Hull, Mass.

I’M driving along a residential street in this Boston suburb when a woman steps off the sidewalk and beckons for me to stop.

“What is that car?” she asks.

I tell her it’s a McLaren, the new MP4-12C. She wants to know horsepower, top speed, the usual things you’d wonder if you saw a vehicle this sinister prowling through your neighborhood.

As I’m about to pull away, she asks the price. I tell her that it starts around $230,000, but this car is $270,690.

“Well, you look hot in it!” she declares.

The conclusion: If driving a $270,000 car amounts to fishing for compliments, the MP4-12C makes mighty fine bait.