Top Car

January 2016|TOPCAR.CO.ZA 87

keep the transmission creep at bay is annoyingly high

considering its intended use. Imagine riding a bike with only a

right pedal attached to the crank and you’ve probably got a

good approximation of what it’ll feel like inJo’burg traffic.

Other small niggles include noisy windscreen wipers, a

whistling from the air-con that so unds like someone tapping

outWar and Peaceinmorse code, and a badly positioned br ake

cooling du ct th at hang s way below the front wishbones where

it’s just begging to be destroyed by potholes and ke rbs. I

obliged. InMcLaren’s defence it claims to be aware of these

problems on what was a pre-production car and assures us

they’ll be fixed before customers take delivery. We’ll see.

After a pause for pictures I switch to the 911, and it feels like

I’ve jumped into a Cayenne by mistake. Taller by 94mm, and

(subjectivel y, ifnot objectivel y)

significantly wider, it’s instantly less

alien. It’s a handsome interior, but the

great swathe of bu ttons below the

gear selector is fussy, the column

stalks feel as flimsy as they have for

decades, and it’s surpri sing to find

that there are fewer usefulcubbies for

phones, wallets and coffees than in

the McLaren, or at least located inthe

centre console where you really want

them. And the comforting familiarity

of the designand materials is also its

downfall. It doesn’t feel that much

morespecial to look at and sit inthan

a Cayman costing a third as much.

Porsch e fans have heard it all before.

Drivers, they’ll counter, are less interested invanitythan

profanity – the kind of expletiv es that might escape your

mouth every time you hit a great bit of road, ask the Turbo to

dig deep, and are reminded how great this chassis and engine

combination really is. So the follo wing morning we’re briefly

back on the motorway, to find us some of those finding-ou t

roads. Despite James Taylor complaining of a numb rear end

on the way downthrough Spain, the 911 feels comfortable and

composed at a cruise, its boxer six humming away

unobtrusivel y inthe ba ckground, occa sionally cutting inand

out as it makes use of the coasting function that help s Porsch e

claim an impres sive 9.7ℓ/10 0km and 227g/km. Despite

packing McLaren’s first stop/startsystem, the lighter 570 trails

on 11.1ℓ/100km and 258g/k m. Refined at 120kph, ab ove

160kph it’s noticeably moreboomy too, something to bear in

mind ifyou’re an autobahn-d welling McLar-hun.

Asgrey turns to green, the urban sprawl thinning and

eventually giving way to the woody climbs of the Sintra-

Casc ais NationalPark, each car grabs the increasingly frequent

chances to stretch its legs. I’ve driven the 911 Turbo S before,

but I’m no le ss shocked by how wieldy it feels. Some of that

precision must be downto adaptive engine mounts specific to

the S, which also gets halfan inch wider centre-lock wheels.

But for me the four-whe el-steer system that’s common to both

Turbos is where this blown 911 steppe d up a ge ar from its

pred ecessors. Intownyou can see the rear wheel twisting

outwards inyourside mirror to improve manoeuvrability

when park ing. Up here inthe hills you can feel it pointin g the

car into each corner, imbuing it with an almost mid-engined

zealfor changing direction. Slow in/fast out has always been

the 911 mantra, but that goes out the windowwith torque-

vectoring four-whe el-steer agility and four-whe el-drive traction

doing their best buddy movie impres sion. Fast in, faster inthe

middle and ut terly ba tsh*t on the exit is the new party line.

The standard cera mics give a beautifully firmpedal

feel and the PDK ’box’s shift mapping is exce llent, but

it’s not all good news. The steering feels disapp ointingly ill-

defined around the stra ight ahead, the throttle response is

utterly soporific unless you’ve got the Sport button enga ged,

and even then the flat-sixmakes you wait before delivering.

The McLaren feels similarly less than immediate when you

summon the power, a combination of turbo lag and peak

torque not arrivi ng until 5000rpm. The pedal response is

actually prettygood, but sometimes that first modest slug of

extra power only serves to push the nose wide, beca use it’s not

the giant kick of thrust you wanted to help the car move

around its centreline. It gives the 570 an occa sionally soft,

BODY & AERO

The570Sditches

the 650’s composite

body panels for

moreeasily repaired

superformed

aluminiumpanels

that are heatedthen

blowninto amould.

Onlythe 650S gets

activeaero in the

formof a moveable

rearspoiler

ENGINE

Every McLaren

from570StoP1

employs aversion

ofthe original12C’s

3.8-litretwin-turbo

V8. The570Smakes

419kWand 600Nm

tothe 650S’s 478kW

and678Nm.Both

are rear-drive via a

seven-speed twin-

clutch ‘box

CHASSIS

Both use avariation

ofthe carbonfibre

MonoCell, but the

570S’s is modified

with alowered sill

for easieraccess.

Maintaining stiffness

atthe same time

meant adding 5kg

ofstrengthening

material tojunior’s

tub (still only 80kg)

SUSPENSION

With itsuncanny

ability toabsorb

bumps,hydraulic

suspension has

always been

a key modern

McLarenfeature.

But the 570Suses

conventional

suspension and anti-

roll bars. Sonorisk

ofleaks, but more

bumps.

570Svs650SWhat’s thedifference?

Flickyour wrist in

eitherdirectionand the

570 reminds that it’s

lighter than any rival