Officially McLaren MP4-12C is Foremost

It's not every day a new road-going car from McLaren comes out, so the gents from Woking, UK unloaded with a super car load of detail this morning. So let's get down to brass tacks. The MP4-12C is set to slot into the $200,000 to $280,000 USD price range with a host of customization upgrades making that high figure readily attainable. But for that price tag, you'll be getting something totally bespoke. McLaren's taken great pains to dispel widely held assumptions this car would be a parts-sharer with Mercedes. According to the company, this is an all McLaren effort, from the carbon fiber chassis to the active suspension to the 3.8-liter, 600 HP V8 engine, right down to the buttons and switches.

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And speaking of that 3.8-liter engine, at its core, the MP4-12C will be all about performance. It starts with the McLaren "M838T," a twin-turbo V8 with an 8,500 RPM redline developing in the neighborhood of 600 HP and 442 lb-ft of torque, 80% of that available from 2,000 RPM. It's hooked up to the McLaren seven-speed Seamless Shift dual clutch gearbox (SSG) which features an amusingly named "pre-cog" function to prime the transmission for "lightning fast" shifts. Driving modes include full auto, sport, launch control and winter modes (for all you McLaren drivers who drive in the winter). All that drives the rear wheels and the car is controlled with an active suspension featuring dampers all tied together through a hydraulic system and able to deliver a smooth ride or blistering handling.