The Highest Milage 720s

The performance is a testament of the maker’s aspirations and know-how. McLaren got plenty of those. To me, they make the best high-performance cars on the market, today. In my eyes, nothing beats a McLaren. The Super Series are the pinnacle of McLaren’s aspirations and know-how, plus they’re user-friendly. 

I’ve been to a lot of races and the McLaren drivers are always the ones to arrive to the track in their McLaren, drive it on the track, set the best time and then leave the track in it. That’s something you’ll notice, if you’re part of the track racing community. No one else does it, but the McLaren drivers. And that’s a very sensitive topic for a lot of you - McLaren’s reliability. 

McLaren doesn’t have a reliability problem. You’re the problem. Let me elaborate. 

Try to picture the average supercar owner. 

You’re likely picturing a man in his late 40s or 50s, dressed in high-end clothing (probably designer), he’s likely a banker or an actor, driving his supercar on Sunset Boulevard, 5th Avenue, Regent Street or Champs-Elysées. He’s likely driving a Ferrari or a Lamborghini. 

You’d be correct, that’s the universal image of the average supercar owner. And there’s nothing wrong about being that man. Good for you!

But … because of how we perceive supercars, we collectively see them as status symbols before  we see them as anything else. Of course, one would need a lot of money to own and maintain a supercar. So, in a way, they’ll always have that status element to them. Not everyone can afford to buy one, in fact, very few can. They’re expensive, temperamental and impractical. So, by owning one, you either commit to your status / image … or to your skills. 

The top 3 in the supercar segment are Ferrari, Lamborghini and McLaren. Two of them have a rich heritage as car makers and are widely associated with committing to an image. The same two you thought of when I asked you to picture the average supercar owner. You didn’t picture him in a McLaren, right? 

McLaren being right next to Ferrari and Lamborghini, by definition and by assumption, is one of them. So, even though we didn’t picture the average supercar owner in a McLaren, when see a McLaren, we still picture the average supercar owner. We picture someone committing to an image. 

Generally speaking, that would be correct. (But that’s a topic for another piece - why rich people love to display money)

While Ferrari and Lamborghini are rather heritage brands that are 100% associated with wealth, McLaren’s brand identity couldn’t be further away. 

McLaren’s ambitions are to make the best high-performance cars. That’s it. That’s what they are. 

If you see them as something else, you’re the problem. If you treat them as something else, you are the problem. 

The majority of you don’t have the right mindset to own a McLaren, too. 

10/10 owners will share that the first couple of thousand kilometres are wild. If you’re new to exotics and have a weak nervous system, sure, you will start screaming how unreliable they are. Especially, if you already think they’re unreliable. Every minor thing will seem as it’s the end. 

10/10 owners will also share that after that period, it’s their most reliable high-performance car. I can’t tell you why, but it’s a universal McLaren experience. With time, we just ignore the majority of the warning signs, although such rarely come up. 

For example, the other day I started Monster and a warning sign came up “Suspension not available” for like 3 seconds. It was because I went into drive a little too fast. But if it was someone weak sitting in it at that time, they’d lose it. I went into drive too fast, because the SLR is behind Monster and I don’t want the exhaust’s byproduct to spray the SLR. Lol This one is on me, just like the majority of such signs I just ignore. 

So, yeah, it takes a certain type of mindset to live with a McLaren. That being said, once you reach the promised land, you’ll never look at another brand. All you need to do is have an open mind and see them for what they are. 

Monster has already reached that promised land, it had 30k+ km on it when I bought it. This week alone, I added another 1.5k km on it. And just to prove how reliable these cars are, how easy to live with they are and how fun they are, I plan to have the highest milage 720S on the planet. The current highest milage 720S is at 102.000 km on the odometer. Watch me beat that. “Oh, but what about the value of the car?”. Don’t care, Monster is a forever car. Also, why would I want to preserve a car, so that someone else can enjoy it?! That’s fucked up. Here, we drive the cars. If you like to see pristine examples, I’m not your person.