According to your own argument you would need a car that only goes 70 (with a decent aircon?! My son passed 186 mph next to me before he was twelve months old (yes, no traffic, only for a very short time).
Jealous? I'm saying this car is borderline ugly because it's more computer design for "aero efficiency" than by human hand. And it's not just McLaren. People are using "aero" for an excuse for ugliness today. Cut holes here, put barge boards there, stuck a vent everywhere. -- instant exotic! This car would have been so much better looking if the designers ran the show. I don't see the point of making something uglier to go 212 mph.
Perhaps that's just where the majority of buyers want these car designs to go. To you it may be ugly, but the evidence shows that manufacturers can shift all the units they can make. Someone must be finding them beautiful... they don't just buy top speed stats.
Saw this on youtube, kinda cool side-by-side comparison to 488 Watch "Mclaren 720S Vs Ferrari 488 GTB ► Performance & Design" on YouTube https://youtu.be/KvB56TU62pQ
I'm with the mayor. Can't imagine any kids having this on a poster in their bedrooms. Unless they're a bit weird...
Bob, you and I are dinosaurs. Younger generations love these overly-designed cars. They were raised on transformers and aftermarket body kits. Us old guys who love simplicity of form are **** out of luck.
Agree with Mayor. It's not a very pretty car this. Also on his point regarding the ''horsepower race''. Every new model we get another 60-100 HP or so thrown at the car (no not just Mclaren, all manufacturers are guilty of this), the logic behind it I suppose is that otherwise buyers don't see improvement/need to buy the new car? The aero is great, if you're doing 140mph everywhere. But on real roads, it's pointless. Tires are massive, we have so much grip now it's bonkers...you can do 90mph on backroads (strictly speaking not legal, I know), but it simply doesn't feel fast anymore. We got a car like the Alfa 4c, but IMO that's just ''not right'' either. It gets a pretty pathetic i4 engine. What the world needs (in my opinion anyhow) is another car much like the F355. 400bhp V8, manual gearbox, not too much interference, not stupidly wide. Get it with a carbon tub, <1050kg wet weight
To Jerry (because only he and I can communicate this way with one another): Rooooar! Roar - roar. Roar. Roooar!!!
Fortunately for you old guys there's plenty of old cars out there. I dont need anyone to remake the F355 because you can get one any day of the week. McLaren aren't making pretty cars. They make technical cars. While I'll agree all day long its fun to roll through a gated shifter, I got one of those. But I like variety. I may not always like where things are going but I can't change it and I'm not ready to throw in the towel just yet. Until then I get the latest phone, the latest TV and yes the latest cars and just enjoy what they have to offer. Sometimes I find I dont like X feature but I REALLY like Y feature. Eventually they'll all end up in the landfill (as will I).
Me too, I like the BMW i8. The main thing I don't like with the 720S is the headlights but not really a fan of the real either. I agree with Mayor, this and many other new/current cars are bragging machines and pointless road cars. Thankfully I like old cars too and so happy to stick with them Pete
Yep, I truly find them godawful looking cars. I love BMW's always have done but I loathe the i8. Almost, but wrong engine IMO. Cayman GT4 is better in that regard, still a 6 cilinder but at least one that makes the right noise . Yep it really is the headlights for me as well. Apparently looks better in the flesh though. Will see...
Agree with all this, new Porsche turbo can be driven at insane speeds by anyone thanks to tech run wild... I'd take the Alfa 4c with a nice free revving v6 and manual tranny over virtually everything made today. Also the manual steering is a throwback I love...
Meanwhile 2860lbs dry weight puts the 720 a few hundred pounds lighter than the performante. Also there is no reason why a modern car should not be beautiful, witness the 458. Then there is fun and engaging to drive, at all speeds, something moderns are singularily(with rare exceptions) a failure at. The exeptions (in my experience) in decending order are 997.2 GT3, carerra gt, and Maclaren 570. I have not driven a F12 or 488 but the 458 and 599 were boring at road speeds to the 599 being terrible on track.
So from a design perspective, how does the industry progress? Should every car made today look like something made 60 years ago? There are only so many things you can do with the shape of a car... For example, I think two of the best looking modern cars are the F355 and the Aston Martin Vantage from 2006-2009 (before they added the weird flares below the doors). In my mind there's nothing they could do to improve upon the looks of either one of those, but I don't think they should have fired the entire design staff and kept the same designs forever. At some point they need to create something new. I also find it interesting that when the 12C came out, many people said it was too boring, too derivative, not unique enough. And now people are complaining about the 720S for the opposite reason. That's the thing about art and design. Some people like certain things while others don't. But most people don't stand around in a gallery saying "this art sucks!" over and over. We get it, some of you guys think the 720S is ugly, but that's just like.. your opinion man.
I have a lot of seat time in the i8 and IMO its not fun to drive. Hard to see out of and feels huge. True ! The definition of Progress: forward or onward movement It's not 'improvement' and thats an important distinction. Progressing is not necessarily improving. As a general rule all art forms tend to have a 'sweet spot' where designers/artists have had enough time to work out the kinks, but not enough time to over analyze it to death. Has what we consider to be a beautiful woman changed dramatically over the years ? Not really. Sure we have some small trends where society likes thinner or thicker, but it always comes back to 'classic beauty' and everyone knows it when they see it. Think about music, sculpture, movies, etc...they all have a sweet spot where the greatest work was created. If you look at a beautiful woman there is a baseline where the vast majority of people will agree a woman is beautiful. Those women will all have features that conform to the 'Science of Beauty.' https://www.goldennumber.net/beauty/ The basics of proportions/composition/Phi (Golden Ratio) applies to everything. Where someone proves they are a great designer is to innovate within these rules. I had more to say but being called to a meeting...
