2024 McLaren 750S Road Test

Driving a McLaren 750S Coupe and McLaren 750S Spider up Palmer Mountain. Probably one of the best driving roads in Southern California. We did it, and I could make an argument these are the best driving cars that are street legally available in 2024.
One of them is a press car and of them is a personal car owned by Austin/Speed Phenom. He just picked it up and is getting break-in miles on the beautiful Palomar Mountain raods.
What was it about the 750S that pushed Austin from driving a lot of cool cars that he can get to putting his own money into a McLaren 750S. It's a very easy answered -- the focus on keeping things light. This is a 3000-pound car. Karl agrees. They've had this discussion on and off for years: cars are too heavy, right now.
You should be able to make a car weigh less than 3000 pounds if it’s truly a performance sports exotic car with exotic material, and not nearly enough of them to do that. The McLaren 750S coupe's weight starts with a two and the next number is an eight, which is magical and you can feel it when you drive it. The McLaren 750S Spider's weight starts with a two and the next number is nine, with a retractable hardtop with the glass top that can go from clear to opaque. That’s all magical.
And again, these cars are essentially a blend of two amazing jumping off points, the 720S and the 765LT. Either one of those cars could’ve been argued to be among the best street legal sports cars you could buy in the 2020s, and now this car weighs less than both and it’s got 40 more horsepower than the 720 and only 15 less than the 765.
Let's talk about the enhancements that were done to the McLaren 750S. We got 40 more horsepower. There’s a higher fuel flow fuel pumps for higher RPM fuel flow and of course some more booze. But then there’s also the 765's pistons that are lighter and engine internals are upgraded. OK now we’ve got suspension upgrades. we’ve got lighter springs that have been returned. Oh yeah, let’s not forget the 20-percent larger rear wing and the increased down force it gives. A wider front track, a 6 millimeter waterfront track. Upgraded transmission gearing that makes it accelerate faster in gear. It lost some top speed from the 765. I think it was 212 and on the 705S it's 206, so you lost 6 mph that you’re not gonna get, because people do that all the time. Instead you’re just faster everywhere.
This McLaren 750S has increased in all of these areas in terms of performance and decreased in weight so that’s kind of magical right there. Let’s not forget another biggie, which is like a lighter new exhaust system, but it’s not just a new exhaust system for lightweight but also more effective in terms of power, flow, and sound.
You can really tailor the 750S to whatever you really want. You know you don’t have to buy a dedicated track of vehicle. It can be comfortable on the street but also you have all the amenities for going to the track that you feel comfortable with.
A lot of people try to make the arguments it’s just an upgraded 720S. The 720 is hell of a car before it’s been ever been upgraded, you take the 720 and the 765 and you refine them to the end degree and you end up with the best driving street legal car you can buy right now, and that’s whether you wanna go fast and pull lap times or you wanna enjoy a drive on a road like this and still have the most connection and the most engagement you can get on a car that has license plates.
So what do you want to talk about? Do you want to talk about the faster steering ratio? Do you want to talk about the increased gear ratios for better acceleration? Do you want to talk about the lighter springs and the additional 40 hp it got compared to 720. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that McLaren managed to put all those things together and develop a car that offers the comfort of a 720S and the capabilities of 765 LT, merged together in one of the most engaging cars you can buy that's street legal right now.
We are also talking about gas mileage and it gets 20 miles per gallon on the highway with the wing in the slipstream mode. Then when you want to go fast obviously it’s gonna be completely different. It’s going to eat through the field very fast, but it’s got that bandwith. The I can be a good vehicle for doing a road trip and it’s got good gas mileage but also extremely fast. And let’s throw in a few more things, you have new technology and new displays.
Well I think this was a good driving day with two great cars and thank you Austin for coming out with me. I knew I was gonna do a video on my McLaren 750S press car but didn’t know you’d be getting your car the same week and we'd end up going on the same road, on one of the best roads and having a lot of good back-and-forth on what these cars are and why they’ve been made. So thank you for that I think it really improves the video and certainly was fun to hang out.

[@msshelby8843]

GREAT VIDEO MAN!! Also great seeing you & SPEED PHENOM out there together!! AWESOME info & enthusiasm!!👏👏

[@KarlBrauerCars]

Thanks! It was really fun having both cars together and hearing Speed Phenom's perspective as an owner.

[@smarternu]

Yep, light and powerful. That's how you do it.

[@KarlBrauerCars]

Weight is everything. More performance and exotic car companies need to remember that. Thankfully McLaren has their priorities straight.