Road test: McLaren 650S – a hyper drive

Getting reacquainted with some ‘extraterrestrial’ performance.

McLaren’s 650S isn’t gleaning as many headlines as its Sports Series, but it remains in a league of its own. Courtesy Newspress UK

As much as I tried, I couldn’t get anyone to loan me a spaceship for this week’s road test, but it turns out I didn’t need one to have what you might term an “otherworldly” experience. I just needed to re-familiarise myself with a car I’d not driven in the nearly 12 months since its international media launch in the wilds of Spain: McLaren’s stupefyingly rapid 650S.

While McLaren’s new ­“entry- level” Sports Series occupies the headlines and the media continues to bang on about the limited-edition P1 hypercar of 2014, it’s perhaps easy to forget about the 650S – the car that early last year quietly killed off the MP4-12C. There was little about that car that needed fixing, but the 650S did it anyway, tweaking the areas that had come under scrutiny during the 12C’s three-year tenure. It was slightly better across the board – and in the eyes of people who know about such things, was the car the ­awkwardly named MP4-12C should have been from the beginning.

The 650S has still come in for a bit of flak, mind you. Some say it’s still not noisy enough or that the rear-end styling is too tame (personally I prefer it to the somewhat fussy and over-styled nose section), but once you’re behind its wheel and exploring the upper echelons of its performance, these concerns vanish into the air that’s rushing above your head whenever you open the taps of its twin-turbo V8.

When you do, something extraordinary happens. Recall when, in 1977's Star Wars, Han Solo puts the Millennium Falcon into "hyperdrive"? That. Everything that surrounds you becomes a blurred line as you're thrust towards the horizon with an unstoppable force that seems entirely extraterrestrial. It's addictive stuff, there's no denying, but is the 650S an antisocial menace that embodies everything that's wrong about the automobile in these fragile times? Not from where I'm sitting.

Unlike some shouty Italian and German cars of its ilk, the 650S goes about its business with a certain level of dignity – surprising, really, when you consider just how new McLaren actually is in the world of series-car production. There’s a very British reserve at play here, which is actually quite endearing. It’s not entirely surprising, though, if you’ve ever seen or visited the facility in which these cars are built. There’s no room or time for passion in the usual motoring sense, just the relentless pursuit of utmost efficiency.

It’s only when you get to spend a few days with a car like this that its foibles, charms, flaws or brilliance can be exposed. In the year between seat time, the 650S sort of disappeared from my radar, but after plenty of driving on the UAE’s best roads, it’s back with a vengeance.

I’m still not sold on the looks, although when it’s painted in darker hues and fitted with the right kind of wheels (not painted black, please), it does look menacing and full of intent. But in every other respect, I have ­nothing but admiration for this incredible machine.

It’s brutally fast, able to hit 335kph in no time at all, given enough (private) space. It will crack 100kph from standstill in less than three seconds, and its acceleration piles on in an uninterrupted surge until you run out of road or bravery. But while the speed is frankly ludicrous, its ease of use means it’s exploitable by non-experts and seasoned wheelsmiths alike. It’s an incredibly stiff structure, too, harnessing the attributes of carbon-fibre construction to great effect.

Wiping off speed is as easy as putting it on, thanks to active – and extremely clever – aero aids. And while some may decry the 650S for looking a bit bland from the rear, there’s no denying the visual drama afforded by the spoiler that flips up vertically to act as an air brake when you stamp hard on the left-hand pedal. The only downside to this is that you’re tempted to look in the mirror to see it in action, rather than pay attention to what you’re slowing down for in the first place.

The car’s interior is an exercise in restrained minimalism, again a perfect reflection of its maker, but everything you need is there and it’s all perfectly positioned – it just takes a while to recalibrate your brain before you realise how intuitive the cabin’s layout is. And this ease of operation is another reason you can exploit the massive reserves of the 650S without taking years getting to know it. Get in, drive like stink – it’s how a true performance car with race-bred technology should be.

While there are, indeed, far more outlandish-looking supercars out there to be had, few (if any) offer a more complete package than this McLaren. Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porsches and all the rest are stunning in their own right, but this British spaceship is in an intergalactic league of its own.