCell carbon fibre construction allowing particularly slim windscreen pillars for a great view out.

There’s some oddment storage in the cabin, too, an open space behind the floating console mounted screen is big enough to accept phones and wallets, while there’s a cupholder there, too (it not so easy to access, mind). A further recessed cup holder in between the seats, as well as a lidded compartment behind it means there’s space for bits and pieces, netted storage on the rear bulkhead also useful. 

If you don’t mind losing a bit of rear visibility there’s a small shelf behind the rear seats, and also a bit of space for thin bags behind the seats, assuming you’re not so tall you need them pushed back to their furthest position, though. 

There’s no rear boot, being a mid-engined car, but under the bonnet there’s a luggage compartment that’s deep and rectangular in shape with 150 litres of space. It’ll not help you if you’re moving house, then, but a carry-on airline bag, and a squashy bag and handbag can all be accommodated relatively easily. All in, the 720S is a convincingly practical supercar, which offers a combined storage capacity of 208 litres. You’ll have other cars for runs to the tip, or, indeed, someone else to do jobs like that…

A single engine choice here but you’re unlikely to be disappointed by the 720S’s 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8. It’s dubbed M840T by McLaren, and despite the soulless name, it’s got some heart, if not quite the voice or theatrics of Ferrari’s V8 engine in the 488. 

Developments of this engine are used throughout the entire McLaren range, including the recent Senna hypercar, and here, in the 720S, it develops 720PS and 770Nm, as a measure of progress, that’s about 100PS and 150Nm more than the V12 engine that powered its iconic F1 relative.  

All that is enough to allow it to reach 62mph in 2.9 seconds, double that in 7.8 seconds and 128mph in 21.4 seconds. From standstill to 100mph it takes 5.5 seconds, which wouldn’t have been a disgraceful 0-62mph time a few decades back. 

The force that the engine can deliver really is incredible, it producing its peak power at a lofty 7,250rpm, but thanks to the twin-scroll turbochargers as real low rev flexibility, too. All that’s aided by a SSG (Seamless Shift Gearbox), a twin-clutch seven-speed transmission, which shifts quickly and can be driven in fully automatic mode, or via the paddle shifters on the steering wheel. 

Like the chassis, there are differing modes for the engine and gearbox, Comfort doing as you’d hope it does, smoothing things out, Sport upping the speed of the gearshifts and changing the engine mapping slightly to enhance responsiveness and Track doing so further.  

The 720S is the paragon of a useable supercar, that largely down to its sophisticated suspension, which genuinely does give the 720S a 200+mph machine you can use everyday. That suspension helps isolate road noise from the cabin, and the ride it delivers is hugely advantageous to the overall refinement of the car. That’s true of the 720S Spider too, which, thanks to its super-stiff carbon fibre MonoCell II, doesn’t flex like some of its rivals. 

There is some ‘noise’, but it’s the right kind, though to liberate a bit more sound from the 720S’s engine you’ll need to specify it with the McLaren’s Sports Exhaust, which is an expensive option. Even so optioned, the 720S isn’t quite as overt or dramatic in voice as its Italian rivals, but that, to many, isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The 720S is refined enough that it’s a supercar with more than a hint of grand tourer into the mix, without taking anything away from its outrageous abilities as a bona-fide supercar.   

The 720S hasn’t been independently tested by EuroNCAP, which isn’t unusual for low-volume supercars, but it’s globally homologated for production, so has passed all national and international crash test requirements. 

With its MonoCell II structure surrounding its driver and passenger, the 720S will be among the safest supercars you can buy, the airbag count inside including driver and passenger front, side and curtain airbags, as well as knee airbags. 

There are sea belt pre-tensioners and the electronic stability and traction systems, which help manage the 720S’s huge power and will help you avoid an accident in the first place. Likewise, huge brakes, with ABS and massive tyres on the road, as well as the excellent all-round visibility mean the 720S is as safe as a car of this type can be. 

A car like this will only ever attract sizeable insurance premiums, but your friendly broker will be able to do you a multi car deal, as owners of cars like the 720S inevitably have many cars at their disposal. As standard the warranty is three-years, but you can pay for that to be extended. Servicing is every 10,000 miles, or 12 months, whatever comes sooner. None of this is likely to be inexpensive, as you’d anticipate on a 200+mph, £208,000+ supercar. 

Its 276g/km CO2 output put it in the highest VED banding, which isn’t really a surprise. Again, at this level, the tax you’ll pay to run it is incidental, it not likely to bother you, or make a dent in your ample finances.

McLaren doesn’t really do trim levels as such, instead offering some recommended choices on its configurator, these more about how the car looks than how it’s specified. 

Standard equipment on all is comprehensive, but, as with all cars in this category, there’s the opportunity to personalise it to exactly your preferred level of specification. It’s not unusual for 720Ss to have options costs adding as much as a quarter, and more if you dip into McLaren Special Operations (MSO) services and go wild with things like tinted carbon fibre weaves and suchlike.