With each iteration, this supercar gets better—the McLaren 750S, tested
Enlarge / McLaren Automotive got its start with the clinical MP4-12C. The 750S is an evolutionary descendant of that car and shows how far McLaren has come since 2011. (credit: McLaren)
McLaren provided flights from Washington to Lisbon and two nights in a hotel so we could drive the 750S. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.
What do you get the supercar that has everything? McLaren must have been thinking about that question when it came time to give the already rather good 720S a bit of a midlife refresh. The answer is more power, less weight, and a raft of updates here and there that make the new McLaren 750S more useable but also even better on track, if that's your thing.
Starting from a standard configuration, a 750S weighs 3,062 lbs (1,388 kg), 66 lbs (30 kg) less than the car it's replacing. But if you select the right combination of options, from single-piece carbon fiber racing seats to titanium wheel bolts, you can trim that down even further-McLaren says to as little as 2,815 lbs (1,277 kg), but that's a dry weight.
Regardless, the all-carbon fiber construction results in a car that's both very stiff and lighter than the competition. And the penalty for switching to a retractable hardtop roof is just 108 lbs (50 kg), although it does bring the car's center of gravity up a smidge.