McLaren is first and foremost a company that builds race cars. It's not part of a larger company that cranks out road-going vehicles by the thousands, so there isn’t a wealth of parts bin components from more common models to pilfer in order to reduce the cost of a street-bound consumer car. So when we were handed the keys to a Napier Green 675LT supercar, we had a hunch it might be something genuinely special. When the all-aluminum 3.8-liter V8’s turbochargers spooled up, the suspicions proved true.
Limited to a production run of only 500 cars worldwide, the 675LT is named after the McLaren F1 GTR “Longtail” race car from the 1990s. While it’s derived from its predecessor, the 650S, the configuration is more track-focused with additional power on tap and less mass to carry. The 675LT weighs just under 3,000 pounds. The twin-turbocharged V8 generates 675 metric horsepower—or 666 ponies in American measurement. Power is sent to the rear wheels by way of a paddle-shifted seven-speed dual clutch gearbox.
Is it fast? How does 0-60 miles per hour in 2.8 seconds and a quarter mile time of 10.5 seconds sound? This is the kind of acceleration that turns the world around you into a blur.
While racing harnesses would be more appropriate with this test car’s fixed-back buckets—rather than the supplied street-car shoulder belts—the 675LT is surprisingly docile around town. There’s even a switch on the steering column to raise and lower the front end of the car to make it easier to clear steep driveways and dips in the road without scrapping the low-hanging front splitter. There are also three different levels of suspension firmness that can be selected on the fly.
As is the case with all of McLaren’s modern road cars, the 675LT’s chassis is a one-piece carbon fiber monocoque tub—like an actual race car. Not only does that mean less weight, it also bolsters safety and structural rigidity as well, though sliding across the tub’s threshold to get into the car is rarely a graceful operation. Still, that’s a small inconvenience for the kind of performance the 675LT delivers.
As you might suspect, the thrills don’t come cheap. As tested, the 675LT is priced around $400,000. That puts this McLaren squarely in Lamborghini Aventador territory, though still significantly shy of the million-dollar price tags of hypercars like the Porsche 918 Spyder, Ferrari LaFerrari, and McLaren’s own P1.
If that figure has you debating whether or not it’s worth the $100,000 premium over the 650S, don’t lose too much sleep over the decision. All 500 of the 675LTs that McLaren plans to produce are already reserved.
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