McLaren 720S Spider 2019 UK first drive

New to the Spider is a rear windscreen that drops down into the firewall between the engine bay and the cabin, roof still in situ, which is something you can’t do on the coupé. It’s a lovely bit of theatre. You not only get properly acquainted with McLaren’s heavily turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 – which is, if nothing else, brutally loud near an 8500rpm redline and more flambouyant than ever in its distinctively pneumatic, breathy manner – but also the lake of heat that collects above the carbon engine cover washes into the cabin with every forceful application of the brakes. You literally bathe in this engine. 

Sophisticated? Not especially, but for a car that generally struggles to engage its driver on an emotional level, it does the trick.

And then you lower the roof. From here on, the 720S Spider ceases to simply feel frighteningly fast and begins to seem incomprehensively so. For the full effect, you wind all the windows down and slip the powertrain into Track mode, at which point the short exhaust issues an uncomfortably loud explosion with every near-instantaneous downshift from the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. The sense of chaos created by 710bhp and 568lb ft, the whirlwind within the cabin and the speed at which the scenery slips by is accompanied by calm, clinical handling. It's a strange juxtaposition, but an enjoyable one.  

Crucial to the satisfaction of driving this car – and to that enjoyment – is the chassis. At speed, the ride is so good that you simply stop thinking about it, and given the 720S Spider will gobble up 20mph increments in less the two seconds at full throttle, that's exactly how you'd want it. The lack of roll is startling, in fact – and thanks in part to McLaren's efforts in setting the engine a whole 10cm lower than it was in the old 650S – but it's the way any movements are so quickly and deftly suppressed that takes your breath away. Mid-engined supercars often ride with more panache than you're expecting because, with less weight to support over the axles, the spring rates can be dialled back but, even so, the 720S Spider is at times mesmerisingly supple.

It is, we should say, also possible to sit back, raise the side windows and rear screen, set the cross-linked suspension at its softest (essentially, you allow the hydraulic fluid to flow through the system more freely – there are no anti-roll bars) and cruise with little in the way of buffeting or wind noise. The power delivery is boosty as always, but otherwise you could as well be driving a Mercedes E-Class cabriolet. Try that in an Aventador.