If you’re the kind of person that wants to buy a brand new McLaren, you’re looking at shelling out more a third of a million of our finest American freedombucks. However, you’d be a complete dope to do that because examples of the automaker’s spectacular MP4-12C have arguably reached the bottom of their steep depreciation curves and can be had for the price of one of BMW’s bigger M cars.
Don’t think about it—just do it.
This 2012 McLaren MP4-12C is the car you get when you’d like to be seen but don’t fancy paying the price with physical discomfort. You see, in the olden days, when cocaine flowed through the nostrils of many a Wall Street exec like powdery Chilean fjords, exotic supercars had to suck to drive.
Clutches were tractor-trailer-heavy, fuel economy was a myth, and visibility would’ve been laughable if it wasn’t so damn dangerous. When we fast forward to the present day, we have cars made by an automaker responsible for the fastest naturally aspirated production car in the world, that are about as daunting to drive as your great aunt’s Avalon.
The car (with billionaire doors, by the way) is an insane feat of engineering, because it makes the quintessential supercar experience accessible for almost anyone willing to pay the price. The car’s party piece, however, is the fact that you can get Ferrari 458-destroying performance for less than $130,000, or nearly half of what a used Ferrari costs in the current market.
No bone stock car can even come close to that benchmark and carry the supercar mantle on its back with such ease. New with options, the car would’ve cost more than $300,000. That’s $50,000 a year in depreciation.
This car in particular has seen its share of miles, with over 30,000 on the odometer. However, with a bulletproof 3.8-liter twin turbocharged and paddle-shifted drivetrain made by hand, the cars are some of the most reliable, if not nearly daily-able cars you can get in this price range. In fact, it was one of the cars driving with me on last year’s Dustball Rally, a fact made painfully aware to me by the ironic WELFARE license plate.
Here’s what was done with this particular car, as per the description:
-Carbon Fiber Side Blades
-Carbon Fiber Mirror Casing
-Carbon Fiber Seat Backs
-Carbon Fiber Interior
-Carbon Fiber Engine Bay
-Carbon Fiber Engine Covers
-MSO Carbon Fiber Branded Door Sills
-MSO Carbon Fiber Air Brake
-Brand New Iris 2 upgrade
-Super Lightweight Forged Wheels
Let’s get down to brass tacks. This car is not 5PM matinee movie cheap. It’s not even brand new Audi S4 cheap, which is as far from conventionally cheap as you can get without complaining about your horse breeder. What this presents is a Earth-shattering value per dollar.
I’ve written about the benefits of an MP4, even over the newer 650S, and the car is just a relentless powerhouse of beauty and performance. Its low-six figure price tag won’t likely get any lower, and while it may be out of the reach for most commuters, saving up for something worthwhile in life is sometimes necessary to get you to that elusive next level in life. It’s also not the only one in its price range, as there are many varieties of MP4 in various trim levels, colors, and mileages—no need to peruse salvage auctions or flood vehicle repositories—what you see is what you get in Used McLaren Land.
If you ever have the chance to drive one, do it. If you ever have the chance to buy one, especially at this amazing of a value, then drop your coffee and get it goin’. If you don’t, I sure as hell will.