What’s like to drive a supercar daily?

I’ve been driving Monster for 5 months now, 3 of which intensively - almost every day. Once the oil pump issue was fixed, the car has been perfect since. There are some things that require custom solutions, but we’re talking about upgrades and not existing problems. 

Monster doesn’t have a lift, cameras and parktronic. When I mention this, people get shocked and ask me “why did you buy it?”. The answer is very simple - I fell in love with the car. Parking, manoeuvring - it’s raw. I approached this with the right mindset - from day one I told myself “I’m not going to allow myself to stress about these things. I’m a good driver, one of the best I know, so if anyone can live with it - it’s me.”. That’s the spirit behind driving Monster. I’m also a confident driver, because I constantly improve my skills. Not to be confused with cocky. So, the learning curve was steep. It took me 3 days to get used to the absence of these features, but that was it. I don’t think about it anymore. It’s not even an inconvenience, because the 720S has a great visibility. If you have a good spatial awareness and you learned the dimensions of the car, you won’t need cameras and parktronic. 

Talking about dimensions - the 720S and the SLR are the opposites. In the SLR, 2/3 of the car is in front of where you’re sitting. In the 720S, 2/3 of the car is behind you. This might be an issue, if you can’t adapt on the spot and if you’re too used to what you’re driving. Especially in tight overtakings, eg. in traffic, you need to take into consideration that the bigger portion of the car is behind you. It’s pretty wide, too. It fits within the lane obviously, but once in it, it gives an illusion of being narrower, there are at least 50cm on each side that when you’re sitting in it, you might not realise they’re there, but they are. The dimensions aren’t crazy, but there’s definitely getting used to. When talking to other 720S owners, they shared getting used to the width took them some time. 

Another thing that requires some learning curve - the butterfly doors. They’re not scissor doors! I keep seeing people calling them scissor doors, wrong. The V12 Lambos come with these, the McLarens come with butterfly doors. What’s the difference? The scissor doors require much less side clearance to open, but you need to be aware of how tall the ceiling is. Generally speaking, such cars can be parked in tighter spots (if the needed height to open the doors is present). Every Murci owner has a story how they scraped the ceiling, while reversing with an open door. The butterfly doors require bigger side clearance to open, because they don’t move only up, they move out as well. This ensures easier enter and exit, though, but tighter spots may not be ideal. You may not be able to open the door at all. This might be an inconvenience, if you have to park in busier parking lots or in a city centre. I intentionally parked Monster in tighter spots during the first couple of days: a) to practice parking b) to learn how much side clearance is needed in order to recognise a good spot when I see it - “yeah, that’s the one. I can fit in it” This is certainly not ideal when talking about a daily driver, I admit. But the butterfly doors are much more dramatic and contribute to the presence a lot.

The 720S is fast. You haven’t been in a fast car, unless you’ve been in a 720S. I mean it. It speaks the language of speed. It devours kilometres with an appetite. It wants to go fast, very, very fast. It’s like a little devil on your shoulder telling you “You can go faster. Do it. FASTER!”. Now imagine that appetite for speed in a 960BHP 720S. Nuts. It takes a lot of self-control not to get myself into trouble. It reminds me a lot of the SLR. It’s a mutual personality trait - once you reach 120km/h, both become monsters. They switch into menace. I feel like this is why some people think McLarens lack personality. Because you haven’t pushed them. The SLR and the 720S are the only cars I trust above 230km/h (obviously you need the right tires for this), because they’re the right kind of playful - both turn into precise machines when speed is involved. They were built for that and once you’re above 120km/h, you’ll experience their personality switch. The car wasn’t boring, you were the boring one. And they both can keep going and going and going, without giving any indication that the car has limitations. 320km/h in Paris feel casual. On the daily, yes, you may not experience the full personality of the 720S, but you can experience its playfulness and fun factor. 

Believe it or not, it's practical. I can fit 2 weeks of grocery shopping in the frunk. It can fit 1 suitcase and 2 backpacks casually. I do my shopping with Monster, people always stop and look at me when I open the frunk to place my bags in it. It's kind of funny.

The fuel consumption - just as bad as my Mustang’s. It varies between 17l/100 and 26l/100. It’s an expensive thing to drive as a daily, but the fuel tank is relatively big and I refuel it once per week and a half to two weeks. Really depends on how I drive it, but as a daily it’s something around that. I mean, it’s a commitment for sure. It costs me around 350EUR each month to refuel it, to give you a vague estimation. This is while I also drive other cars. I imagine a bigger bill, if I go everywhere exclusively in the 720S.

I don’t take the 720S to environments it won’t fit in. For example - to someone’s celebration. I don’t want to be the centre of attention on your day. If I show up in a supercar, I will be. People will subconsciously gravitated towards me, try to talk to me, try to sit next to me, while they should be celebrating you. This is more amplified when a woman drives the supercar. It’s inevitable, but at least I get to choose when to experience it, but getting a supercar is also one of easiest reality checks on who’s your friend. People are jealous creatures and they become really, really jealous when you obtain something expensive, especially if it’s out of their reach. Last time I experienced something along those lines was when I was at a group dinner with friends. The girlfriend of one of my friends started joking about how “supercar owners have either mommy or daddy issues and that spending obscene amount of money on a car was a way to cope with life” while looking at me. Mind you this is the first time I interact with this person and it was 100% the last time, because I don’t tolerate jealous, negative and victim energy. Couldn’t be more wrong. The majority of people will never understand why we buy these cars and that’s ok. In their short-sighted world everything needs to be explained, if not, they begin to project. I couldn’t care less. I understand this was a rare case of honest jealousy and I know 90% of it happens behind my back. But yeah, expect jealousy even from your family.  Narcissists will show through with remarks like "Oh, it's just a 720S", "But it has Monster stickers, are you 12?"... Where is your 720S? LMAO. About the stickers, all I can say is - money is freedom. This is beyond "old money" and "new money". It's just money. Monster Energy is intertwined with motorsport. They're one of the largest sponsors in every motorsport on the planet. Some of the record-breaking acts carry that logo on their cars. So, you only appear to be uneducated with such remarks. This car came from a billionaire, he put the stickers on it. Not giving a fuck is real money, remember that! If you learn one thing and one thing only from me, let it be this: money = freedom. Fake money does give a fuck. The obsession with socioeconomic status is not inherent in real money. The desire to appear rich is not inherent in real money. I'm here to have fun. I've never taken myself seriously and this is one of the reasons why I ended up where I am. If you can't have fun with me, with someone else's possessions (aka my cars), get the fuck out. We're here to have fun. Go pretend somewhere else. On here, I drive an SLR in my Converse Chuck Taylors, playing Bullet for my Valentine, while there is a Miami Blue Fender Stratocaster AM Pro 2 in the trunk. On here, I drive a 720S with Monster stickers on, while playing Sum 41. On here, we're free.

I don't wanna waste my time

Become another casualty of society

I'll never fall in line

Become another victim of your conformity and back down

Another thing I’ve noticed is that a big chunk of the population thinks we drive such cars for their amusement and feel entitled to them. Almost as if me pulling up in a McLaren is me entertaining them. I realised a lot of people lack basic manners and respect towards someone else’s property. I also observed how some parents enable these negative qualities in their kids by allowing them to do whatever they want when they see a supercar. Trust me, I’ll almost never say no to a kid. If you come to me and say “Hey, my kid wants to take a picture. Would this be alright with you?”. Sure! I’ll even let your kid sit in it. Maybe even a cold start. The only instance I might say no to a kid is, if your kid is, well, dirty. Has chocolate, ice cream or soup stains on its clothes. Sorry, that’s a no. I’ll gladly let you take pics with the car, just not from the inside of it. But if you come to my car, pretending I don’t exist and put your kid on the hood, well, you’ll be met with the same attitude from me. Touching is borderline offensive too, because detailing ain’t cheap. I won’t get mad-mad, but I’ll still think you’re an entitled piece of shit. Imagine if I come to you and start touching your kid, your bag, sit on your car? How would that feel? Yeah. 

Unfortunately, you can expect entitled adults to do such things as well.

The other type of attention you can expect is from people, who want to film your car in traffic. I don’t mind you, as long as you’re not 10cm away from my rear bumper in traffic, trying to take a better look at my car. What if I need to brake? “You hit a what?!” incoming LMAO 

A lot of people will roll the windows down and take their phones out to film you. I have no idea what they do with the pictures/videos. Legit, no idea. I’m not talking about the car spotters - they will tag me, if they see me, I’ll repost, we chill, we friends. I’m talking about random people. What are you doing with the picture of me driving? If you’re one of them, please, let me know. I’m genuinely curious. I’m in your gallery, chilling. 

The third type of attention is from people with “tuned” German cars, who will try to keep up with you and try to overtake you, just to impress a random female sitting in the passenger seat. That’s dumb. I don’t participate in such activities. “Look at me, I’m so fast, I overtook a McLaren” Bruh, do you realise, if I were for real, I would be a dot on the horizon. My licence means something to me and I ain’t losing it because of a jerk in a 10k tuned BMW. Alright? Good, good. 

I believe I’ve covered everything. I’ll post another one, when I hit 6 months with Monster.

See you around!

PS. Don't forget to wear your SPF 50