talk me out of a used Maclaren 570 (or even an Alpine 110)

[jep]

McLaren paddles are great. They move with the wheel and you can up/down on one paddle unlike Ferrari. Not many McLaren drivers seem to know this, as you have to be told or read the handbook.

Justin 

 

[Speedluvver]

25 minutes ago, Pugwash said:

I also tested a A110 last year to help me understand what the DCT flappy paddle experience was like.  It’s a great car, no doubt, but it confirmed that DCT is not for me.  Like you, I could see it defaulting to auto most of the time.  Manual for me.  

Oh, and this doesn’t help your man maths but factor in three years running costs.

I did the same - and actually decided that DCT was ok for me. My reason for the i4 is running costs more than anything. I actually found I changed gear more with the DCT, and didn't feel I would use Auto all the time, only in traffic or when I am tired

[mneil]

https://life110.co.uk/

Should have dinner this in the first place.

I have always been a die hard manual owner; lotus, a no brainer, Porsche, similar but in traffic I often thought it would be nice to give my left foot a rest 🥵.

Alpine, a no choice option🤔 although I am pleasantly surprised and trend to drive it in manual for pleasure and Auto for tedious traffic. Of course I am looking forward to a test drive in an Emira but I was unwilling, possibly to wait till 2023 and also to pay with £80K+for something I haven't driven, or seen in production form.

Whatever your choice enjoy🥰.

[C8RKH]

On 21/03/2022 at 04:09, Yan said:

In all honesty, I prefer my Evora GT430 Sport over the 570S.

Yan - is that a Fire Red GT430 Sport? If so, I am mighty, mighty impressed and soooo jealous.  Get lots of piccies up please. Please. Please.  😍😍😍

 

 

[Guest]

I had an alpine A110.

it was mostly in auto… but when I needed it , you could thrash through mountain passes using the DCT, I always felt that it was ahead of lotus… it was a sublime drive, with probably the most comfortable seats in any car, but the body is made of wet paper, every time I parked it, it had a ding, passing dogs would scratch it, I got fed up of constantly taking it for paint correction and repairs to ppf.

don’t have the alpine anymore, still have my esprit  first visit to paint correction tomorrow after 20 years….

 

 

[MJON]

Alpine A110, as with all French cars some good designs but bodywork like a soggy croissant 😏

[jep]

Not in my experience. Clio RS200 at 12 years old has clean bodywork with no corrosion and lived outside. Twingo 133 likewise. 

Unlike 2017 Swift Sport that had corrosion when bought from a main dealer in 2021. Only after legal action was it remedied and Suzuki UK were hopeless, not considering it an issue. A disgrace and Swift is a very poor drive compared to the Renaults. 

5 GT turbo bodywork is thin but that is partly what makes the car so special - lightness.

Justin 

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

True there’s no sound quite like the metallic twang of a tinny R5 door being slammed shut. Mine never rusted, although I did treat it like a princess.

[mneil]

Got to admit it was always an anxious moment slamming the doors on my launch Evora🙈 what's the next thing I'm going to have to fix on the interior😱.

[Beady]

update: A110 now definitely (maybe) out of the running. For 'sports car' performance I think I need a manual.

However I am still getting more and more tempted by the M570 as i think can accept the 'auto' for supercar performance. Doesn't help when the the Mclaren salesman gives you a cost proposal that looks quite affordable.

Desperately need Lotus to deliver some real life cars in FE colours. I keep going back to the configurator and tbh don't really like any of the colours other than Verdant (on order) but I need to see it in the flesh.

Trying to find time to arrange a back to back M570 v AM Vantage test but i suspect this will now be after Easter anyway, by which time there may be Emiras out in the wild ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Del Lardo]

Out of interest, how affordable if you don’t mind saying?

 

570 has struck me as a possibly one day achievable supercar. 

[Beady]

I was planning to pay cash for the emira (sold my evora 400 last year and banked the cash and have added some savings since), so my logic was an extra £15-20k gets a 16-17 plate 570 from a main dealer with the proper 12 month warranty.

I asked about finance options (at main dealer) to give me an idea of how much i could stretch the budget and the figures were: £60k deposit;  approx £800/mth for 3 yrs then a £50k balloon payment. This gets you into a car of circa £127-128k prices with a total interest charge over the 3 yrs of £12-13k.

Personally i wouldn't be considering paying £125k as the depreciation will probably still be high but it was interesting to see the figures seemed sensible.

At £100-110k this looks tempting -my reluctance is simply that's a big sum to spend on any car but on the flip side, i am now 52 so if dont do it now then it will probably never happen if i stick with the Emira this summer

[jep]

Blimey. I'd just buy a 12c with McLaren warranty for £80k or thereabouts. Probably depreciation free, quicker than 570, better suspension and a classic design, particularly the interior. 

£5k pa to renew warranty, which you'd have to do on 570 anyway. Warranty available up to 15 years old. 

Justin 

[Del Lardo]

1 hour ago, Beady said:

I was planning to pay cash for the emira (sold my evora 400 last year and banked the cash and have added some savings since), so my logic was an extra £15-20k gets a 16-17 plate 570 from a main dealer with the proper 12 month warranty.

I asked about finance options (at main dealer) to give me an idea of how much i could stretch the budget and the figures were: £60k deposit;  approx £800/mth for 3 yrs then a £50k balloon payment. This gets you into a car of circa £127-128k prices with a total interest charge over the 3 yrs of £12-13k.

Personally i wouldn't be considering paying £125k as the depreciation will probably still be high but it was interesting to see the figures seemed sensible.

At £100-110k this looks tempting -my reluctance is simply that's a big sum to spend on any car but on the flip side, i am now 52 so if dont do it now then it will probably never happen if i stick with the Emira this summer

That's really interesting thanks. 

Similar situation in that I have money for Emira available (need to sell a Vantage and GR Yaris) so could buy outright but there is then the voice saying it's not much more to get in to a 570s, thing is it would be financed and when you look at £12k interest over 3 years or £333 of the £800/month payment it does make it much harder to justify.

 

 

[mayevora]

From a visual Wow point of view, hands down the McLaren every day of the week but never had the pleasure of driving one and unfortunately not in the ‘income bracket’ for owning one mores the pity.

The Alpine I did drive 12 months ago and couldn’t get over how unexciting it felt. The looks are a bit marmite anyway but just don’t get the rave reviews I had read on the car.

[Evotion]

Umm. Those who know me will know that I looked at all the usual suspects up to about 150k - drive them all apart from a Gallardo Superlegerra.

For me, certainly for 1 year, the Emira will actually be MORE special!

Rarer, sexy, lusted after and has the right amount of power for the road mixed with what will be leading handling and in a brand new car which one can thrash the tits off - after running it in.

At £78k!!!!!  So I went for two - now just the one and waiting for EV Elise/Esprit.

I did love the McLaren looks and it drive fine, fast too but apart from the cost/worry balance I was also put off by the lack of relative noise for a supercar and the fact that I live in Walton-on-Thames and visit my sons in Woking twice a week and see McLarens every day so they have lost their appeal a bit. Saw two today when out on my bike!

[Al_C]

Placed my order for an Emira at the time of the online launch - loved the looks and was missing my old Evora I’d sold a year earlier. £60k promised price also seemed great versus £55k for another used Evora.  That was then…

 

Having then sold my current fun car in anticipation of the Emira and cashing in on the high market, I got very very bored waiting.

 

Ive therefore bought an A110 and took delivery in early March. Fantastic car and I use it as my daily with 3000 miles on it already. The question is now whether I stick with it or when the Emira eventually comes swap?

 

Few thoughts - An A110 isn’t as cheap as you may think - it needs options added such as the sports exhaust and bigger brakes.

- I personally like the flappy paddles but then my Evora was an IPS. Both cars are/were never driven in Auto apart from long motorway slogs.

- I loved the Evora. It was always an occasion. The A110 feels more like a top end sports car rather than the Evora which felt like junior supercar, having said that more people stop and ask about the A110 than the Evora

- The A110 gets parked in the street at work every day and I do t panic too much about it. I’d have never done that with the Evora and I think this is the key point.  The Alpine A110 is the car if you want to use it all the time and feel much more special than the masses is their Audi TT’s or dare I say it Caymans and Boxsters.  The Emira however will I’m sure kick the A110’s arse as an occasion and special car.

 

I can’t afford to keep the A110 and have the Emira however so a big decision is coming in the future - desperately want to test drive an I4 before I need to commit one way or the other.

[Beady]

finally got so bored waiting I bought this....logic being i can sell it next spring and hopefully not lose any/much money and have something nice to play with this summer.

I suspect I might want to keep it long term alongside Emira once it arrives (collect Fri):

 

[Pugwash]

Very nice.  I did something very similar by acquiring an S1 Sport 160 shortly after I sold my Evora end of last year.  I plan to keep mine along with the Emira.

 

Edited May 18, 2022 by Pugwash

[Bibs]

[exeterjeep]

May be it was the blue model one.

[jep]

S1 Elise probably Lotus greatest ever road car. I don't think I could be without one.

Justin 

[Stirling_Villeneuve]

I've had McLaren' for almost 6 years now, many Lotus cars before that... It's a tough call, the McLaren's a whole different machine, carbon chassis, lots of tech, bepsoke v8 etc. Touch wood I've had very few niggles over that time, probably less than with my Lotus cars so no big deal, add to that I get my servicing done by Bell & Colville who used to look after my Evora...it's  just like old times! That said...

I've been thinking of a change for a while now, I had deposit on an Emira right at the start but wanted the 4pot and even way back in was apparent deliveries of those would be 2023... and that was before all hell broke loose in the world! I thought about the Artura, again long delays and  big ticket too, even if I wanted to fork out, lease, sell a kidney I'm not convinced I could justify it! 

I'm a little in limbo right now, the McLaren's an amazing car, but in all honesty if Lotus had an  EV version of the Emira I'd be biting their arms off right now, even if the lead time would be massive... in fact if anyone had a decent EV sports I'd be keen! The SUV doesn't appeal but I get it.

As for talking the OP out of a McLaren I wouldn't discount a 570's, there's a bunch around at almost 'reasonable' prices , they're mostly well sorted cars, all the usual FSH stuff applies and does the extended warranty. 

[Nathan Pitman]

On 18/03/2022 at 09:39, Beady said:

plan B - life's too short so fk it get a Macca

Plan B is exactly what I ended up doing. Got my Emira deposit back, sold the Exige 430 and bought my first McLaren. 570s Spider. Love it.

The paddle shift in the McLaren is just perfection and once you learn how to drive a turbo (drop it two gears then punch the accelerator) you’re in for a lot of fun.

Edited June 30, 2022 by Nathan Pitman

[Barrykearley]

Good choice - do post up some pics @Nathan Pitman - I’ve got a real desire for a McLaren