It may seem like McLaren has been building road cars forever, but it hasn't. Not even close. McLaren Automotive, as it's known today, has only been building cars since 2011. That's just six years. (Of course, McLaren built the F1 in the 1990s, but that wasn't built by McLaren's dedicated car company, which didn't exist until 2009. - Ed.)

The basis for every McLaren was its first car, the MP4-12C. Over the years, it has evolved from its original 592 horsepower base into the 650S and the 675LT, two of the quickest mid-level supercars on the market. These cars were chock full of tech like an airbrake that was later reprogrammed to also work as a wing along with a trick suspension that eschewed rollbars for a hydraulic setup to give the cars a ride that was vastly more comfortable than anything in its class.

Máté Petrány

But now is the time to replace that original platform with something new. Something even slipperier. Something that has a name that starts with a seven, instead of a six. Meet the 720S.

This car beats its predecessor in essentially every quantifiable metric. It's also gorgeous, but not classically so. More like a sci-fi future where someone built a robot shark car.

There isn't an item on here that isn't new. The original carbon fiber Monocell has been replaced by the Monocage II, which is a development of the carbon fiber structure used in the P1 hypercar. The lightest dry weight of a 720S is 2,828 pounds, or 40 fewer than the lightest weight of a 650S, which was already light for its class. The monocage also allows for doors that open as part of the roof, to allow for easier ingress and egress.

Máté Petrány

You'll also notice the sheer amount of glass all over the car. On the roof. The large rear window. The huge windshield and tiny a-pillars. Even the c-pillars are covered in glass. The goal was to make the visibility the best out of any supercar, and they've really succeeded there.

But the other place where they've succeeded is performance. The 720S is powered by a thoroughly reworked version of the M838T that has been in every McLaren built. In fact, this one is now called the M840T to reflect its growth to 4.0 liters. As you'd expect, power is up to 720 and torque jumps 68 lb-ft to 568, yet somehow it's more efficient. That helps it hit 62 mph in 2.9 seconds, 184 in 21.4 seconds, and a top speed of 212 mph. It even runs the quarter mile in 10.3 seconds.

Máté Petrány

But those performance numbers aren't down to just an improved engine. McLaren has made the 720S twice as aerodynamically efficient as the 650S it replaces. And it's not like the 650S was a fat guy in a little coat, either. It was a trim guy in an equally trim coat. Every single part of this car is there for a reason. Those eyesockets around the headlights—which kind of make the white car look like a bionic Jack Skellington—are there to improve airflow and cooling. The doors have F1-style barge boards on them to direct the flow. There's a channel on top of the doors that runs the length of the car. The integrated wing is now full width and more active than before.

Máté Petrány

The chassis still has no rollbars, but now has 12 additional sensors to give the car a greater a breadth of use than the 650S had. That means it should feel closer to a GT car in the softer settings and closer to the 675LT in the most aggressive settings. It has a drift mode now, because apparently all cars need a drift mode, to make it even nuttier on the track.

Máté Petrány

Inside, everything is new. The maligned infotainment system is gone, replaced with a new operating system and feel. The heavy use of glass makes it incredibly easy to see out of, and now even the instrument panel can slide out of the way to give you an unobstructed view over the wheel. Outside, the car is a mix of sci-fi weirdness (headlights), elegance (the rear), and motorsports (the F1 bargeboards) to make the first supercar we've been truly excited about in a long time. There's just something about the 720S that grabs on to you, moreso than any Ferrari or Lamborghini we've seen recently.

Máté Petrány

We cannot wait to drive this car.

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