New McLaren 720S Spider 2019 Review
As sure as night follows day, when McLaren launches a new coupe it鈥檚 followed by a roof-off Spider version soon after, with a Longtail model on the horizon. So, less than two years after the 720S launched - sitting in McLaren鈥檚 mid-range Super Series - along comes the 720S Spider, offering the same sensational performance, but with added wind-in-the-hair thrills. As with all McLarens, the 720S Spider features a carbon core, which gives it incredible stiffness. In this case, the Coupe鈥檚 Monocage II has been revised to incorporate a retractable hard top. Monocage II-S, as it鈥檚 known, also takes care of rollover protection, but otherwise required no extra strengthening. Other than that, changes are few: the attention-grabbing dihedral doors have been revised, there are delightful glazed 鈥榝lying buttresses鈥?around the rear deck and the wonderful Bowers and Wilkins audio system has been tweaked for top-down driving. The price is different, too - at 拢237,000 the Spider costs 拢28,400 more than the Coupe.
Sitting behind you is the same ballistic 710bhp twin-turbo V8 with an equally mind-bending 770Nm of torque. However, the numbers don鈥檛 do this car justice - the sheer performance levels on offer have to be experienced to be believed. With launch control engaged and the throttle pedal floored, you get a brutal shove in the back that just keeps on going. The most fun is to be had with handling and engine both set to Track mode, whereby the dash display folds forward to give you a minimalist layout. Sport modes offer a halfway house between Track and Comfort; the latter turns what is a ballistic missile of a car into a fast but comfortable supercar. Whichever mode you choose, you鈥檒l enjoy deliciously direct steering that gives ever-sharpening reactions as you flick through the drive settings. The alertness with which the Spider changes direction and the speed it can carry through bends makes the new McLaren feel much smaller than it is.
Still, the fact that the Spider is so usable is also a credit to McLaren鈥檚 engineers. It鈥檚 comfortable to drive at slow speeds with decent ride quality, while visibility is good front and rear. Access for a supercar is fine, too, and there鈥檚 an extra 58 litres of space under the tonneau when the roof is raised - in addition to the 150 litres at the front. Of course, the price doesn鈥檛 stop at the 拢237,000 list; Luxury and Performance packs add various extras, although we wouldn鈥檛 be able to resist the 拢7,500 electrochromic glass roof that can switch between tinted and transparent states. The McLaren may be a dynamic tour-de-force, but there are two foibles. As in the 600LT Spider we drove in Issue 1,563, the 720S Spider鈥檚 infotainment system remains an Achilles鈥?Heel, lacking the connectivity that even Ferrari offers. It鈥檚 not very usable and is slow to react, too. Then there鈥檚 build quality: our car had different-width panel gaps on each side of the bonnet. One engineer told us that was the difficulty with dihedral doors, but that will be hard to excuse when you鈥檙e spending almost a quarter of a million pounds.
The bodyshell of the Super Trofeo is 4.34 metres long, 1.90 metres wide and only 1.16 metres high. It is built using the spaceframe method - cast nodes and extruded profiles create a frame into which aluminium panels are friction locked and form fitted. In typical Lamborghini fashion, the bodyshell is not only extremely light; it also is exceptionally safe and boasts tremendous torsional stiffness - forming the basis for its outstanding handling characteristics. One glance is all it takes to see that the Super Trofeo is a top-class race car. The majority of the weight savings achieved by Lamborghini in the Super Trofeo took place in the vehicle鈥檚 interior. Finished in black Alcantara, its panels are made from carbon-fibre composite. The roof and parts of the doors are presented uncovered - displaying the raw beauty of functional technology. The carpet and sound-absorbing acoustic materials have been removed, as have the dual-zone climate control and audio and multimedia systems.