McLaren discontinues 12C, offers owners free upgrade

Christian i'm not a huge fan of yellow cars but yours is pretty sweet!

 

Beautiful car.

12C gets lots of attention no doubt.

I agree with you the idea that Macs get little attention while Ferraris get all the attention is false.

Having said that, the 360 and 355(in butcher's post) are 15, 20 yr old designs. Really should be compared with the 458.

And that yellow 12C is fantastic.

 

pictures:
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I drove a 12c spider today for the second time. It's was a 2013. The car is mind blowing. Almost scary fast, and feels very well "screwed" together. Dare a say if feels far more solid and longer lasting then the last 458 I drove. It's quite the machine.

I'm guessing many posting in this thread have never driven one. I say drive one before you make any judgments against the car. It is incredible. The shifts are lighting quick, heck you don't even feel them, which is somthing I'm still trying to get used to. It's just so weird not even feeling that little jolt between shifts. Not sure if I like that or not, but damn..it's really something to experience.

I really don't understand the negativity towards this car. Is it simply because it doesn't have a horse or a bull on the hood? I think that has a lot to do with it. If Ferrari built this car some of you would be just over the moon and loving everything about the car.

The. Looks are subjective. I like it, but at some angles it does look a bit "off", but so does the 458.

 

The 12C is a wonderful car to drive. On that day, I got to spend at least an hour behind the wheel with great roads. It is mindblowingly fast and very easy to drive. I have not driven a 458 so I cannot compare the experience.

 

Based on the two pics, the red one looks better to me .

She's really pretty.... did you all keep in touch?

tbakowsky +1

Christian congrats..

 

A lot of people think the 12C looks like the 360.

 

No doubt, a 458 is the better comparison to a 12C...that being said when I bought the 360, late 2005, the 430 was just barely out and the 360 a relatively current model...I still stand by my comment, never got the same attention.

Just this night, I'm coming home from the store, a nice lady and her two boys follow me to my house as I'm taking the groceries out of the 12C, she peaks around the garage corner and says, "excuse me, I'm not a crazy person or stalker, but would it be OK if my two sons came in and looked at your car." 10 minutes later, a few pictures, all smiles and they were on their way.

Christian

 

Yes, I see your point.

 

I have a 458, had a 430 and a 12C now for about 1.5 years. It is funny, I get much more attention with the 12C from women, than I have in any of my Ferraris. Guys seem to gravitate to the Ferrari. Women to the 12C.

 

The 12C my first Mclaren thought I will be waiting for its replacement to buy my next Mclaren.

Yes I loved it that much to a point said no exotics until the 12C replacement comes out.

Ended up ordering a P1 !

Will keep the 12C and a Ferrari or a Mclaren on my next purchase.

You won't understand the Mclaren buying experience until you really owns one.

Mbn

 

Very well stated, I have no plans of selling my 12C either. As much as I love Ferrari, I think the only way to understand McLaren, is to spend real time with one.

 

I like the looks of the 12C, sor of liek a modern NSX, not too flashy. Question is what will the price of a 12c come down to.

 

depends on few variables... how the 650S does on the market, how will the P13 be priced and how will it stack against a used 12C, and most importantly, how McLaren's push to the market will play out. They're planning to open 20 new dealerships and launch one new car each year for the next 4 years, IIRC.

 

This is Ferrarichat, and in my experience, when conversing to other Ferrari owners about the 12C, the Mclaren brand is usually dismissed as "not in Ferrari's" league.

Many other owners of 458's that have claimed to have driven the 12C before considering their purchase have said that the 12C "just does not feel as special as the 458". I am not sure if this is just a knee-jerk reaction created by such influential auto-journalist shows like Top Gear, 5th Gear, etc. who are both BBC shows that have both picked the 458 over the 12C in their comparisons. Top Gear chose the 458 because of the "feeling special" of the 458, and 5th Gear from the 458 feeling more comfortable on the track (this is quite surprising).

Over this past weekend at the Ferrari Challenge event at Laguna, I even posed the question to a handful of Ferrari owners who have claimed to have driven the 458, 430 Scuderia, and 12C, If one car was the choice between the Ferrari and the Mclaren, All of them would have the 458 and even the 430 Scuderia (same money as 12C) over the 12C.

Are we all brainwashed a bit?

I have a sneaky suspicion that most 12C owners are either also current Ferrari owners or past Ferrari owners. Perhaps, the man where "money is no object", they have both a 12C and 458.
Everyone agrees that the 12C is a lot of car for less than $200K.

 

Was at the mall. These cars were on display.
Does this look familiar lol?
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Yeah, Mazda pretty much nails it, ...considering the Ferrari California has a Chrysler Nav/audio system, how much longer before we see more Chrysler bits and pieces in our Ferrari's?

Old story and true...had a 97 Lotus V8 and the tail lights were from a Toyota Supra, not Lotus knock offs, but actually a Toyota assembly, apparently Colin Chapman was notorious for walking around the employee lots and when he found something he could use without having to design or engineer it, they would just buy it from another manufacture and use it in their cars.

MB

 

Mazda 3 used some Mclaren style designs here, well, sincerest form of flattery.

I was looking at a Rolls Royce and while the entire car was quite classy, the power window switches felt really cheap.
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Lamborghini used Nissan 300zx headlights when they got rid of the pop up headlights on the Diablo.

For companies as small as Lotus and Lamborghini were at the time, I think it makes sense to try to save money on these types of parts.

I actually prefer the tail lights on the early Esprit v8 versus the updated round tail lights.

 

How cheap can you buy these cars second hand from the dealers? I see cars being offered around $180 and just sitting there, where are that actually trading at?

 

I've noticed the same thing. For the last few months a lot of the same 12C's are available.

On a side note, I just can't get past the high maintenance costs on these things. Dealer told me 2k for yearly service.

 

Mine did not cost $2K for annual service. But go ahead and pay an extra $50-75K for a 458 for the "free" service and slower pace. How much does the dealer say 458 service costs out of warranty on say a 2010 model?

I will say that the Gallardo and LP 550 560 570 have proven to be very robust and low maintenance and have actually gone up in price after the big 2008-10 depreciation drop. Remains to be seen what the MP4-12C does after the first 3 years' worth of depreciation. I have to think that if they drop under 150K and prove to be as robust as I bet they are that they will stabilize or rebound a bit as there is simply nothing under $300K that will run with a McLaren.

Finally, the more muted or "bland" styling of the McLaren is an issue for those who buy for the view (mostly of others) from the curb. The view and feel from behind the wheel is fine with me and if the Tifosi look down their noses at the lowly Mac, oh well.

At today's market price the Mac is a crazy bargain. I think you can get a 2012 for 160K and you'd pay 50k or so more for a 2010 458. I think the 458 is prettier, but it is slower and at the end of the day I prefer the faster car with more tech and engineering in it from the Carbon tub, to lower weight, to more power, and other attributes. In the 458 you are buying Brand first, then sound of 9000 rpm NA v8, gorgeous looks, and quicker steering that changes the feel but not the actual handling limits. To me, the strong preference of the 458 tends to indicate Brand consciousness and a sort of superficial attraction by those who won't or can't extract objective performance of the car, and that is OK, so long as you are at least honest that the car is more of a fashion or lifestyle accessory than anything else.

 

As a lifelong Tifosi and Ferrari fanboy, I couldn't agree more with you on this, Keith. Had I the ability to shop this market today, I would most certainly buy the newest, best example of a 12C that I could find. Miles better choice, performance-wise, over the 458.

 

Did you talk to Park Place? I was charged $1200 for the 1st year service on my 12C. I have had my spider for almost a year. I will let you know how much the cost is for service soon.

 

Keith - You have a very diplomatic way of expressing things. I tend to be much more blunt in my responses. Bravo.