Video: 2024 McLaren 750S Review: Brain-Bender

(dramatic music) (car engine revving) (car engine revving) (dramatic music) (car engine revving) (dramatic music) (bright music) Isn't this just the best weather for driving a mid engine 740 horsepower twin turbo V8 supercar? Regardless if it is or not, we are here at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, driving the all new 2024 McLaren 750S. This is McLaren's outright replacement for the 720S, but I'm willing to guess that you already knew that, based on just how similar these two cars look. Keen car spotters will be able to tell the difference probably from the front view. So the front fascia is by far the largest aesthetic change on the exterior, there are revised so-called eye sockets, and the lower intake portion right here on either side is also significantly changed. They're a little bit further extended out, a little bit more surface area, like a McLaren Elva. Visibly, we also have a few new wheel designs to pick from, and around back, we've got a revised rear bumper with a changed lower air diffuser. The exhaust is now center exit, the new hexagonal grill pattern is a little bit different, and McLaren claims a 20 percent larger rear air foil. Of course, there's more power, just as y'all probably expected. So we've got dual fuel pumps, revised turbos, up to 740 horsepower now. So yeah, probably, let's take a look, let's see what we got working under the rear deck lid. Uh, uh, you know what? Just like all modern McLarens, you can't open this up, sorry, without some hand tools no one can see the four liter twin turbo V8, let's see what's inside instead. (dramatic music) No surprises here, everything is right where we left it in the 720S, except for some really key points. So we have the same skinny infotainment screen in the center stack here, no complaints there, it is high refresh, responsive, easy to use. Now you access powertrain and chassis controls with these two fixed toggle paddles here, right behind the steering wheel. Again, as you can see, they're easy to access with your hand still on the steering wheel. And you also have your switch from manual shifting right here, and you have a stability control toggle off on the left. Where the old hard drive mode switches were, there's now a trio of buttons individually toggling the rear spoiler and launch control. That's just two of them, the third button, featuring a tiny speed sweat motif of the kiwi bird, genuinely has to be one of the most adorable enigmatic buttons ever fitted to a car. A cultural nod to company founder and namesake, Bruce McLaren's New Zealand homeland, this functions as a memory setting for your preferred drive mode configuration. Other than a revised driver display that is now fixed rather than foldable, all other changes are mostly tech-based, including now standard Apple CarPlay and an additional USB-C port. (bright dramatic music) So to understand the new McLaren 750S, it's best to think of this as an evolution of the 720. This is considered a distinct all new model, underneath the very similar looking skin, it is 30 percent changed over the prior 720S. We've still got the familiar four liter twin turbo V8 from the 720S, which also means we've got a familiar transmission. It's the seven speed dual clutch that has made an appearance in, well, essentially every modern McLaren. As the name suggests, the 750S is not meant to be a successor to the 765LT. It would not be a new updated McLaren without more power, so we've got 740 horsepower and 590 foot pounds of torque, which according to McLaren, is enough when not on a wet, dirty, muddy desert road, to hit zero to 60 miles an hour in 2.7 seconds and zero to 124 miles an hour in 7.2 seconds. So yeah, it's pretty quick. Don't tune these things, or do, I dunno. Which, (car engine revving) God, is crazy. I mean this thing, (Conner laughing) this drive has been such a tease because it feels like there's a bomb under my right foot on that throttle. There really are so few rear wheel drive supercars and hypercars that gather speed like these Super Series McLarens. And the 750S incorporates the 765's 15 percent shorter final drive ratio when compared to the 720S, I know this is a lot of numbers, sorry about that. But that means in gear acceleration is explosive and extremely violent. McLaren set three missives for itself when developing this car. The first was performance, obviously, more power, better braking, better grip, better handling, all that good stuff. But the second was engagement. This means there was a real focus on steering field, chassis communication, braking feedback. To be honest, I really need a back-to-back drive with the older car in the dry to suss out what the real subtle differences are. As three percent increased softness in the front and four percent increased stiffness in the rear, there's no way I'm gonna be able to really feel that in the wet without driving the previous car back-to-back. But I can tell you, it's still amazing. The steering is so direct, it's such a cliche, and I feel so nasty saying it, but it really is telepathic. The whole experience is so reactive, so knife's edge, it's so wound tight, it's incredible. All the driver inputs are remarkable. The throttle manages to be naturally progressive, but also razor sharp, and the brake pedal feel, while extremely stiff, is brutally effective, I mean this thing will fold concrete when it stops. But that's extremely confidence inspiring as well. Now one of the more significant generational changes I have noticed is the modified shift logic. In sport and track powertrain modes, there is now what McLaren refers to as ignition cut during shifting. So even though it is a dual clutch, which is usually renowned for smooth and almost imperceptible shifts, not so much in this car. In the more aggressive settings, you can get a little bit of a kick in the back, it's not quite Aventador kick you down the stairs. It's nice, it's a lot of theater, which I think is really important with supercars. Sound, sensation, and theater, and shifting, it gets you there. I would not be surprised at night, I know this was the case with the 765, that if you were to see this 750S at speed at night with some hard down shifts, you might see a gout of flame come out the rear tubes. Unfortunately, it has been wet the entire day with standing water on the road, a little bit of flooding here and there. So, you know, what little, you know, aggressive, fast driving that I was able to do on some of these amazing roads out here in the Vegas desert, it's still just as remarkably, enormously capable as all previous McLaren's that we have driven. It is remarkable how this thing carries speed down the road and through corners. But, you know, what I can attest to, if this is important at all in your very often supercar buying experience, is this is easily one of the most, if not the most, comfortable mid engine supercar you can buy. And while there are a couple seat options, we are in the normal, I call them comfort seats, which are, material's great, you know, the seat cushion is fine. These aren't the Senna Seats, which are torture devices. But the key part here is the pseudo hydraulic fluid suspension carries over from the 720S, and it's just fabulous over bumpy road. It genuinely rides, in comfort mode at least, better than some, my gosh, sedans that I've driven. I mean, not performance sedans, just standard sedans. All right, we are finally rolling into the Las Vegas Motor Speedway after being chained to the road. Let's see what kinda trouble we can get into, huh? 740 horsepower is too much for even a cold day, so the key here was leaning on McLaren's very clever active chassis management systems. I know you'd love to hear a sequence of heroic smokey drifts. (car engine revving) (transition thudding) But any throttle input beyond the halfway point rewarded some serious rear end squiggle, especially in trickier corners. The granularity and progressiveness of the 750S, the steering, braking, and body controls on full display here, applying a thick coat of gracefulness to what was some serious rain soaked twin turbo violence. The all too frequent oversteer was easily caught with the near perfect steering, and the absurdly effective brakes feel as though they could scrub speed from a runaway oil tanker. It's a magnificent car, and a necessary reminder that you absolutely need your McLaren to wear an LT badge to subjugate a race circuit. In fact, it's so versatile, it almost, almost feels like a bargain compared to the much pricier limited production 765LT, and other ultra collectible McLarens like the Senna and the P1. Of course, its starting price of $324,000 in the US is hardly a steal, but who needs a house when you have speed like this? You know, even with all this rain, I had such a good time today. I think I'm gonna stay here with all these awesome looking McLarens. But why don't you head over to cars.com where you can find my full thoughts and review. (upbeat music)