My Return home through the Rockies, an adventure with 570S Spider

Hi , as promised here is my thread on my McLaren purchase of the 570s Spider in Curacao Blue from McLaren of Vancouver, and my return trip home.

Please excuse my grammar and or punctuations, I wrote in haste lol

First and foremost I would like to thank McLaren of Vancouver for making a car purchase pleasant, straight forward and fun.

 

Tuesday morning came with little to no sleep in my system, a wee bit excited for the journey ahead, only to wake up to flight delay , not once but twice . We finally boarded the plane for Vancouver 3 hours late, by now I was chomping at the bits, lets go, lets go, lets go already.

We (my GF and I) finally arrive in Vancouver safe and sound, we were met by our salesperson from McLaren Adam, a fine well dressed young man. I asked if we still had time to go see the car as it was getting late in the day, happily he replied yes. Before we start on our way he hands me a New McLaren Ballcap and wind breaker as he thought for sure I would be wearing my lambo gear, we laughed outlaid as I took off my Lambo hat, how did he know?

He drives us over to Granville Island and approaches what is called Exotic car alley where all the big boys come to play, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Porsche, Pagani, McLaren, Bugatti we didn't have much time left as the dealership was about to close.

We arrive at McLaren, it is a smaller building than I was expecting, Adam leads me into the backroom of the service dept as my car was getting treatment on the windscreen for protection. The room was sweltering hot like +45c/115f but that didn't deter me from screaming like a little girl when I first laid eyes on Her, she was drop dead gorgeous.

The next 30 minutes honestly are a total blur, Adam was showing me the car but I wasn't listening or paying attention as I was overwhelmed by the car, the heat, and lack of sleep. I do remember telling Adam "I'm sorry but we better continue this in the morning as I’m not absorbing any information” .

We booked a great little Boutique Hotel right on Granville Island, our room was perfect, 3 balconies all overlooking the Marina and the the city skyline. We had a fantastic meal at the restaurant below us and after a bottle (or two) of vino and some local seafood I hit a wall and crashed hard.

Morning came waking up to a perfect sunny day +26c/78f, now I was ready to soak up all the information that I missed the night before. Adam soon picked us up and before we knew I was back at McLaren, this time my car was outdoors for the first time waiting for me

The Curacao blue looks amazing in the shade but it looks absolutely brilliant in the sunlight, the car was spotless, shiny and beautiful, and that new leather smell is so intoxicating. I took 10 min just to walk around the entire car to look at every nook and cranny, the shape of the car, the way it curves and flows, function to form and design is truly beautiful.

It was now time for the first test drive, Adam looks at his watch to see how long it takes me to comment on the ride quality, I lasted 45 seconds (I swear that never happened before ) I soon uttered "I can't believe how incredibly well this rides". I'm not kidding this car is sublime over bumps, it's like a Benz, even on track mode you barely feel the road.

Upon our return I met Martin the service manager and lead technician, he went through all that I need to know for the journey home, great guy I’m sure I will have many questions for him upon returning home.

After an extensive inspection, and info packed hour of learning about the cars many many features, we finished the paperwork, loaded up the car with our luggage for our journey home. I must say this has plenty of luggage space for 2 ppl traveling. We programmed GPS for Kelowna, said our goodbyes, and away we went.

Trip to Kelowna was perfect, I learned about the car, the car learned about me , I had what Jeremy Clarkson calls a "crisis" first time I really put the hammer down. The speed is very very impressive, I thought for sure I would be underwhelmed (yes I know thats not a word lol) but this car has plenty of raw power to give at your finger tips.

The rest of the trip home over the next 3 days was perfect, car ran flawlessly even in hot weather, the AC worked great to keep us cool even with top down, which was 90% of the time, I love convertibles.

The trip was an adventure, met up with a good friend of mine in Kelowna who owns this insane Aventador SV Roadster, same colour as my Spider. If you ever wan to make people on the roads go crazy with excitement then drive two baby blue exotics back to back .

Later on trip in Saskatchewan we even saw a house burning in the middle of the highway I’m not kidding!!! they blocked the highway for 45 min while they put out the fire.

To my amazement I never received any speeding tickets the entire trip, thats not normal for me, although with my V1 on I had help.




I will tell you this that I do miss the single clutch, I love the kick it unleashes giving this satisfying jolt to the back of the head, it is something that has been ingrained in our DNA since the automobile was invented.

The power delivery on the 570 although very impressive leaves me a little ungratified. Wonder what a single clutch would feel like on this model, they designed the 570 to be the fun machine well nothing says “fun” like a single clutch .

Since I am pointing out some minor dislikes, I really don’t like the paddle shift that moves with the steering wheel. I find it horrible in tight turns going up or down twisty mountain roads, missed shifts, low power, or having to hold back as you’re scrambling to find which way is up on the wheel.

I drive my cars, I track them when I get the chance, I use them daily if I can, I was 100% comfortable with the 570 5 min into driving her. That being said I reached the learning curve of the power band in it very quickly and I can tell you with 100% certainty that this car could use an extra 50/60 hp to make it brilliant. This is easily achievable with a decent upgraded exhaust system which I plan to do next year.

The 570 was brilliant on the Highways, passing is so effortless, it was brilliant in the city as the sight line is outstanding, I was never nervous about switching lanes. When they say this can be a DD I truly believe it can be, the ride quality has to be experienced to appreciate it.

I have been told or made to accept that you you give up certain things with a true supercar, and YES!!! this is a supercar despite the sport series category it was given by McLaren. For so many years since I have owned exotics I gave up comfort, sight line, creature comfort like decent AC, or a good sounding stereo, or even peace of mind knowing the car will run all day long with out going into limp mode LOL.

I do not expect a perfect car, if you are a true exotic car owner in the past little hiccups are nothing to be upset over. I know there have been a few members with real issues but the rest that have been upset about minor gremlins that can be rectified by yourself if you know what you are doing.

For a company to start producing cars less then 8 years ago, to have a high end quality contender such as they do now is nothing short of BRILLIANT!!!!!

It has taken Ferrari and Lambo 50 years or more to get close to what McLaren did in 8 years, and I think the big boys need to reassess their brand because they still fall short on so many levels.

Every single friend of mine (whom own exotics) have driven this and are blown away at the styling, refinement, ergonomics and comfort. All of those things which we took for granted from the other Exotic car companies as “IT IS WHAT IT IS” LOL. That is NO more, the game has changed, McLaren has set the rules and standard to meet, now the rest must follow or die.

Remember this is just my opinion based on my personal exotic car ownership and experience over the last 15 years


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Sorry this was to be a short review, oops Mia Culpa, here are some pics to satisfy the story line .

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More pics
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More pics

the last three is my Chi acceptance of the new MAC, she fell asleep beside it, almost comatose

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ha ha ha yeah my Chi was so comfortable with the car she was almost comatose

The car impresses me more each and every day, and peoples reactions are fantastic toward the brand.

With my Lamborghini people will look at the car when I am not around or admire it from afar, but if I am standing or sitting in the car they won't make eye contact, the car is so insane and aggressive looking that I think it intimidates them.

With my Ferrari it was a 50/50 toss up, some people would love the car others would simply give you the finger

The McLaren almost 100% of the time is a positive reaction by boys and girls, men and women, young and old, I am so use to being defensive when someone approaches that I am not sure what to do now, it is all so very strange indeed

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I love my 570s and admittedly I never drove a 675LT but by specs alone 675 should be your obvious choice it looks aggressive it is an animal. If it was a 650s then I would tell you otherwise.

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Congratulations!!! please post pics of arrival

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Update on what she looks like now, I am still very much in love with this car, and after a summer of ownership I admire it even more. This car is fast 0-60 like insane fast, but from 50-180 is astonishing, there is not much that will catch it except another Mac from rolling start. And through the mountains like I mean really high 12500ft + there was zero signs of it being sluggish as all my other buddy's with exotics were struggling.
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Thank you for compliments

The wing is Novitec, very well designed, looks like it's from the factory the carbon fibre matches perfectly in both color and pattern. The 570 looks aggressive but with a wing really finishes off the car.

Now if you want it to look really aggressive you can get the Vorsteiner which make car look longer and insane. Seen on in person made mine look wimpy next to it lol
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Wow that is stunning, love the wrap job on it, well done !!

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