One for the Road: Could This be the Perfect Supercar?

Decades ago, it was easy to tell what a sports car was and what it wasn't. A sports car only had two seats, was commonly noisy and uncomfortable to drive, often had a poorly designed fabric roof that folded down much easier than it came back up, and was seldom as reliable, watertight, or economical to run as a more practical four-seat vehicle. If you bought one, your significant other wouldn't want to ride in it, your friends would think you nuts, and your parents would stay awake at night wondering how they had failed so badly. But all that changed with the Japanese Invasion in the 1970s, and small coupes like the Datsun 240Z and Mazda RX-7 showed the world that fun doesn't have to be foolish. The new breed was as practical and reliable as it was quick and fun to drive, and it forced the industry and enthusiasts to rethink the definition of a sports car.

It wasn't really until the 1990s and the introduction of the Acura NSX that the supercar was put on the same path. The NSX was proof that a fast, exotic performance car could be driven as an everyday car. Still, while rivals from Europe began to make supercars with far fewer compromises than before, they still weren't what you'd call suitable daily drivers. Sure, things have gotten better since the wedge-shaped '70s: New paddle-shift gearboxes allow a grandmother to drive a Lamborghini to her hair appointment without burning through a clutch or spraining her left leg, and rear back-up cameras mean she won't have to open the scissor door and sit on the sill in order to park the damn car.

But even though you could conceivably drive a modern supercar daily, there were a whole slew of reasons why you wouldn't want to. More often than not, your average supercar is still a noisy, uncomfortable, clunky device that's difficult-to-impossible to see out of and a bear to coax through rush hour traffic. For all the new user-friendliness, the supercar was still destined to be a weekend plaything, brought out only in the finest of weather on the rarest of occasions.

Then last year, the Ferrari 458 came along and showed that not only could you drive a Ferrari every day, but you'd actually want to. And now this: the 2013 McLaren MP4-12C. While McLaren's previous road-going supercar, appropriately named the F1, was a three-seat rocket ship that placed maximum performance at the forefront, Woking engineers say this new car is perfectly suitable for your daily commute, shopping, and excursions. Should you want to have a bit of fun, it will also reportedly reach over 200 mph. So there's that, too.

A large part of the McLaren's adaptability comes with its advanced and fairly unique suspension design (see illustration for more). By utilizing electronic dampers and a special hydraulic roll control system that acts as a virtual anti-roll bar, the car can be set up to provide either a very compliant ride -- one of the most compliant we've experienced in any type of car -- or a very firm one, all while keeping body roll virtually nonexistent.

In reality, the McLaren is actually a very usable car with a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personality. It genuinely feels as happy eating up the miles and soaking up the expansion joints on the freeway to a Chopin sonata as it is hammering down your favorite back road, flames licking at the exhaust tips (yes, it shoots flames!), and making sounds so akin to a real race car's that you'd swear what you're driving can't be street legal. The McLaren pops and snarls when driven hard, and letting off the throttle abruptly brings a chirp from the 3.8-liter twin-turbo V-8's wastegates, just like you hear when watching in-car camera footage from a WRC rally. The wheel-mounted paddle shifters require a firm tug that increases the involvement level, and the steering weight is near perfect, with very good accuracy. Switch the stability control and vehicle dynamics to the Sport setting and the McLaren is all the road car you could ever want. The computers allow for a touch of oversteer when powering out of turns, but quickly (and unobtrusively) step in when confidence outweighs reality. In Track mode with ESC off, the car is more of a handful, eagerly pushing its tail wide and allowing for some playful drifts.

It's also enormously capable. We brought the carbon fiber-tubbed MP4-12C out to our test location and, with the help of launch control, immediately zipped off a 3.2-second 0-60-mph run and a quarter-mile time of just 11.1 seconds at an astonishing trap speed of 129.4 mph. That's seriously quick, even for a rear-drive, 3200-pound car with 592 hp and a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. What's more, the McLaren's EPA fuel economy rating of 15/24 mpg city/highway means it avoids the gas-guzzler tax -- something that can't be said for even our long-term Cadillac CTS-V wagon and its 14/19-mpg rating.

Around our figure-eight course -- designed to reflect overall performance of acceleration, braking, lateral grip, and transitional behavior -- we got a time of 23.2 seconds at a 0.91g average, enough to beat both Ferrari 458 Italias we've tested and tie for time with the ballistic, 620-hp Porsche 911 GT2 RS. What's more, we ran the test with the McLaren's stability control system on and off and achieved the same result, though more consistently with ESC on. In our braking test, while the McLaren and its clever air brake (which activates when braking hard from 60 mph or higher) were able to stop in a respectable 106 feet from 60 mph, we found pedal feel a little lacking.

The real party trick comes when it's time to drive back home. A push of a button returns the vehicle settings to Normal mode, and the car will loaf along the freeway at over 70 mph, humming along at under 2000 rpm in seventh gear. With the gearbox in automatic mode, shifts are so smooth as to be virtually imperceptible and the ride is all-day comfortable. Only a bit of exhaust drone hinders the vehicle as a long-hauler, but even that can be classified as only a minor irritation. Luggage space isn't huge, but a rear shelf behind the seats and a small, yet deep, front trunk accommodate a weekend's worth of duffle bags for two people.

So the McLaren is a good performance car and even a good touring car. But is it a good supercar? Is the world ready to accept a daily drivable $231,400, mid-engine road racer? Aren't outrageous features and ergonomics part of the supercar experience? Fortunately, the McLaren still has a few niggles in its design to ease the minds of those who think supercars may have gotten a bit too cuddly.

For example, while McLaren claims that the outward and upward-opening door design eases entry and exit, it does nothing of the sort. The MP4-12C isn't the most difficult car to get in and out of, but it's far from the easiest; graceless exits in front of swanky restaurants are virtually a given. Opening the door at all from the outside is also an issue. There's no physical door handle, only a touch sensor mounted underneath the top edge of the side vent, near the door's trailing edge. About half the time, we were able to open the door with no trouble at all, but the other occasions left us sweeping our fingers across the touch sensor time and again with no effect. Fortunately, McLaren engineers have seen fit to allow a long press of the key fob's unlock button to pop the driver's side door remotely. The touch-screen nav/audio interface suffers similar trouble, recognizing inputs with a much lower success rate than we're used to.

Overall, the McLaren accomplishes what it sets out to do, namely providing an incredible driving experience while increasing usability. Could you drive the MP4-12C daily? You sure could. Would you want to? We would, gladly. But is the McLaren capable of outshining its obvious Ferrari 458 rival? That question hasn't escaped us, so stay tuned for a future showdown.