McLaren F1 1992-1998 interior

Our reservation concerns the minor controls, laid out in banks either side of your legs. They deal predominately with the modest air conditioning and incredible Kenwood CD player. These switches are too far from your line of sight for comfort. 

Rearward visibility is also a problem. Two interior mirrors provide some but ultimately insufficient detail of what is directly behind the car, while the usefulness of the exterior mirrors is compromised by the A-pillar, which cuts off much of the view they would otherwise give. Worse, if you have tall passengers on board, the interior mirrors are close to useless. Reversing the F1 without external guidance can be a heart-in-mouth affair. 

The McLaren will sit three in comfort while swallowing enough luggage to make the eyes of a driver of the physically larger F40, XJ220 or Bugatti pop out. Because you rarely travel three-up anyway, the spare seat becomes useful auxiliary stowage space.

In packaging terms, it is an utter triumph. That said, there are some problems. The driver cannot close the doors without undoing the four-point safety harness and those of a fuller frame will find getting in and out neither easy nor dignified. Heat soak from the engine warms your luggage and, to a lesser extent, your passengers as they sit alongside you in their surprisingly comfortable seats.

The driver, sitting forward in one of the most supportive and just plain comfortable seats we’ve come across, remains cool. 

The McLaren is not an especially quiet car at motorway speeds. Surprisingly, perhaps, the engine is the least dominant sound source in the cabin, with wind and tyres vying for that title. What’s more, the driver hears a lot less than the passengers, for whom the noise on a long motorway haul will eventually become a little tiresome.