It has been 5 years since McLaren started their campaign to be a power house in the automotive industry. The start of this campaign was ear marked with the launch of the MP4-12C. Some years later and the 570s is slated to be the realisation of this dream.

The 570s is at the lowest rang of McLaren’s three tier strategy:The sport series. Visually, the 570s is striking. It looks like a McLaren P1 that has had some of the aggression chiseled away. The lines are slightly less angry but still have a bold declaration of intent: speed. It is quite possibly the most beautiful car they make. The 570s as standard comes with full LED lighting for the front and rear. The front lights have been designed to resemble McLaren’s logo.

Unlike its forbears it has no active aerodynamic elements. All the bits used for aerodynamic stability have been cleverly integrated into the body work. The designers created ‘floating tendons’ integrated into the doors which help to guide air to the radiators in the back. There is also a rear spoiler tucked into the body for increased down force. Even the lines on the bonnet serve to help channel air to the floating tendons.

The interior, at least to me, doesn’t feel as special as the interior of the 650s or the 12c before it. This isn’t because of the quality of materials used but because of the lay out of the cabin. There is a floating center console which houses a 7 inch screen for infotainment purposes(navigation,music,etc). The instrument binnacle has three digital screens. A larger central one flanked by two tiny ones either side. This is a nod to the McLaren P1. As an interesting side note a lot of the design cues on the 570s have been inherited from the P1. In the same way that visually a Mercedes Benz C-class is like a mini S-class.

The 570s has a 3.8 litre twin turbo v8 inherited from its siblings albeit with new components installed. It produces 562bhp(570ps thus 570s) at 7400 rpm and 600nm of torque between 5000-6500rpm. This rockets the 570s to 100kph in 3.2s and on to a top speed of 328kph. The power output is significantly lower than in the 650s perhaps so as to underscore that this is McLaren’s interpretation of what a sports car is or should be. Power is transmitted to the rear wheels through McLaren’s in-house Seamless Shift Gear box which is standard across their range of cars.

As this is the entry point into McLaren ownership the 570s has a conventional suspension set up. The car has adaptive dampers and front and rear anti-roll bars. The rest of the cars in the McLaren range(Super Series and Ultimate Series)make do without anti-roll bars in favour of hydraulically connected dampers.

The 570s is currently on sale and has already scooped a best drivers car award from one of the world’s major motoring outlets. Praise doesn’t get any higher than that. Being a current generation car it has benefited greatly from knowledge gained from its forbears. Compared to previous models, McLaren states that the 570s requires the least amount of labour and parts which translates to lower ownership costs.

As a parting shot, my experience with McLaren has been great. The people who I have been in contact with and who made this story possible are passionate about their brand and their cars. Not only have they been helpful but they have made me feel as if I am part of the family.

Special thanks to: McLaren Capetown.