2016 McLaren 570S review - Roadshow

It's a rare thing when a car company's least expensive offering is also its best. It's an especially rare feat among high-end automakers, but it happens every once in a while. It requires distilling down the essence of a company's core philosophies about everything from driving dynamics to styling and tech into one product.

BMW's M division arguably managed that trick a few years ago with its 1 Series M Coupe, a sharp-handling two door that wore the company's "Ultimate Driving Machine" mantra on its sleeve, even as the German automaker was arguably in the middle of retreating from that very mission statement.

And now there's the 570S, an "entry-level" supercar that's part of McLaren's Sport Series. Notice the scare quotes -- anything with a starting price tag of $184,900 is unlikely to be a bargain-basement proposition, but the sharply styled Brit nevertheless goes without some key McLaren tech in its quest for a more accessible price point. You won't find the spookily effective hydraulic anti-roll system employed on the 650S or 675LT, nor the active aero pack that includes Mac's novel active Airbrake rear wing. And it goes without saying that the 570S lacks the hybrid electric assist found on the (now out-of-production) P1 hypercar.

You won't miss any of it.

What you will find with the 570S are the same theatrical butterfly doors and the same lightweight, ultra-rigid carbon construction clothed in aluminum panels. This time, there's a reshaped passenger tub to allow for easier ingress and egress, affording a slightly larger interior in the process. The 570S and its slightly posher 570GT sibling have been expressly designed to be more usable -- a bit less "trackday and special occasion," and a bit closer to a daily drivable machine like the Audi R8 V10 Plus and Porsche 911 Turbo S. Both of those are worthy supercars the 570S counts among its chief rivals.

So the 570S is more accommodating, but it's no less special to drive. Like other McLarens, the 570S is still powered by the same compact, yet characterful 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8, tuned here to net 562 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque. Those are solid but not overwhelming figures for this class, but it's the 570S' feathery construction that gives it an edge in the power-to-weight ratio stakes. Weighing in at around 3,200 pounds, it's several hundred pounds lighter than its nearest rival and that pays big dividends dynamically.

That lightness not only translates into an official 0-60-mph time of 3.1 seconds, it also means there's substantially less heft to halt under braking and less mass threatening to pull you off the apex while slingshotting around corners. The 570S' mid-engined layout was already inherently ideal for handling, but being so light has cascading benefits. Doing more with less has enabled McLaren's engineers to specify less-than-monster meats, for instance. That's especially up true front, where 225/35 ZR19 Pirelli P-Zero Corsa tires come good in the form of reduced unsprung weight and lighter, quicker-reacting steering. Less weight means improved dynamics, heightened driver feedback and improved efficiency. It's a virtuous cycle.

As car reviewers, we've been taught to believe that true modern sports cars have limited-slip differentials and torque vectoring hardware that mechanically overdrives the outer wheel in a corner to aid turn-in. Conversely, in a corner, the 570S relies on individually braking the inner wheels to induce yaw and tighten the car's trajectory. This is widely considered to be a less elegant, less effective way to add torque vectoring, and is generally viewed among gearheads with suspicion as a cost-saving technique.

I'm not sure if McLaren's engineers collectively graduated from Hogwarts, but there are at least a couple of tricks in the 570S' arsenal that feel downright magical, and this is one of them. Simply put, the 570S gets around corners magnificently, without any of that extra hardware. This is one of the best-handling cars on the planet, and more to the point, it's one of the best feeling ones while doing so. The always quick, always light steering offers excellent feedback and the standard carbon-ceramic brakes are a perpetual joy to use. And regardless of what mode you have the suspension in, you can faithfully feel what the chassis is doing underneath you, yet there's no punishing ride as an ugly byproduct of tuning for handling.

For something that enables a 0-60 time of just 3 seconds, the small-displacement V8 feels surprisingly docile around town, it never comes across as hair-trigger nervous, thanks in part to its well-mannered partner, a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox that works well whether left to its own devices or grabbed by its cantilevered paddle shifters. Downsides? There's a decent-sized sliver of turbo lag before the engine builds enough revs to wake the forced induction bits, a momentary pause that asks your right foot, "Are you really sure you want to light this Roman candle?"