The McLaren GT, to me, is like a rich person’s Toyota Avalon except with a lot less practicality and a lot more style. (Also, more speed.) It’s the grand tourer of the lineup, with softer facial features and an identity that screams, “Take me on your next road trip, not your next track day”—you know, if you have the money for all of that. It is what I want to be when I grow up.
Being the 612-horsepower, $210,000, mid-engine, grand-touring sports car that can fit golf clubs strikes this weird balance between fun and not too fun, like the person who lights up your bar hopping on Friday night, but only until 10 p.m., because unlike you, they have stuff to do tomorrow. The party isn’t quite the same after they’re gone, but you appreciate them while they’re there.
That’s the McLaren GT. That’s the person I wish I could be, but am instead the lame one who just begs to go home from any outing at 8:45 p.m. and is denied the request. The McLaren GT is definitely cooler than me.
Just looking at it, I feel like I’ve ascended, at least temporarily, three social classes. It doesn’t need to impress me with complicated lines or sporty seats, despite being a two-seater sports car. It doesn’t need red stitching or a huge wing.
No, instead, McLaren’s customization arm, McLaren Special Operations, is waltzing this one out in beige paint—like your family’s old Avalon—in the guise of “Defined Flux Silver.”
Why? Because the McLaren GT still looks cool.
What’s that disproportionate stitching pattern, which the GT can not only get away with, but also make into a trend with just one outing? No idea. McLaren calls it “Geoform Stitching,” inspired by designs at the British Museum.
I call it “above my social status.”
“But where are the bright, popping accent colors many other sports cars have?” you ask.
They’re nowhere. This McLaren GT glows a cool blue, like the faces of all of the people who can’t afford one.
What are those lights, woven into the inside of the doors? Has McLaren trapped a constellation within its new grand tourer, to remind us all that the stars are shining every day in the land of the person who owns a McLaren GT?
Probably.
Yeah, the McLaren GT is absolutely the car equivalent of that person who can strictly adhere to a 10 p.m. bedtime, and pull off an entirely beige outfit, while still making everyone envious of how cool they are.
The McLaren GT is everything I wish I could be.