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Any car guys in here?

FLEXjs

FLEXjs

MuscleHead
Apr 23, 2012
4,421
1,573
You can buy these fairly cheap but McLarens are TERRIBLY unreliable. So much so, that you really cant own them out of warranty.

McLaren will sell you a warranty for 6k a year,(and this requires you to do about 3k of 'standard yearly with them which you pay on top for). So you are spending 9k if nothing goes wrong with the car.

But the people who own then, say the warranty is a BARGAIN since most end up having 40k+per year repair bills on the car.

That's what scares me about exotic cars and why I will never buy one (other than the price).

My Z06 has exotic car performance but Chevy maintenance costs.

I think the insanely high maintenance costs is a deliberate way to keep the exclusivity as the cars age and become obtainable by common folks.
 
macgyver

macgyver

TID Board Of Directors
Nov 24, 2011
1,996
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That's what scares me about exotic cars and why I will never buy one (other than the price).

My Z06 has exotic car performance but Chevy maintenance costs.

I think the insanely high maintenance costs is a deliberate way to keep the exclusivity as the cars age and become obtainable by common folks.


I dont think that is the case. In the case of McLaren, their cars are very bleeding edge. The tech of the car is often what is breaking.

With a corvette, there are 30,000 produced per year. And they probably share any number of parts and standard sensors with other GM cars.

Not the case with exotics. A 'mainstream' exotic like a Huracan, only has 2400 made per year world wide. A 'flagship' car like an aventador is only 1100 per year.

It stands to reason that parts are a lot more expensive. For example, a carbon ceramic rotor for a corvette is 'only' about 1,200 to replace. One on a huracan is 8000. Parts and scalability.


Both Ferrari and Lamborghini have GREATLY improved reliability. I dont think McLaren has gotten their yet. That is not to say that the top McLaren lineup may be some of the best performing cars out there. From an ownership standpoint, they scare me too much.

The cost is not all scaling issues. Take a look at power plant production. The tolerances and materials required to build a naturally aspirated Lamborghini engine that is only 5.2 liters but putting out 640 hp at close to 9000 rpm are very different than the GM. Even take the latest C8 LT2 out of the C8. They are only getting 495hp out of a 6.2 liter engine. As a comparable the Aventador is a 6.5 liter engine putting out 770hp. What it takes to accomplish that is miles difference in materials and tolerances.

Looking to GM's ZR1 motor....arguably it's ultimate performance platform. 6.2L Supercharged, putting out 755hp. Contrast that to the McLaren 765LT with a 4.0L Turbocharged putting out 830hp.
 
FLEXjs

FLEXjs

MuscleHead
Apr 23, 2012
4,421
1,573
But does McClaren build their own engines? I thought they didn't....
 
macgyver

macgyver

TID Board Of Directors
Nov 24, 2011
1,996
1,672
But does McClaren build their own engines? I thought they didn't....

I they are built by Ricardo. It is based of a Nissan engine developed for 24 hrs of Lamans GT race class.

Copy pasta


The McLaren road car engine started as a 24 Hours of LeMans racing engine for Nissan in the GT1 class (built and designed by Tom Walkinshaw's team together with Nissan). It got mothballed after Nissan pulled out of top LeMans classes.

McLaren bought the rights to the engine from TW's company when they decided to get back into the road car game and then re-engineered the whole thing together with Ricardo to make it roadworthy. It's been incrementally upgraded since but it's the same basic design, and every unit is manufactured by Ricardo.


Cool article is you want to know the history of the powerplant
 
macgyver

macgyver

TID Board Of Directors
Nov 24, 2011
1,996
1,672
Does owning a 1970 SS Chevelle (396BB punched 30 over, balanced, and blueprinted with a bunch of other goodies), back in the "day", count?....

.

Of course. Chevelle is my high school dream car.

Unfortunately this is all I could buy with$350. But I think I probably had more fun with it! ;)

IW2ZQFW.jpg
 
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