Luxury and Exotic Car Reviews

McLaren W1 First Drive: Ferocious Hypercar Transcends the Track

You know things are getting serious when McLaren rolls-out the ‘1’ suffix. The origin story is, of course, the very first road car McLaren ever built, the F1. Designed by visionary Formula 1 aerodynamicist and engineer Gordon Murray, it arrived in 1992 and rendered all other supercars obsolete. The tiny, lightweight F1 embraced carbon-fibre material technology, adopted a radical centre seat driving position with two passengers set back and either side and was powered by a 6.1-litre V12 engine from BMW that might as well have been passed down directly from the Gods. Game-changer? That doesn’t even come close to describing its impact, even if at the time sales didn’t come easy… The P1 was very different. Rather than a unique side project from the Formula 1 team, it was instead a statement piece for McLaren Automotive, a new road car division still in its infancy. It arrived in 2013 and was a wild-eyed showstopper. It traded the long-legged gait and supple suspension of the F1 for a weaponized hybrid system capable of delivering 903bhp and huge blue flames from its drainpipe exhaust. In Race mode, it lowered by 2-inches and its massive concave rear wing extended into the sky. The P1 was all about aerodynamic downforce, crazed acceleration and a snorting, angry soundtrack that mixed venomous twin-turbocharged V8 with the manic whirr of electric motors. Not so much a car as a force of nature. And now there’s this: The W1. It’s a true successor to the P1 with a similar brief and, on the face of it, it evolves rather than radically reinvents McLaren’s vision for the ultimate hypercar. This is not a criticism. How could it be when the result is this dramatic and has such staggering, other-worldly potential? The W1 has 1258bhp delivered to the rear wheels. It’s capable of 0-124 mph in 5.8-seconds, the quarter mile in 9.6-seconds at 167 mph and produces 2205lbs of downforce at 174 mph. The active aerodynamics – particularly a rear wing that extends way out beyond the rear of the car – are pure performance art and deliver massive aerodynamic efficiency. The result, aside from looking extremely cool, is that the W1 is McLaren’s fastest road car around a racetrack. Ever. Their benchmark circuit is the breath-taking Handling Track at the Nardo proving ground in southern Italy, where the W1 beats their previous benchmark, the flyweight McLaren Senna, by three seconds per lap. Or “a lifetime” as they call it in racing. Maybe two lifetimes! Core to the W1’s performance is the new ‘Aerocell’ carbon fibre tub. With integrated seats and a raised footwell to allow for inboard pushrod-operated front suspension – which in turn gives air a clean path to the huge underbody diffuser – it’s light, stiff, space efficient and has been instrumental in McLaren realising a full ground-effect concept. Just like last year’s F1 cars, which were the fastest ever made. There is also an active front wing and the aforementioned complex rear wing dubbed ‘Active Long Tail’. All of which is very admirable. But the ‘anhedral’ or gullwing doors and the fantastically shirnked-wrapped feel to the minimalist, highly-focussed interior are a pretty good side effect. The W1 feels special. Those fixed seats are perhaps a shade more upright than expected, and the driving position is less obviously racecar than, for example, the Aston Martin Valhalla or Ferrari F80. However, once you’ve adjusted the pedals (they move on a slider) and the delicate, slim-rimmed and alcantara-trimmed steering wheel, there’s an overwhelming sense of purpose. The cabin is so tightly tailored and imparts a sense of lightness and agility before you so much as start the all-new 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine, which makes 916bhp all on its own and revs to 9200rpm. Reach up to a roof-mounted control panel to find the starter button. Maybe this fighter plane trope is a little corny, but somehow you feel thrilled rather than manipulated. The W1 has a sense of humour as well as all that motorsport-derived sophistication. There’s a short delay, but when the engine does fire it’s instant – as the high-powered hybrid system negates the need for an old-school starter motor. A sharp flare of revs tells you that this engine is hyper-responsive and angry. On some deep level your brain and body have been sent all the signals required to prepare for something new and intense. Ahead of us, an empty Mugello racetrack, so press and hold the blue button next to the red starter to select Race mode. The centre display graphic shows the W1’s transformation in real time as it lowers by 37mm at the front and 17mm at the rear whilst simultaneously undocking all that active aero goodness. Race mode is not road legal and is geo-locked. You can show your friends and neighbours the aero dance, but it won’t allow you to select a gear to actually drive unless you’re at a circuit. Incidentally, the rocker switches either side of the display binnacle allow further options now: Toggle up the Handling control on the left for Race+ (for F1-spec super smooth tracks) or stick to Race for gnarlier ones. On the right toggle select ‘GP’ for sustained performance over a stint or ‘Sprint’ to unleash all 1258bhp for a time attack. There’s also a DRS and Boost function on the steering wheel. But I guarantee you won’t have the mental capacity to use them… Exit the pitlane, pin the throttle and W1 takes maybe a millisecond or two to gather its might (the gearing stretches to around 60mph in first, nearly 100mph in second, primarily to aid traction), but then lunges at the first turn with incredible ferocity. It instantly feels light, almost like inertia is no longer a thing. McLaren really does prize lightweight engineering, and at 3084lbs (dry) the W1 has a 278lbs advantage over the Ferrari F80. Plus, Ferrari uses figures for cars fitted with every single carbon fibre option. In reality, the gap is probably wider still. The impression of agility and stunning control continues as the track is unravelled at startling pace. The electric motor mounted to the side of the new 8-speed dual-clutch transmission is good for 342bhp and 324lb ft and it boosts any low rev lethargy the new flat-plane crank V8 might have (spoiler alert: It doesn’t appear to have any), so the W1 just feels massively, almost impossibly powerful at any revs. Even so, there’s real reward for wringing it out to 9200rpm and the power curve feels superheated but organic, too. In Race mode the steering – still hydraulically powered – has less assistance and it is noticeably heavier than other McLarens. However, that resistance is welcome as it gives you something to push against and imparts so much information about the front grip level. New Pirelli Trofeo RS tyres with a bigger front footprint than P1 or Senna really help. The front-end feels incredibly secure and the rear-axle follows with perfectly-aligned precision. The whole car feels super-stiff, completely locked into the surface and inspires confidence, but there’s an inherent agility and adjustability that means you’re quickly confident to push at its limits and really impose yourself on the chassis. It’s such a complex car but the driving experience is intuitive, and the driver feels a key contributor rather than just amazed (or terrified) observer, holding on for dear life. Every dynamic ingredient really is shockingly effective and yet has a subtlety and lightness of touch. From that delicious steering to the incredible brakes, the W1 just feels so mission-focussed, so hooked-up. Only the new 8-speed gearbox is a slightly disappointment. It’s fast and punchy, but after the scintillating energy of the Ferrari F80 ’box it feels competent rather than inspired. Other quibbles – it’s okay to quibble when the starting price is $2.1-million before tax and destination charge. Well, that new twin-turbocharged V8 sounds tightly wound and aggressive but if you have a P1 tucked in the garage you’ll miss the snorting, Darth Vader-style soundscape and all the drama that goes with it. Ferrari does this better, too. The F80 sounds deathly dull from the outside but is a riot of turbochargers, electric motors and all sorts of mechanical fury within the cockpit. Even so, the W1 is wildly entertaining on track, and the rear-drive configuration makes it more of a challenge and more satisfying than the F80 when chasing lap times or just sliding around for fun. In the Ferrari, you must second-guess what the front e-axle might do, whereas in the W1 it’s all on you. There are plenty of tools to help, including the ingenious Variable Drift Control, but somehow the W1 is more heroic. Or at least fools you into feeling more heroic – which is surely the point! On the road? Nimble, loaded with feel and sublime response. The ride is noticeably tougher than, say, a 750S but the control is ramped-up too, and with a bit more speed the whole car finds a delicious rhythm. Sport mode for the drivetrain brings some nice turbo whooshes and chirps, but the noise remains high-quality rather than extreme excitement. It is perhaps the one area the W1 feels just a little too tame. Of course, there’s nothing tame about the raw performance… which is genuinely shocking and literally hurts your neck muscles after a few hours. How McLaren has given the W1 such immense traction through just two driven wheels is beyond me. So, is it worthy of that ‘1’? I think so. Perhaps we won’t be talking about $25-million auction results for the W1 in 30 years from now, as we are for the F1. Perhaps it doesn’t quite have the amazing presence and jaw-dropping star quality of the simply gorgeous P1. But it is such an intense experience and the way it marries stunning track performance with delicate poise and entertainment on normal roads is something akin to magic. Maybe not ‘the one’ but definitely a searing, outrageous addition to McLaren’s fiercest family line. Just 399 W1’s will be built and they’re all sold. I’m not surprised at all. View All McLarens For Sale Images: McLaren Automotive

A gray Porsche sports car is parked on a paved area with trees and rocks in the background, echoing the sleek style highlighted in the Review: 2025 Porsche 718 Cayman GTS 4.0 Is Close To Flawless.

By Bradley Iger – November 29, 2025

Review: 2025 Porsche 718 Cayman GTS 4.0 Is Close To Flawl...

Over the past few years, Porsche has been telegraphing the imminent demise of the internal combustion-powered mid-engine Cayman and Boxster sports cars in favor of an as-yet-unnamed EV replacement. While there’s little doubt that this successor will deliver impressive performance, the switch from gasoline to electrons brings with it a number of foregone conclusions about the car’s design. Lightness and engagement have been hallmarks of Porsche sports cars since the first 356 rolled out of Gmünd, and the loss of a conventional ICE powertrain in favor of a hefty battery pack and synthesized noise is the kind of paradigm shift that fills traditionalists with a sense of dread. And with the introduction of the top-tier Cayman GT4RS and Spyder RS models over the past few years, there’s been a lingering sense that the internal combustion 718 had reached its final form and would soon shuffle off this mortal coil. But Porsche recently had a change of heart about its aggressive EV push, and as a result, the 718 will stick around with some form of internal combustion for the foreseeable future. This stay of execution might seem like a step backwards at first glance, but after spending a few days with the 718 Cayman GTS 4.0 on the streets of Los Angeles and the canyon roads that drape the Angeles National Forest, I’d be perfectly fine with being labeled a Luddite. It is as close to flawless as any sports car I’ve ever driven, and although the 718 is starting to show its age nearly a decade on, it’s hard to see reinvention as the most logical way forward. The GTS 4.0 itself reflects Porsche’s willingness to tweak its product development strategies based on the demands of its customers. Despite quantifiable improvements in both output and efficiency, Porsche-philes balked when the 718 debuted back in 2017 with turbocharged flat-four power plants instead of the naturally aspirated flat-six engines that had powered its predecessors. The introduction of the Cayman GT4 brought a flat-six back into the fold in 2019, but the model’s limited availability and track-focused tuning aimed it squarely at a niche audience. To rectify the situation, Porsche introduced the Cayman GTS 4.0 for 2021. Motivated by a slightly detuned version of the 718 GT4’s four-liter naturally aspirated flat-six, the GTS 4.0 dishes out 394 horsepower and 309 pound-feet of torque when outfitted with the six-speed manual gearbox. PDK-equipped models get 8 additional lb-ft. This represented a deficit of just 20 hp versus the GT4 while matching it for torque output, and the GTS 4.0 tips the scales with a nearly identical curb weight of around 3,200 lbs. The crucial difference between the two iterations is that Porsche’s GTS models have always been serious performers that are tuned for the road rather than the track, and that ethos holds true with the 718 Cayman GTS 4.0. In a place like Los Angeles, this is a sports car that you could realistically drive every day. The suspension is firm but not abusive, the clutch is perfectly weighted, and while the active exhaust system will let that flat-six sing proudly to its 7,800 RPM redline, it’s also willing to settle into the background during extended highway stints. And as the 911 continues to adopt an increasingly tech-forward persona, the 718 has become a refreshing throwback of sorts. Unlike the latest 911, the 718 still has a big analog tachometer in the center of the gauge cluster, and while all 992.2 911 Carrera models have ditched the distinctive twist-to-start faux-key arrangement in favor of a conventional start/stop button, the 718 retains this tactile callback to Porsche’s heritage. While we’re on the subject of tactility, additional points must be awarded to 718’s cabin. Physical switchgear may not have the visual pizzazz of capacitive buttons and touchscreen controls, but in practice, they tend to be much easier to operate, and virtually every commonly-used feature in the 718 has a knob, a rocker switch, or an honest-to-goodness depressible button assigned to it. And that means you don’t have to take your eyes off the road ahead to dig into an infotainment system sub-menu or confirm that something was properly registered – if you want to lower the temperature of the air conditioning, stiffen the dampers, or quiet down the volume of the exhaust, it’s all just a simple button press away. The GTS 4.0 also has a steering wheel-mounted rotary knob that allows you to cycle through the various drive modes, but it’s largely superfluous because most of the settings that these modes alter have dedicated buttons on the center console anyway. The fact that automatic rev-matching can’t be enabled or disabled independently of the powertrain mode is one of the few shortcomings of this control scheme, while the lack of wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto functionality makes the relatively bare-bones infotainment system feel a bit dated by contemporary standards. These trivial compromises instantly become irrelevant when you point the nose of the 718 Cayman GTS 4.0 down a twisting stretch of tarmac, though. Without the seriousness that’s inherent to models from Porsche’s GT division, the GTS 4.0 feels playful near its dynamic limits rather than intimidating. Although more aggressive gearing and stickier tires might get you through a technical section of road a bit quicker, there’s something to be said for the impeccable balance of GTS 4.0’s tuning. Simultaneously communicative and seemingly unbothered by being wrung by the neck, the car’s lightweight construction, linear power delivery, and road-oriented spring rates make the outer reaches of its formidable capability feel eminently accessible, even on less-than-ideal road surfaces. Truth be told, I feel like I could drive this thing for the rest of my life and want for nothing. This is the kind of car that you will find yourself making excuses to drive. While the steady march of progress will likely continue to give us increasingly quicker and more capable machines as time goes on, in the case of the 718 Cayman GTS 4.0, I’m not really sure that we need more of anything. We might not be able to stop time, but we can savor a moment when the opportunity strikes, and this one’s well worth appreciating while it lasts. View All Porsche Caymans For Sale Images: Bradley Iger

By Gabriel Vega – September 21, 2022

2022 Porsche 718 Cayman T: 1,000 Mile Car Week Companion

For luxury-oriented magazines like duPont REGISTRY, Monterey Car Week is one of the industry's most important events. It's one of few times a year that large-scale manufacturers and boutique carmakers get to debut their latest creations in front of the media and a sea of potential buyers. However, while the Porsche 911 GT3 RS, Bugatti W16 Mistral, and Lamborghini Urus Performante stole the show, our car week revolved around a little red 718 Cayman stashed in a parking lot less than a mile away. It's the 2022 Porsche 718 Cayman T, and it was our companion for Car Week, covering nearly 1,000 miles from Los Angeles and around the Monterey Peninsula. The T represents a real sweet spot in the 718 Cayman lineup. It combines the base Cayman's 3.0-liter turbocharged flat-four with a plethora of standard equipment. These include PASM Sport Suspension, Sport Chrono Package, mechanical limited-slip differential, sport exhaust, sport seats, and 20-inch Carrera S wheels, to name a few. It combines the model's entry-level engine option with all the go-fast bits to fully utilize it. The result is one of the lightest Porsches for sale. Cars equipped with the six-speed manual transmission, like our tester, tip the scales at 3,058 lb. PDK-equipped cars weigh an extra 62 lb at 3,127 lb, but more than make up for the added heft with lightning-fast shifts. There's no wrong answer to the transmission question when it comes to the 718 Cayman, but we were thrilled ours had three pedals. With the stick, the T will reach 60 mph in 4.9 seconds versus 4.5 seconds with paddles. Between Los Angeles and Monterey sit a mix of flat open highways, twisty canyon roads, and stunning coastal drives. The first allowed us to open up the taps on the T's flat-four. It may have two fewer cylinders than its predecessor, but it loses none of its character. Peak power still lives at the top of the rev range at 6,500, urging its driver to work for top speed. However, peak torque now comes in at 1,950 rpm allowing the T to feel both quick off the line and around town. There is, however, no getting around the fact that the T is turbocharged. When in boost, it's a pocket rocket, but until you get there, you're fighting a fair bit of lag. At no point were we left feeling like the T needed more power. 300 hp at just over 3,000 lb is a mighty combo. More importantly, its total output is usable all of the time. The T doesn't require a wide open road or ideal conditions, it begs to be redlined and enjoyed, and despite lacking a flat-six, it sounds great. At idle, its mechanical sound is something reminiscent of a 912. You get more than just exhaust noise. You can physically hear the engine sitting just behind you. Push the gas, and the T delivers a strong impression of a Subaru WRX STI. With plenty of woosh noises and blow-off sounds, the T is far from dull. Its extensive suspension improvements shone through as the road got twisty. It's already a light car, meaning its agility is far from surprising. It was its stability through tight corners that impressed most. The adaptive suspension stiffens considerably for sporty driving without turning it into a back-breaking experience. This mid-engined sports car proved very approachable, inviting us to test its reachable limits. We noticed ourselves enjoying the drive more than some modern supercars. It's how you interact with the 718 Cayman that makes the experience. From the talkative and direct steering to the notchy shifter, the T constantly provides feedback. Every aspect of the 718 Cayman is lively and involved, making a stronger case for itself as you rack up more miles. Once in Monterey, not even the hilly streets made us wish we had PDK. Thanks to a light and easy-to-modulate clutch, the T is more than up for daily-driver duties. Its flat-four was also surprisingly efficient, averaging 27.4 mpg during our near 1,000-mile trip. As we ran from event to event, the T's small footprint proved a blessing in disguise. It dominates as a little city car as it's easy to maneuver and fits just about anywhere, and despite its small size, it's also relatively easy to get in and out of thanks to a sizable door. From a visual aspect, the T doesn't do much to differentiate itself from a standard 718 Cayman. The dead giveaways are its larger wheels and added badging. Otherwise, its bumpers, side skirts, and small rear wing remain unchanged. It's a pretty thing, albeit a bit conservative with its flare. It's sleek but not aggressive, in line with the car's overall ethos. Inside, the 718 Cayman benefits from excellent Porsche build quality, everything feels premium to the touch, and there's not a stitch out of place. If there is any drawback to its cabin, it's the outdated infotainment system. Navigating menus and maps proved challenging, and the screen wasn't very responsive. Thankfully, you get Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity which essentially solves the problem. However, it's worth mentioning that our phone disconnected itself randomly at times, even with a wired connection. Pricing-wise, the 2022 Porsche 718 Cayman T presents fairly good value as long as outright speed and power are not the goals. It starts at $72,500 plus a $1,450 destination charge. However, our specific car and its few options increased the as-tested price to $78,550. Its base price falls just short of a Cayman S yet includes many go-fast bits as standard. Optioning these on an S would result in a much higher price tag, and the GTS 4.0 starts at over $90,000. In this case, the T is a car that handles just as well as cars that cost significantly more but sacrifices raw power. As a car for tackling a crowded city during the week and canyons on the weekend, the Cayman T is nearly faultless. Even on our lengthy road trip, it proved comfortable and more than up to the task of covering long distances. Sure, a big comfy GT would've been ideal for highways, but we would've given up fun in the canyons. The T proved the best of both worlds, easily at home on the open road and the twisty stuff. Given its price point, capabilities, and overall appeal, the Cayman T and its standard kit carve a tempting lane amongst its more expensive GTS 4.0 and GT4 siblings. After a week in so many different scenarios, it's clear that the T is ready to shine no matter where it goes. See All Porsche Caymans For Sale

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