McLaren GT 4.0 V8 (A) Review

The McLaren GT, as its name suggests, is intended to be a cruiser of sorts - one that will take you and your partner across great distances in extreme comfort and style.

Interestingly, however, after a wet and sweaty session with the car, the McLaren GT came across to us as something more. Rather than being just a captivating grand tourer, the car you see here is just as capable of being a bruiser as it is a cruiser.

Sounds like it's two becoming one

See, the car here pushes out a whopping 612bhp and a mountain-moving 630Nm of twisting force to the rear wheels via a seven-speed gearbox. This gets the car up and about to the 100km/h mark in just 3.2 seconds from nought. Attempt to stretch the GT's legs on a long empty road and the car will max out at 326km/h.

These figures come from a 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 powerplant, which also puts it somewhere between the McLaren 570S and the 720S.

So it's big on power, which comes as no surprise, given its disposition as a grand tourer. But where most grand tourers will have to sacrifice performance acuity for the sake of comfort and refinement, the McLaren GT begs to differ.

On long and winding roads, the GT is highly engaging. The steering wheel is highly communicative and well-weighted, cogs from the seven-speed gearbox are absolutely precise and agreeable, there's ample grip from the tyres, and boy is the exhaust capable of a raucous tune that will satisfy all but the most egotistical and self-righteous enthusiasts.

And speaking of satisfy, during my time with it, there was never a time when I was punished for my silly actions and amateur mistakes. That's the sort of approval you get when behind the wheel of the McLaren GT.

Sounds like a darn good rapport

It's a car that's very willing to play, yet it'll never pounce on you for powering out too early or braking too late into the corner. As a result, I never found myself wanting more power from it. Every turn with the car - long, sharp or gradual - just seems to be in perfect balance.

Yet the ride remains to be nothing short of superb. It does away with the crashy behaviour often associated with supercars and sends little or no vibrations and shudders into the cabin over undulations of any kind.

As a matter of fact, according to McLaren, the ride height has been raised as high as a Mercedes-Benz C-Class, which means you can easily tackle speed bumps without braking ridiculously or breaking a sweat.

In that sense, it being a GT just means that should you decide to take it down a couple of notches around town, the car will gladly respect your right foot and you.

Sounds like the perfect blend

Just as respectful is the cabin. As you'd come to expect from a GT, the car supplies ample space for cargo even if passenger capacity tops out at two, making it an accommodating daily driver. It will swallow a full-on golf bag and a couple of your barang barang, if that's your weekly affair.

Elsewhere, the trim is a delight, switchgear is lovely and everything here just feels expensive and unique to the touch. Run your fingers all around the cabin and even in places where you'll seldom come to contact with, and everything feels immaculately placed together.

Perhaps the only gripe I have with the car is the fact that the forward and backward seat adjustment has to be done manually. But that's really just finding fault for the sake of it.

However, where I won't be faulting the car is certainly the design. In my eyes, at least, the McLaren GT is easily one of the nicest-looking GTs out there in the market.

There's a good sense of underratedness and maturity to it. It may lack the sort of visual drama compared to the rest of its siblings in its lineup, but there's just no doubting that wherever you look at the car from, it shines in a way that it stands out nicely from the rest of its peers without trying too hard.

Sounds like you are in favour of it

The McLaren GT is, arguably, the sort of tarmac-swallowing grand tourer that you could take from one state to another without worrying if its lungs will burn out.

And its capabilities don't end there. This is one lovely GT that you can waft to a race track comfortably, do some hot laps to enjoy its sportiness, then waft back home comfortably right after.