McLaren 570GT: The Super Grand Tourer
By Mike Garcia
McLaren adds a hint of practicality in the fantasy world of supercars with their latest 570GT.
Grand Tourers. We think of them as elite, four-door performance cars. Some may say that the latest Porsche Panamera, Audi RS7, or Mercedes S550 are the best of grand touring. Some grand tourers are fantastic coupes as well. Models from Aston Martin and even the Ferrari California can provide exotic performance with long-distance comfort.
But, what about a McLaren? Surely, an engineering team of that caliber can make a grand tourer as well.
Well, they did. McLaren took the 570S, and refined the package into their idea of a grand tourer.
So what did McLaren do? They added some room. Along with the 150 liters of storage up front, an additional 220 liters of storage is added behind the front seats. What about the suspension? As we all know, modern roads don’t always have race-track surfaces. McLaren further turned the suspension to handle more daily driving surfaces. Spring rates were adjusted; 15% less in the front, 10% less in the rear. Normal, Sport, and Track settings are linked to the adjustable suspension. The brakes were changed to provide more predictive feel under cold conditions as well.
McLaren went even further than that.
The 570GT also has front and rear parking sensors, an electronic steering column for easier ingress and egress, and specially-designed Pirelli P-zero tires that reduce road noise by three decibels. The McLaren Audio Plus comes standard. A 12-speaker Bowers & Wilkins system is also available, and tuned specifically to work with new materials of the interior. Not that 1280W of power was a problem.
Does the added practicality mean it’s just a sports car?
No. Way.
The 570GT achieves supercar performance. Estimated 0-62 time is just 3.4 seconds. Estimated 0-124mph is 9.8 seconds. With a 3.8 liter, twin turbo cranking out 562bhp, it’s simply surprising that the car is capable of a combined 26.6 miles per gallon under the EU cycle. Even if that means 20 miles per gallon in the U.S., these performance numbers are simply astonishing.
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McLaren gives customers the opportunity to have the best of both worlds, practicality with super car performance, into one car. We can only imagine how phenomenal the drive is, on a daily basis.