Behind the Wheel: the 2020 McLaren GT

MotorTrend

What better way to put the new McLaren GT to the test than to drift it through the South of France? MotorTrend Contributing Editor Jethro Bovingdon gets behind the wheel to find out if McLaren’s latest supercar is the real deal.

Transcript

00:00 Close road, close road.

00:11 This is the new McLaren GT and they say it's a new sort of McLaren but it's still mid-engine,

00:16 it still looks like a supercar, it's still got that 4-litre twin turbocharged V8.

00:21 So I guess the question is, is this a new direction for McLaren or is it just some marketing

00:26 spin?

00:27 We're going to go down some mega roads in the south of France to find out what this

00:30 thing is really all about.

00:40 Okay so the things you need to know about this McLaren GT is that the 4-litre twin turbo

00:45 V8 is 620 PS which is like 612 horsepower and it's tuned for torque instead of that

00:51 crazy top end power that you get with a McLaren.

00:55 The price is $210,000 basic so it's cheaper than a 720S.

01:01 And it rides beautifully I have to say, it's also quieter.

01:10 It works as a GT but it's still lovely and light and delicate but for a customer jumping

01:16 out of an Aston Martin or a 911 or even a Bentley or something, it's going to feel pretty

01:21 special.

01:22 A lot of people are just always going to say a mid-engined car can't be a GT.

01:25 This thing does a pretty good job.

01:27 It's carbon fibre, it's only 1500 kilos or so so it's not that heavy.

01:31 It's got to be a supercar right?

01:33 So I want to find out what this thing's like when you start driving it like a supercar

01:39 because a GT should be able to do that as well.

01:45 So I'm ramping everything up to track, turning off the ESC to see if there's a McLaren in

01:54 this car as well as a GT.

01:55 Don't let anyone tell you the GT's gone completely soft because it still rips.

02:02 There's a sharpness to it that you wouldn't get with most GTs.

02:07 The performance is good but the payoff, because it's a bit softer, is progressive.

02:13 And that means you can slide the car with such confidence and for me, definitely.

02:30 To drive this every day and have access to that crazy stuff when you want it, that is

02:34 pretty appealing.

02:35 [Music]

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02:45 (gentle music)

02:48 you

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