Transcript
Andrew Tate here. Welcome to my second car review. I've got 11 cars. I'm going to review them all. I've already reviewed the Porsche 992 and if you've watched that review, you've seen since then, it's gone to Techart in Germany. I've spent another 25,000 euro on it. We put a body kit, a power kit, and da-da-da-da-da. So maybe I could do another review because it has another 70 or 80 horsepower on it than it did before. We have an Aston Martin Vanquish Ultimate, only 175 in the world. That needs reviewing. But today, we are going to review my McLaren
720S.
I don't rent cars and borrow cars and review them. Every car I review I own, I put 12,000 miles on my 720S, so I understand it intimately. And let me tell you something about McLarens. They are a pain in the ass.
They're headache. McLarens are like that beautiful girl that you know is no good for you, but she's just gorgeous so you go out with her anyway. So everything about these cars is a pain in the ass, including the reliability. So what happens, and you'll know if you've looked up McLarens on forums, etc., they often get stupid warning lights, computer failure lights, electrical system failure lights, and there's nothing wrong with the car. You just have to take it to McLaren to have the computer reset. The problem for me is I live in Booker Estremania.
The nearest McLaren garage is Munich.
Germany. So every time I have a problem with this car, it's to go in a truck across three countries.
So it's a complete pain in the ass. So I've developed a system to prevent the computer fucking up. So every time I get in this car, what I have to do is unlock it,
And when I unlock it, the screen will unfold. Now, the screen will unfold. To prevent having computer errors, what you have to do is you have to let the computer turn on before the engine. I put the key here. I press engine start. That starts the computer. Ignore the wipers. Now the computer is started up. I wait a few seconds. And only now do I put my foot on the brake and start the car.
without letting the computer unfold, without waking it up first. It's going to come up with some engine warning light.
some stupid light and I'm not gonna be able to get rid of it. With McLaren's, another thing that's super annoying is when you have an engine light, it takes up this whole area. So when you have an engine light, you can't even use the computer of the car properly, 'cause here I can scroll through my car, my phone, my iPod, my navigation, da-da. When I have an engine warning light, this whole section is locked off with some stupid light.
So McLarens really are a pain. You can't even ignore the light.
It's really a pain in the ass. I don't like the interior at all. McLarens are extremely fast. I don't feel like the interior is very luxury. Does this look luxury to you? It doesn't look or feel luxury.
Like if you were to pick up a girl in a Bentley, or you pick up a girl in my S-Class or my Aston, they love the interiors. This interior looks a bit, it's for men, isn't it? It's kind of like go-car-y, you know? And McLarens are built for speed, and I get it. The computer system is pretty cool. We're going to run through it very, very quickly. Here in the middle, you have your rev counter and speedo. On the right, you have some information about the car. All of this changes depending on what mode you're in.
If you're in track mode or comfort mode or sport mode, all of this changes. So quick overview of the middle section. You have another computer here, it's touchscreen, and you can choose navigation.
It's okay, I mean it's not the fastest, but it's not bad. Back to the main menu, climate control.
Back to the main menu, music, et cetera, et cetera. That's how this works, very, very simple. Like I said, I don't think the interior of this car is anything too special. And then here you have the system that controls the different drive modes. You press active.
Once that's active, you can choose, this is your handling, this is your powertrain, between comfort sport and track, comfort sport and track. So you can have it differently. You can have the handling a certain way and your powertrain a different way. Stop start, we'll keep that off, don't want to stop start. Arrow activates the spoiler, we'll keep that on. Put the spoiler up at the top, at the back.
Nice little place to the key, goes here.
And that's basically the interior of a McLaren 720S.
Now this car, just like the Porsche, has one big problem. And we're going to discuss that a bit later on.
But,
First things first.
is.
Let's start to drive.
Now,
People often say, well, can you drive this car every day? I hate that question. It's a stupid question. Of course you can. Like, what, unless you're a complete pussy. I mean, you can drive it every day. Would you want to drive it every day? I don't know, but you absolutely can. The turning circle is awful because it's a super car. We're trying to get out of my house here.
So when you have it in automatic, in comfort mode, it's relatively civilized. But this car is not a civilized car.
In fact, I would rate this among all my cars, the hardest car to drive. This car is very, very crashable. I say this to people all the time, if it's your first supercar, don't buy a McLaren.
A Huracan or a Ferrari is far more stable and you're far less likely to crash than this thing. This thing has so much power in the rear wheels that you can't even move forward without fishtailing. It doesn't matter if you're going 60, 70 miles an hour. If you put your foot down, the back wheels are going to start to go. It's crazy. So, this is not an easy car to drive at all. If you keep it all in civilized mode, it's relatively easy, of course.
general, this is a very crashable car, especially in the wet, so you have to be careful. All right, you can see we're on Romanian roads here, which are not the best roads. They're very bad, and we've got it in comfort mode, and it's still pretty hard, even in comfort mode. It's not that soft. It is a supercar, after all, but a Porsche or the Aston absorbs the bumps much better. This is very, very tough still, as you can see. So, there's lots of reviews out there that are going to tell you all the boring shit about everything about the computer and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You can
you what this car is like to drive. This is the car I would never lend to my friends. It is an expert's car. It should not be your first supercar. It's very, very twitchy with the back end. It's very, very crashable. And this is the biggest problem with this car. I think this car would be the best car on the planet if it was four-wheel drive, but it's not. It's two-wheel drive, and that gives it huge traction issues. So is this car faster than the Lamborghini Huracan?
If you're already rolling and you both put your foot down, you're gonna smoke him. If you're going off the line, the Huracan's gonna smoke you, because the Huracan grips four-wheel drive off the line nice and easy. This car, even on perfect roads, even in hot weather, even with brand new tires,
it still just wants to wheel spin and tire spin and burn out you cannot pull off the line in this car without losing traction it's impossible so the 0-60 they advertise i've never achieved anything close because you have to pull off slowly get a bit of grip and then put your foot down whereas the Huracan you can just floor it from stay from stationary bang it's going to go so is it faster yes but it depends on the situation so people often say to me what's faster your lambo your mclaren i say well it depends on the situation if you're racing around
The Lambo's going to be quicker. If you're on a highway or long country roads or you're doing long sweeping bends, then this is going to be quicker. Also, I don't know how McLaren managed to make a car that takes so much fuel. The fuel consumption on this car is insane. And I've got nine supercars and 11 cars total. I don't care about consumption. I obviously am not concerned with economy. But the fuel consumption on this car is insane. It takes more fuel than the six
In fact, this takes so much fuel that me and my brother are racing through the mountains. He's in the Lambo. I'm in this. And we're both racing it, giving as much as we can. By the time the fuel lights on on this car, the Huracans used a quarter of a tank. This car will use a whole tank of fuel. In the same time, a Huracan will use a quarter of a tank of fuel. It's insane. Is this faster? Well, yeah, a bit. But to use that much extra fuel, I have no idea why this car is so thirsty.
Couple that, along with all the electric problems and the way you have to turn it on to make sure you don't upset it, it's a delicate machine, and it's a pain in the ass. And that's why I say to people, don't make it your first supercar. If you're looking at this, deciding what car to get, don't go, oh, but it's faster. Really, that little bit of straight line speed is not worth it, because you're going to lose off the line to a lot of cars anyway. It's extremely expensive fuel-wise. The maintenance is a pain in the ass, and you're probably going to crash it and die.
Like me, I've added it to my collection, so if there's something wrong with it, I can send it away for a while. I don't care. I don't have to drive it all the time, so the fuel bill's not too bad. But if it's going to be your only supercar, you're going to have to choose a Huracan over this. But we're going to show you the one thing this does have. The one thing the 720 has is blistering speed. It's incredibly fast. We're going to show you the launch control now, and then I'm going to show you a video of me in an undisclosed location.
not Romania, driving far too fast. So you can see the power of the car, but for now I'm going to show you the launch control system of the car. You can't launch control the car without meeting a bunch of criteria. You have to have your tires inflated enough. If there's any kind of warning light, it won't launch control. Your engine has to be warm. Your oil temperature has to be up. It has all these checks. So we've been driving around a little bit now and I think everything's
or won't let you launch control. But now I'm gonna show you launch control, and hopefully you will see and feel what I mean about how even with launch control, you can't just get off the line quickly in this car. Don't get me wrong, off the line is still gonna beat a Citroen. It's still a fast car, but against other supercars, they just have that edge and grip. Everyone wants to mess with me when I'm in the 720,
Challenge them to a rolling race, because then you're going to school them. Trust me. So we're going to go do the launch control now. The owner's manual for the McLaren is in the McLaren, in the center console here. So I'm inside of it. I'm going to go to index, and I'm going to try and find the launch control instructions, and we're going to see why it doesn't want me to launch control the car. Now launch control is supposed to be something you do like, I mean, in the Huracan, it's so easy, or the Porsche is so easy. If someone gets fresh at the traffic lights, you can get it.
can very quickly just turn it on and launch and beat them. But in this car, you can't do that. Because when you want to launch control, you have to go through this shit. Where's L? I, J, K, L. Launch control. You have to go through all this crap. Imagine you're at the lights and you want to race a guy.
And you're like, wait, wait, let me read my instructions. Do not initiate launch control unless on a track. Okay, whatever. Before initiating launch control, ensure all the doors and luggage compartments are closed. Launch control can only be operated in automatic or manual modes.
Launch sequence can be aborted at any time, blah, blah, blah, blah. Launch mode is only available in the conditions. Both doors are closed. Yes. Vehicle ride height is normal. Nose lift is not on. Atmospheric altitude has no detrimental effect with respect to the engine performance. And the engine coolant is at normal operating temperature.
Fit all those things. Everything seems okay. Launch control process. Ensure the steering wheel straight ahead. Depress the brake firmly with your left foot and select first gear.
First gear.
Next, press active, activate the suspension mode. That's on.
Press the launch button. Launch mode active. I was working now. Launch mode active, awaiting full throttle. So now I full throttle it.
Boost ready, go.
Cameraman's not belted.
Hence the beeping, unprofessional.
But yeah, I mean that was pretty quick. What do you think? You didn't drop the phone this time.
Which is good.
And it worked. For some reason it worked when I read the instructions. Let's do it one more time. See the reverse parking sensor there. It's pretty cool.
You got the whole screen here as well, behind the steering wheel that shows you everything behind you. But the wheel gets in the way of that. When you're moving the wheel, it's hard to see it anyway, to be honest. So you end up using this thing down here.
Another thing that's annoying about this car is, now I've put it in reverse, the parking sensors stay on. So stupid. So I have to hold this button here and turn them off. 'Cause if I don't, it's gonna start beeping at me when I get close to things. I don't know why they stay on. Maybe there's something wrong with my car. I don't know if every 720 does it, but.
Annoying.
Right, launch control, one more time. Launch mode active, waiting full throttle.
Boost building, boost ready.
Extremely quick, and it's 24 degrees outside.
Flat road.
New tires.
And still, even with launch control, that was probably one of the best I've ever got it. But still, you may not be able to see it on the camera, but I can feel it. The back end is like...
It's fighting the back end all the time. It doesn't just go in a straight line.
One thing that is very disappointing about the McLaren is the engine note. The exhaust sound
pops and bangs, they really let you down. Even with the sport exhaust, which my one has, the sport exhaust sounds terrible. You need to get an aftermarket exhaust for this car because it does not sound good at all. So pros, exceptionally fast. Cons, reliability, sound, ease of driving, grip. It's like you sacrifice everything just to have the car that will destroy every other
in a straight line. Now, is that worthwhile? Maybe. I'm not saying it's not worthwhile, but I mean, it is that fast, but it comes with a whole host of problems with it.
Thank you.
get some fuel because when you have a mclaren all you ever do is get fuel so that's what we're doing i've got the car in track mode now i kind of feel like what this car is for is for the track because it's ridiculously fast so much power but it's not that comfortable not that reliable but you get on the track when it's working right it's going to murder things it's very very very fast it's very fast i don't know what else to say about the mclaren describe the mclaren it's extremely
the price for it. That's the problem. But when you're in track mode and when things are going well, it's almost worth it because it's incredibly quick. How does it feel to drive a McLaren 720S? Imagine the go-karts. Remember when you used to go go-karting as a kid? Imagine a super go-kart. That's what it's like. It's just nuts. It's like a go-kart, but just insane. It slides the same as
It feels light. Everything is like a go-kart. Just extremely quick. It is very, very fast. I drag raced it and you can look up some other videos on YouTube of drag races against Huracons. And rolling races, smokes. So why are you buying a car? Are you buying a car because you want the fastest car and you're going to give up absolutely everything else to get it? Then this is the car
a better engine note, better reliability, well then you go for a Huracop. So it really is about, do you really need that tiny extra bit of speed? Do you really want to lose your license that badly? It's up to you.
I take my job very seriously reviewing cars, that's why I eat Pringles while I do it. So I can do these things.
is grip. It does not grip to the point where you get to use all of its power. It's already extremely fast, but if they would have just found a way for it to hold the road a little bit better, four-wheel drive system, something, so that when you put your foot down, you actually go forward, instead of fishtailing all over the place, it would have been a much, much better car. But for all the people out there saying, should I buy one?
I've told you all the problems.
It's like that psycho girlfriend of yours. You know it's going to be a headache, but when it works, it works. The choice is up to you.