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991.1 GTS vs McLaren 570S (Part 1, Daily driver review)
If you came here to say how ridiculous of a comparison this is, you're right, it is. I have both cars and they couldn't be more different. That said, I figured I'd share my thoughts for those interested in either of them. I've driven 3,000 miles in the GTS and 12,000 miles in the 570S. I've done around 12 track days in the McLaren and 4 track days in the GTS. Here are my thoughts...
Daily Driver...
A daily driver, the 570 is blissful. The cabin truly is my happy place. The seats are simply the best in the business and the suspension is so compliant in normal mode, it's ridiculous. The seats are definitely more comfortable than the GTS(frankly, more comfortable than any car I've ever owned), and the seating position and visibility is fantastic. The steering will feels great and the upgraded sound system is a class above the Burmeister in my GTS. I opted for the manual transmission for the GTS, because I wanted a more analog experience to go along with the NA motor.
I've driven both cars from San Fran to LA, and the 570 is simply the better car for this task. Being a turbo car, the 570 has ridiculous power at all ends of the spectrum so you don't need to wind out the engine all of the time. I'm pretty convinced that this then leads you to much better fuel efficiency. Another factor contributing to the gas mileage is the engine sound of the GTS. It's soooo good that I find myself accelerating and decelerating just to hear that engine note and pops. The 570S turbo sounds good and aggressive when pushed hard, but the car is just so fast you don't get to push it that hard on the streets.
The one downside of the 570 is the looks, and I don't mean the looks are bad. I mean the looks are so out of this world that it draws attention everywhere and people constantly approach me. Gas station? Yup. Grocery store? yup. I mean anywhere you go, people are staring and looking to chat with you. Constant photos and videos follow the staring. The ventura orange color that is my 570S probably doesn't help. Kids absolutely love the McLaren. Depending on your personality, this is could be a positive or a negative. Personally, I love seeing the smiles it puts on people's faces. You can literally see others' faces light up. Sometimes I just want to go get some gas, so I just get out and avoid eye contact with others to prevent any unwanted slow downs. The one caveat is that the GTS has 4 seats and can fit my 2 daughters in the back. The 570S just gets my older 6 year old in the front. The GTS seats fold down of course allowing me to bring a lot more luggage when going anywhere. I once even brought it to Fry's Electronics store and stuffed in all of the parts for a new PC build. In summary, I think the 570S is the better "daily" car for my personal use case.
Lucky guy. Both Awesome cars. Where in SF? I live near SF, don't think i've seen you driving around.
East Bay, Walnut Creek to be exact. Did you make it to any of the local meets? There is a great meet in Concord once a month at the Veranda. Check it out here -> https://www.facebook.com/events/337524360084955/ It's this Sunday at 8am. Great mix of exotics and Porsches.
Was never a big fan of the looks of the McLaren until I saw it in person. Wow, wow, wow. Beautiful car and I got a whole new perspective of it seeing it live. Now I love it. But like you said, I don't know if I could take the constant stares, hoots and hollers all the time. Sometimes you just want to enjoy the car in anonymity. Nice write-up and looking forward to your next ones.
Walnut Creek is a lovely location. Do your kids go to HRS? McLaren SF is also a better dealer than Livermore. Pretty impressive that your 570S has got up to 12,000 mi in less than 6 mo.
You have a hell of a garage! Great NA and turbo motors covered. I've only sat in a 570 but agree that it is quite a compelling car and I'm happy McLaren is adding more competition in the sub $200k space. Surprised you prefer the 570S to the GTS as a DD, especially since you opted for the S and not GT version (if there is any material difference between the two). Maybe the manual in the GTS plays into that?
I agree though that for daily driving a turbo motor is amazing. Having access to the boost just about instantly gives you that surge of power in just about any driving situation: canyons, freeway cruising, any road. That was my first impression actually when comparing my GT3 to my .2 C4, is that you actually feel power come on quite a bit faster in the turbo 3.0 than in the 4.0 NA engine (without downshifting of course).
Walnut Creek is a lovely location. Do your kids go to HRS? McLaren SF is also a better dealer than Livermore. Pretty impressive that your 570S has got up to 12,000 mi in less than 6 mo.
Had the McLaren for ~18 months now. A good chunk of those 12K miles are track miles. Around 12 track days so far. Carbon Ceramics are still in good shape, but the Pzero Corsas that it came with are toast... Thank God. Replaced them with Michelin 4S. Can't wait to burn through the PZeros the GTS came with and replace them with the same.
How would you compare the maintenace cost between the two?
570 is still under warranty and I haven't had to replace the CCBs yet. My yearly scheduled maintenance for the 570S is around $1100. I've had the transmission unit get entirely replaced, and a few sensor issues, but everything under warranty. I've but 25% of the McLaren's miles on the Porsche and 25% the track days too so it's probably not a fair comparison. I will say that the 911 brakes (non CCB) warped after the second day of tracking the car. Really frustrating and Porsche does not cover the warranty under track use. McLaren is the only manufacturer to honor their warranty under track usage AFAIK. I probably could have prevented the brakes from warping by cooling them down more aggressively after the session on track. Making matters worst, Porsche has equipped the car with a error that gets thrown when brake temperatures have exceeded expected limits which allows them to shift blame to the customer. They do not surface that error code to the customer so there is no opportunity to correct for it with more cool down laps.
I've had some minor mishaps(driver error) at the track and replaced a few plastic components underneath the car(floor panel, brake duct cover) etc... Each part + labor was a couple hundred bucks,
East Bay, Walnut Creek to be exact. Did you make it to any of the local meets? There is a great meet in Concord once a month at the Veranda. Check it out here -> https://www.facebook.com/events/337524360084955/ It's this Sunday at 8am. Great mix of exotics and Porsches.
Oh man, been looking for one close for me and my wife to bring her Cayman R as well. I'll check it out and just mentioned it to my wife.
05-16-2018, 02:45 PM
991.1 GTS vs McLaren 570S (Part 1, Daily driver review)
