The MP4-12C and British press: the UNlove affair continues

With the end of the year getting closer, various "Car of the Year" issues are being pubish. This month, we have discovered the results of Autocar Britain's Best Driver Car 2011 and Auto Express Performance Car Of The Year 2011. Both are quite disappointing for any MP4-12C fan, with the car finishing in the middle of the pack. Both complain about various things, but mainly about lack of fun and the fact that the MP4-12C imposes a way to drive it - and that if you don't follow the way, you won't be efficient behind the wheel. Detailed judgment as follow.

Auto Express

Phenomenal pace and exceptional handling mark the new McLaren firmly in the top echelon of supercars.

The MP4-12C is a towering achievement, but it’s missing one vital commodity – the pure ability to thrill.

You get your kicks from the McLaren in a different way to the other cars in our line-up. Unlike the Ferrari, Mercedes or Jaguar, it’s not designed for the driver to switch off the electronic aids and play the hooligan on track. It only wants to be driven one way; smoothly and fast.

This single-minded pursuit of speed is understandable from a team that has made its name in Formula One, but in eking out the last one-hundredth of a second something has gone missing.The twin-clutch gearshift is one of the most rapid we’ve experienced, but you don’t get a satisfying blip of the throttle on downshifts.

Part of the blame lies with the engine. A V8 turbo is the pragmatic choice as it provides the best blend of performance and economy, but its uninspiring soundtrack simply doesn’t do the rest of the car justice. The chassis, meanwhile, is almost beyond criticism, as the amount of grip it generates is staggering.
However, the clever Brake Steer system (which applies the brakes to the inside rear wheel to prevent slip and contain understeer) detracts from the driving experience, rather than adding to it. And turnining it off isn't exactly encouraged by the complicated electronics.
If this all sounds a bit negative, that’s simply because expectations of the McLaren were so high. It has achieved what it set out to do, effectively matching the Ferrari 458 Italia for raw pace, so the MP4-12C really deserves plenty of praise.

Its phenomenal pace and exceptional handling rank it firmly in the top echelon of supercars. And it encourages you to drive neatly and precisely as you try to set the fastest lap time you can. We just wish it was a bit more fun while you did it.

Ranking: 5th.

Online article here.

Autocar

Transcript of the article published in Oct. 12th issue of the Magazine, written by Andrew Frankel.

Interestingly, there appears to be nothing fundamentally wrong with this car. It’s not too heavy or insufficiently stiff – indeed, it is the lightest, stiffest car in its class thanks to its carbonfibre monocoque. What niggles is an inescapable feeling that, in almost all areas, the car gives the impression that just a little more development time could have unleashed something quite extraordinary and less compromised.

We’ll look at its shortcomings in a minute, but it’s important to make clear that the McLaren does things no other car here can even think about. It was the quickest around the circuit by a clear second, and had we been at a more expansive facility like Donington or Goodwood, that gap would have grown wider. It packed the biggest punch (by far) and easily the swiftest, smoothest gearchanges. Grip levels from its optional Pirelli Corsa tyres were predictably heroic.

However, it impressed most over the bumps. Indeed, if you did a totally committed lap, using all the track and more by leaning on the kerbs in a way you’d never dream of doing in your own car, and then did exactly the same in any other contender, you’d think you were on a different facility altogether. When you cruelly banged the fully loaded outside wheels over some vicious-looking saw-toothed kerb, instead of rattling your teeth in your gums, the McLaren simply quivered momentarily and shot off up the road. At least some of its lap time comes from its ability to use bits of track you’d steer clear of in the others. Its brakes were also astonishing.

So why has a car that, a year ago, plenty of us would have named as the runaway favourite to win this contest come home squarely in the mid-field? The short answer is ‘confidence’, or lack thereof. Year after year, the car that wins this contest does so not because it is necessarily the fastest or the grippiest, or the one that does the biggest skids. It is the car that, before it does anything else, provides the driver with the confidence to wring its neck. If then it also turns out to have a surplus of all the more easily measured or observable talents, it’s in with a very good shot. Around Rockingham, none of us got the feeling that the McLaren was on the same page as the rest of us. As one tester it, and if we can be allowed to mix our metaphors, “no rider wants to be outwitted by the horse”.

There was no single failing that terminally undermined a potentially fine performance. In fact, there were several issues, some smaller than others, in most areas of its endeavour. Drivers complained about power delivery that caused such a big and sudden bang in the back at the exit of a corner that stability could be compromised. One tester observed that the gearbox could refuse downshifts when braking from high speed, another that the engine could have done with a sharper throttle map. There was one concern about the car’s rear-end stability when braking into a quick right that you approach over a left-hand brow, and another concerning its friendliness in the wet. A more general lament was its inherent desire to push its nose wide of the apex.

In short, none of us felt the car was on our side. It didn’t feel like it wanted throw you into the next postcode, but it did refuse to adapt to its driver. There was one way to drive the McLaren MP4-12C and that was its way. Do it any other way and it would soon point out the error in unambiguous terms. Which is why, for all the skills of its creators and the clever tech it carries, it failed to provide the driver with that crucial confidence.

Ranking: 6th

Full coverage on German Car Forum.