McLaren 650S Spider

650S Spider speeding away in Soho

In 1988, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost demolished the rest of the field in their white and red MP4/4 Formula One cars. Meanwhile, their team was making a historic decision: to expand into the road car business. The stunning McLaren F1 was unveiled a few years later, and the supercar went on to set a record for the fastest production car. Just over a decade after the F1 went out of production, McLaren returned to the sports car business, introducing the MP4-12C. I have seen a few 12C's on the street, but up until recently I had yet to see its successor, the 650S, in the wild. I had gotten a look at the sexy 650S at the New York Auto Show, under the gleaming lights of the Javits Center, but a few weeks ago I spotted the low-slung sports car on the streets of Soho. Getting to lay my eyes on the slinky 650S in natural light convinced me that the McLaren is truly a beautiful design.

650S Spider at 2015 NYIAS

The front end of the 650S echoes its big brother, the hybrid P1 which was unveiled about a year before the 650S. This means the 650S gained the boomerang headlights, which are reminiscent of the McLaren logo. The 650S also featured air vents curving downwards towards the carbon fiber front splitter, which resemble tears streaming down cheeks. These black extensions also remind me of the trim pieces that extend down on the Opel Zafira Tourer and Opel Ampera. Like on the Opels, these vents make the front end of the 650S very dynamic--it almost appears like the bottom of the vents are tethered to the splitter and the rest is being blown away as the McLaren accelerates. This gives the car a sense of movement even when it is standing absolutely still. The intakes are also excellently integrated into the headlights, curving around with the modern LED lights to form a smaller boomerang. There is one aesthetic design flaw on the front of the 650S. If you look closely, you can see that where the vents meets the headlights, it becomes solid plastic, simply giving off the image of still being a true intake. While seeing a faux vent on a $15,000 Honda Fit seems reasonable, I was surprised to see the visual trickery appear on a $260,000 supercar. From afar it is difficult to notice, but from ten feet away the cheap-looking design choice becomes obvious and looks out of place on the sports coupe. Luckily, McLaren makes up for this flaw with copious amounts of exposed carbon fiber, which highlights the lightweight, high performance nature of the 650S.

650S Spider in Soho

The wheel arches powerfully curve over the front tires, flowing into the cabin. Lean, taught character lines run down the side of the 650S. A carbon fiber sill extends backwards from the front fender, giving the McLaren an aggressive stance. Massive five-spoke wheel designs accentuate the bold, muscular look. Carbon fiber reappears on the spindly side view mirrors and the large intake just in front of the rear wheels. The intake is functional, providing cool air for the engine, but also makes the car look like a true supercar.

650S Spider at 2015 NYIAS

Out back, the 650S is practically identical to its predecessor, but this is certainly no bad thing. The taillights are composed of thin LED strips that are hidden in the vent that spans across the rear fascia. These stealthy lights are elegantly simplistic, and look menacing when lit up at night. The sporty McLaren's functional design exudes performance, from the gigantic carbon fiber rear diffuser that sweeps downwards from the vent to the bulky dual exhaust pipes flanking the McLaren logo dead center. The rear fascia is topped of with McLaren's Airbrake, the adjustable wing bridging the gap between the raised rear haunches. This convenient bit of active aero raises up to 69 degrees under hard braking to provide extra downforce. When raised, the Airbrake makes the McLaren look like it's in attack mode, and the wing adds to the sports car's dynamism. Overall, the McLaren simply looks fast, with a swept back front fascia, athletic carbon fiber elements, and vents on nearly every surface.

Grade:
Front: A
Back: A
Overall: A

Car Lyric of the Week: When The Sun Goes Down by The Arctic Monkeys

"Look, here comes a Ford Mondeo
Isn't he Mister Inconspicuous?"

This song from the Arctic Monkeys debut album discussed the prostitution that occurred around their studio in Sheffield, England. The song gets into the nitty gritty of the characters: the prostitute and the client, who Alex Turner describes as a "scummy man" who will "rob you if he can" and has a "driving ban amongst some other offenses." Turner starts the third verse by describing the man's car, a Ford Mondeo. The Mondeo is the European equivalent of the Fusion, but unlike the stylish model on sale now, Mondeos in the early 2000s were dreary and commonplace. Therefore, Turner is making a sarcastic remark about the man's car, by referring to him as "Mister Inconspicuous," showing that by trying to blend in, the man is almost sticking out more in this situation.

Car Lyric of The Week: Rocket 88 by Ike Turner and Jackie Brenston

"Let me introduce you to my Rocket 88
Yes, it's great, just won't wait
Everybody likes my Rocket 88
Baby, we'll ride in style movin' all along

A V8 motor baby, it's modern design
Black convertible top and the girls don't mind
Sportin' with me riding all around town with joy"


The lyrics above come from "Rocket 88," widely considered to be the first rock and roll song, by Jackie Brenston and Ike Turner. The song focuses on the singer's Oldsmobile Rocket 88, a full-size car that Olds introduced in 1949 that featured the new 135 hp Rocket V8 engine. This powerful new engine was 35 hp ahead of its rival Ford, and was quite successful. Oldsmobile produced 88-badged cars up until 1999. The classic early 50's styling of the car fits perfectly with the early rock and roll sound of the record.

Comparison: Mazda MX-5 Miata vs. Fiat 124 Spider

Mazda MX-5 Miata at the 2015 NYIAS

One of the most popular automotive trends of the 1990s and early 2000s was badge engineering, where companies would take an existing car produced by another company and stick their logo on the front, since it was far cheaper than going through the R&D of developing a new car. The issue with this was that, aside from different grilles, the rebadged vehicles often looked identical to the existing vehicle and this resulting in "cannibalism," where the sales of one eats into the sales of the other. This ended up killing off multiple brands, from storied brands like Pontiac to failed endeavors like Eagle. For the most part, automakers seemed to have learned their lesson. However, this hasn't prevented them from sharing platforms and components under-the-hood. While car companies may share the skeleton of the cars, they now develop distinct exteriors to maintain a brand identity. A perfect example of this is the new Mazda MX-5 Miata and its Italian cousin, the Fiat 124 Spider, which share the same platform.

Fiat 124 Spider at the 2016 NYIAS

Up front, the two roadsters are vastly different. The Miata has squinty, slinky headlights that point down towards the gaping, smiling grille. With shiny black plastic and thin grey crossbars, the grille looks luxurious and sporty, and flows smoothly into the sleek front wheel arches. The lower front fascia also gets aggressive, forward leaning faux air intakes, which add to the Miata's athletic image.

The Fiat pays tribute to the 1960s 124 Spider, and therefore has a much more upright front fascia. Large oval headlights, featuring a clean, modern-looking LED cluster, point inwards at the grille. In between the headlights is a trapezoidal mesh grille that harkens back to the original 124. While the grille itself is not bad looking, it protrudes out in front of the headlights, causing it to look like a snout. The lower front fascia features a lower grille and fog lamps, but lacks the aggressiveness of the Miata's faux intakes. Overall, the Mazda's lower, sleeker hood and curvy headlights results in a more attractive front end. 

old Fiat 124 Spider outside the Javits Center

The side is where the two sports cars look most similar--the doors are the same shape and both feature a small triangular turning light just behind the front wheels. On both cars, the belt line dips down to the door handle before swooping back up into powerful rear haunches. The Mazda has a slight advantage for its blacked out side view mirrors, but aside from that the two are near identical in profile view.

Out back, the design return to being very distinct. Continuing the sensual look from the front fascia, the Mazda features taillights that resemble eyes with eyeliner applied, sweeping creases, and curvy reverse lights on the bumper. The powerful rear haunches that plunge downwards to form the trunk, completing the sexy appearance started up front on the Miata.

Mazda MX-5 RF at the 2016 NYIAS

The 124 mimics its predecessor with the rear end as well. The rear haunches do not curve downwards, instead straightening out to form a flat rear decklid.  The taillights are a simple rectangular oval, but Fiat spices the design up by making them hollowed out in the middle, similar to the headlights on the Bentley Bentayga. However, they are angled slightly downwards, which makes the whole rear fascia look slightly off. Overall, the Miata's slinky tail looks far better than the 124's straight lines.

Fiat 124 Spider at the 2016 NYIAS

   

The Mazda beats out the Fiat on both front and rear styling, taking home the crown in this matchup. That is not to say the 124 is an ugly car, but it simply doesn't match the Miata's sleek bodywork.
Grade-Mazda MX-5
Front: A
Back: A
Overall: A

Grade-Fiat 124 Spider
Front: B+
Rear: B+
Overall: B+