Pros
- Unreal power
- Controllability
- Sensational looks
Cons
- Fixed-back buckets aren’t for everyone
- Merely a better 720S
- Ferrari offers more tech at this price
It’s rare that a vehicle at one of our Of The Year award programs garners as many raves from judges as the McLaren 750S yet isn’t voted forward to the finalist round. The awe-inspiring 750S exists in superposition, like Schrödinger’s cat—capable both of regularly dropping our jaws to the floor and of being mere contender, not finalist, at the 2024 Performance Vehicle of the Year event.
In another world, the 750S would’ve shrieked straight into our finalist field, but our current world is governed by the Of The Year criteria: Performance of Intended Function, Engineering Excellence, Advancement in Design, Efficiency, Value, and the PVOTY-specific Driver Confidence and Engagement category. The McLaren crushes most of those criteria but falls short in Advancement in Design and Value, enough so that it just missed our cutoff for the finalist round.
The 750S is, essentially, a 720S juiced with an extra 30 hp—for a total of 740—and other revisions that draw it closer to the 765LT (a finalist at last year’s PVOTY). It wouldn’t be inaccurate to describe the 750S as a sort of 765LT Touring, similar to the Porsche 911 GT3’s similarly named, softer-edged, more streetable variant. Visceral noises, acceleration, and grip are all there, but drivers operate at a more comfortable distance from the 765LT’s proverbial buzzsaw.
McLaren describes “accessibility” as the 750S’ tuning philosophy, at least relative to the banshee-like 765LT. Its performance is more accessible, but some warmup is necessary. Piloting this 740-hp missile feels a bit like being strapped to a balcony plummeting off the side of a building—you’re sitting bolt upright in the fixed-back bucket seats, your legs straight ahead, with an alarmingly panoramic view of the landscape rushing at the bubble-like front glass with every tap of the accelerator pedal.
Acclimate to the IMAX cockpit, and your confidence swells. The brakes are heroic, the stability stolid, and the engine’s shove relentless. Also, as senior features editor Kristen Lee put it, “Despite how serious a performer it is, there is personality here.” The stability control allows for plenty of experimentation with yaw angles before provoking obvious intervention, only stepping in if you’re really messing things up. The cross-linked hydraulic suspension deftly balances ride quality, flypaper grip, and firm body control.
Newbies might find the steering squirrely at first, but that’s just the torrent of feedback; the McLaren is one of the few new vehicles, sports car or otherwise, that still relies on hydraulic power steering assistance. Little nudges and weighting changes you feel through the small steering wheel’s rim take some getting used to in something so hyperreactive, yet the feel makes finding the 750S’ limits and exploiting them easier.
So the 750S accomplishes the goals McLaren set for it—bettering the 720S’ feel, approaching the 765LT’s engagement—but it’s merely a newer version of an already great car, with easier-to-use new switchgear for the suspension and drivetrain modes. We dinged the McLaren for value, too; Ferrari’s 296 GTB delivers as many elemental thrills with more power, more technology, and greater efficiency (some electric-only range!) at a similar starting price. Also, despite the extra power and claimed weight savings, this specific 750S was 0.2 seconds slower to 60 mph (in a still-absurd 2.7 seconds), took an additional 3 feet to stop from 60 mph (in an also-still-nuts 96 feet), and weighed 37 pounds more than a 2018 720S we tested.
In the end, the epic McLaren 750S doesn’t so much “miss” the finalist round as it is outgunned on our PVOTY criteria by other strong contenders. Make no mistake, this 750S does all kinds of confusing, tingly things to our fundamental understanding of physics and fun. As features editor Scott Evans aptly summarized: “What a f***ing car.”
