Seven … minute … abs. You might recall hitchhiker Harland Williams' mind-blowing business idea in the Farrelly brothers' 1998 comedy, "There's Something about Mary." Who, he reasoned, would buy a DVD promising a six-pack in eight minutes a day over one promising to do most of the job in seven?

Punch the right pedal in McLaren's new entry-level 570S, feel the engine punch you right back, and you wonder if there really is a catch. The sprint from stopped to 124 mph (200 km/h) takes only 9.5 seconds, outpointing not only every car in the class, but most from the class above, too, including Lamborghini's 9.9-second Huracan, which costs $55,000 more. No wonder the Italians looked worried when they perused McLaren's stand last April at the New York Auto Show, where the 570S was unveiled. The big question is: Should McLaren be worried, too? Who now would buy a 650S (formerly known as the MP4-12C), when the baby brother that shares so many of its components is available for 30 percent less coin?

The 570S, and the decontented (29 hp milder) 540C that isn't coming to the U.S., is the first of McLaren's new Sports Series model line. Slotting below the Super Series (650S and 675LT), and the Ultimate Series (P1 and P1 GTR), Sports Series cars are designed with everyday functionality in mind in the hope of opening up McLaren ownership to a new audience.

McLaren

Price also plays a big role in netting those new buyers. At $187,400, the 570S costs $82,100 less than a 650S, yet beneath the skin lie evolutions of the same carbon-fiber chassis tub and 3.8-liter twin-turbo V-8 that are at the heart of every McLaren, right up to the $1.15 million P1. Clearly, costs needed cutting to make this car both possible and practical, so the upper body panels are formed from aluminum rather than carbon fiber, and the 650's weighty and complicated, but incredibly capable, hydraulic suspension setup is swapped for less exotic double wishbones and conventional steel anti-roll bars.

You'll make up your own mind about the styling, but you imagine critics' complaints. The P1-inspired nose makes the 570S difficult to tell at first glance from every other McLaren, and compared with the aggressive angularity of a Lamborghini Huracan's tail, the disappointingly effete rear lacks drama. But it's a far more cohesive design than the dated 650's, full of interesting details like the central door sections, or "tendons" in McLaren-speak, that appear to float in mid air.

McLaren

This might be a baby daily-driver McLaren, but those doors still open high above the roof, here revealing a radically lowered sill for far easier access than on any previous McLaren. There are other concessions to usability, such as A-pillars that are pushed forward and B-pillars slimmed down to increase visibility. A new TFT instrument display features turn-by-turn navigation instructions to supplement the main IRIS infotainment system, which gets shortcut buttons for the main functions. And should you encounter a parking lot ramp that looks like you'd need a Jeep Wrangler's approach angle to navigate it safely, don't worry: Simply tap the McLaren's bottom left column stalk and the (optional) lift kit hikes the nose out of harm's way.

There are also cup holders, cubbies in the doors, and a surprisingly generous storage area under the center armrest. The trunk holds a useful 5.1 cubic feet and there's a big shelf behind the seats capable of swallowing another couple of bags. All this obsessing over functionality leaves you in no doubt about which rival sports car's mug shot was pasted to the dartboard in the office of McLaren Automotive chairman Ron Dennis.

McLaren

"We had Porsche 911s in the studio during the process to make sure our car was at least as good," McLaren design chief Frank Stephenson admitted when I met him in the U.K. before heading to Portugal for the media drive. "The idea was to make it do everything the 911 can do but better. It's almost like we started on the inside out. We looked at visibility, comfort, storage capabilities; everything like that had to be the first priority. When you look at the pyramid, the base was usability."

But none of that could come at the expense of dynamics. This being a McLaren, it still had to drive like one. And it does. Fire up the V8, now codenamed M383TE but still featuring the racing-style flat-plane crankshaft, and the sensation is familiar, but the sound is subtly different. It's a lighter, more cultured sound, the result of redesigned exhaust manifolds, and it lends the 570S a character distinct from its bigger brothers.

McLaren

Despite its positioning as the "baby" McLaren, the 570S is actually a smidge longer than a 650S Super Series car, and at 3186 lb in standard trim, 27 lb heavier. But it's also some 360 lb lighter than a Porsche 911 Turbo S. Roll that weight figure in with the engine's 562 hp—detuned from the 650S's 641 hp—and the resulting 5.65 lb/hp is unmatched in the class.

Get the turbos spinning and what was up ahead of you is soon left for dead, thanks to an incredibly strong midrange. Two-wheel-drive traction hurts standing-start times, but if you engage launch control and trust the mandatory Graziano seven-speed dual-clutch transmission to swap the ratios, McLaren says the 570S will still crack 62 mph in 3.2 seconds, only 0.2 second down on a 650S and the same as a four-wheel drive Audi R8 V10 Plus.

McLaren

The turbo V-8 is a revver, too, producing its peak 443 lb-ft of torque at 5000 rpm and pulling all the way to 8500 rpm, a function of that crankshaft design. But things aren't so rosy lower in the rev range. The throttle response is pretty crisp, but you keep waiting for meaningful thrust to arrive. Compared with Ferrari's incredible near-zero-lag twin-turbo V-8 in the new 488 GTB, in the McLaren you can sometimes feel less than connected to the drivetrain.

There are no disappointments in the electrohydraulic power steering. Its feel and precision are as satisfying on-center at freeway speeds as on lock at the wildly undulating Portimao racetrack in Portugal's Algarve region. Our only gripe about the standard carbon-ceramic brakes is the high pedal effort needed to stave off transmission creep in traffic. This is supposed to be a daily driver, after all.

McLaren

The 570S delivers more understeer than the 650S does with its slightly wider rubber, and with less torque and a big dollop of lag, it's not always as easy to convert that to oversteer precisely when you'd like it. But you'd swear the 570S was lighter, narrower, and more agile from the way it responds to steering inputs. As for its less sophisticated suspension, the 570S can't hope to match the magic carpet ride quality of the hydraulically supported 650, but aside from the most badly scarred urban roads, the ride from the adaptive dampers is good, and the body control excellent. Twin toggle switches, each offering Normal, Sport, and Track modes for Handling and Power, make another expected appearance. Our advice: Leave Track for the track, Normal for the valet, and everyone for dust in Sport.

So, eight-minute abs, or will seven do? The 570S doesn't have quite the sledgehammer hit of a 650S, or that car's ability to re-render every road with the topography of a granite tabletop. But nothing in the sports car class, not the Porsche 911 Turbo S or the 602-hp Audi R8 V10 Plus, kicks this hard or steers so beautifully. Ferrari's upcoming Dino could change that, come 2018. But until then it's McLaren's game all the way.

McLaren

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