MP4-12c

[ross]

Yeah, I'd definitely not be ticking (m)any of the options....when it was originally announced as being between £125k and £175k I was hoping it would be around £150k which I could maybe just live with - £200k is just out of my league.

Realistically I've really just got to view tomorrow as a nice day out.

I certainly wouldn't be buying as a speculator, but would be nice to feel it wouldn't lose 25% of it's value in the first year.

[benyeats]

[quote="Trigger"]
I have doubts over what can be made as a speculator tbh. With the volume they are trying for (100 cars I am told in 2011) it will be rare but not THAT rare - and how many buyers of £200k cars are there ? Once the options are ticked (and who wont tick ceramic brakes, carbon this and that, full electronics pack etc) it WILL be a £200k car.

Scary. (well for me anyway).
[/quote]

The aim would be not to make a loss rather than make a profit IMO.  The Ferrari 458 will be similar money and will be sold at a premium for the first year or so.

[Trigger]

Yes - exactly Ben - I wouldnt want to be buying then trying to get rid - I would want to actually own for a while - and not losing money would be my only ambition. I wouldnt want to be seen as just getting into this to make money coz it isnt my motive at all. I just love the way Mclaren are....and to own their car would be amazing !! More so than Ferrari to me.

[WorkingOnIt]

[quote="Trigger"]
I have doubts over what can be made as a speculator tbh. With the volume they are trying for (100 cars I am told in 2011)...
[/quote]

(typo?) dropped a zero - 1000 cars.

next to last paragraph:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/04/autom ... LAREN.html

This article also lists the first U.S dealers:
Miller Motorcars of Greenwich, Conn.
Auto Gallery in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Park Place dealerships in Dallas
Lake Forest Sportscars outside of Chicago
Price Family Dealerships in Palo Alto, Calif.

[Trigger]

No typo - I was talking about RHD Uk cars - not exports.

[ross]

Great day out - really amazing place to visit.  Felt very privileged to have such free access round the place.  We got to roam around the 'boulevard' bit on the ground floor which fronts the building and where they have all their racing cars on show (about 30 in all) then had a tour of the area where they're currently building the road car prototypes (best bit for me as you got to poke around the cars in various states of build - very nicely engineered) and then access to a finished 'virtually production' car and finally the show/PR car (which to be honest is just a mock-up and the interior and panel gaps are a bit low quality).

It seems pretty clear that demand will outstrip the initial supply for the UK cars - plenty of people there who appeared to be serious about getting an order in asap.  I'd say 30 to 40 of us in that group.  The Midlands group today and then the Southerners Thursday and Friday.

No substantially new information on pricing/deposit taking yet, but I didn't spend much time trying to pry information from the reps as it's clear they didn't have a lot of information themselves really.

I'm still in two minds though.  The money is one issue, but a bigger issue for me is really whether I'm the kind of person that would ever own something like this - I'm not sure I am really.

Cheers, Ross.

[jon b]

Thanks Ross for giving us the insight to your visit - sounds absolutely incredible

My personal view on this car - i just can't see that it will be better than the Ferrari (by the way i am not a big ferrari fan) but to, in effect, build a car from scratch and expect it to out perform and, look better (really important in this segment) than the competition is a big ask.  The decision to go a turbo route is a big no no imo - keeps the green camp happier but not what a pure drivers car should be.  Residuals are very important with this sort of money and though i think the car will hold value - a few months in you could be looking at reasonable depreciation.

Don't get me wrong - i'm prepared to eat my words but their objectives are so incredibly huge with the Ferrari setting an incredibly high standard that.......

Bottom line, how are the press going to judge it.  Often they'll say anything new is better than anything thats gone before (think Audi R8 and Aston Martin vs 911) - 6 months down the line you know they're talking a crock of headline grabbing shite 
 

[Trigger]

Back to back test of Mp4 and Ferrari will be the telling one. Then we will see how the press will view it.

I am in agreement with Jon more and more - the residuals are very important (especially to me) and I am pretty sure that in the volume they are planning to build there will be 10-15 pct lost pretty quickly, rather than any premium. maybe there could be a premium for the first 6 months but none of us are likely to get one that early I would imagine.

A mate of mine made £10k on his R8 but he did get one of the first ones into the country.

I look forward to my tour on Friday !

Will report back.

T

[ross]

Yep I definitely hear what you're saying and you may well be right although I suspect that McLaren's potential customers are probably as much interested in buying a McLaren as they are a 'supercar' and so hopefully it will appeal to potential customers in a slightly different way to the way a Ferrari or Lambo would appeal.  ie. your heart and eyes might say 458, but your brain will be telling you the MP4 is engineered and designed better.

If I buy a car like this, I want a car that is engineered to an absoultely anal level of perfection by a company that are completely anal about what they do.  I'd also prefer to buy British (daft I know, but that's how it is with me) and so the McLaren lines up perfectly with those requirements.  It's not as fancy looking as say the 458, but personally for me, as long as it looks good enough and I know that it's designed and built better than anything else, then that outweighs other considerations.

Anyhow, I just got a call asking for my deposit (apparently, my initial interest was relatively early - thanks Ben!).  It's refundable because the final price still isn't set yet so I may just take the next step and see where it goes....gulp.   I'm still not comfortable with the thought though to be honest!

[Trigger]

I am in same posn as you Ross - will see the car friday and almost certainly place a deposit - then can debate what I do nearer the time.

[ross]

Have fun!  It really is an incredible place to visit.  In the workshop I could have been dead and have gone to heaven for all I knew!

[Trigger]

Are photos allowed ? I was rather assuming not.....

[ross]

PS.  anyone got any pointers on how much insurance would be on a car like this (where's Hedge when you need him ?  low mileage per year, 40yo, clean driving record, located in low risk area?

£3K, £5k, £10k?  I've really no remote idea unfortunately....

[ross]

[quote="Trigger"]
Are photos allowed ? I was rather assuming not.....
[/quote]

I thought the same but they seemed very relaxed about it in the main boulevard ie. where all the historic F1 cars are and you overlook areas where they're working on the F1 cars as well so I'd imagine you could get pics of that as well.

I only got a couple on my iPhone unfortunately as it might have seemed a bit incongruous to be running around snapping everything but I wish I had taken more with a better camera now.

The only place we were specifically told we shouldn't take photos was in the workshop area.

So take some for me!

Cheers, Ross.

[benyeats]

[quote="Ross McWilliam"]
[quote="Trigger"]
Are photos allowed ? I was rather assuming not.....
[/quote]

I thought the same but they seemed very relaxed about it in the main boulevard ie. where all the historic F1 cars are and you overlook areas where they're working on the F1 cars as well so I'd imagine you could get pics of that as well.

[/quote]

I think you might get a bo**ocking for the latter, although it is rather prominently on display so maybe not.

A lot of times when I have visited the Boulevard has been closed so they can do photoshoots / adverts or similar so I doubt there is anything too secret there.

Ben

p.s. I am of the opinion that it will be much better than the 458 because it is British.