McLaren Life banner

Any 12C owners with high miles?

6K views 36 replies 18 participants last post by  raf 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi,

I am currently looking at 12C, 570S/GT, Audi R8 V10, and Acura NSX.

My heart says 12C, but my brain says R8 or NSX.

I plan to drive the car quite often, 2 or 3 times a week at a minimum. I am concerned about all the reliability issues that I read about (and via Youtube). I understand that every sports car has various issues, but I feel like issues with the 12C are more unpredictable, more frequent, and more abundant. On top of that, McLaren discontinuing to provide the extended warranty for the 12C beyond 2024 worries me.

I know this has been discussed many times..., but are there any owners that drive their 12Cs regularly or even better , almost daily? I want to see if there are any owners that have not had any significant issues. Particularly, interested in hearing from those with high miles.

I love going on long drives, and not being able to drive the car reliably is something I care about.

Would appreciate your thoughts!
 
See less See more
#2 ·
We have many customers with cars well over 30K some are 80+, McLarens are more reliable than they get credit for. McLaren is definitely a step above when it comes to performance. The reality of needing major repairs is pretty slim especially when compared to the cost of the extended warranty.
 
#3 ·
I went through the exact same decision-making process, I started looking at the 12C when the prices dropped, then moved on to the 570/R8/NSX/Huracan comparison because they're newer. I eliminated the R8 because it looks just like every other Audi, I eliminated the Huracan after sitting in it, and eventually decided that if I bought a Honda over a McLaren I'd be kicking myself every day. I shopped for a 570, and was content with either the S or GT, and ended up with a GT. Having driven it on road and track, there's absolutely no doubt in my mind that I made the right decision, and if I was doing it again, I would shop specifically for the GT over the S, since there's very little compromise on the track, and on the road it's fantastic.

And don't forget, if the doors don't open vertically, it's not a supercar!
 
#5 ·
64,000 miles on my 2012 12c.
@Dave_Car_Guy Wow - that's amazing to hear. I have seen your road trip posts in the past, and that's what I do with my cars as well!

If you don't mind sharing, what were some of the high price items/issues you had to address during your ownership? Once you addressed them, were they recurring or fixed for good?

Thank you!
 
#6 ·
You should watch Sean’s (EMFaudio) videos about ownership without a warranty. I’ve owned my spider for a year now and have put almost 5k miles on it. It’s been rock solid. i did replace the leaking front shocks (common, I knew about it when I bought the car) and suspension actuators (common wear item). Also preemptively changed all the fluids, plugs and coils, replaced the coolant hose clamps (OEM clamps are crap and lead to leaks) and installed the track pack with the higher capacity water pump. Parts are expensive but no more so than other exotics. Find a good independent shop, maintain it properly and you will most likely be fine. Performance is incredible - cars are almost ten years old and can still run circles around most cars. Great bang for the buck. Comfortable on long drives too. Getting in and out over the wide sills can be a bit of a challenge for us older, less flexible folks though :)
 
#8 · (Edited)
I have owned 6 different 12C's... I've logged over 50k miles across all of them.

Kevin P
Supercar Garage - The McLaren Specialist
770-284-0172

Kennesaw GA
* Home of the flying McMedics... The only mobile McLaren Specialist! -We come to you!
 
#11 · (Edited)
So while Ive loved my 12C, and have had it for years, under warranty, lots of niggles were cured. The operative part of the car...turn the key, drive away, has been rock solid for basically 9 years. I've driven it on a 14000 mile round the country road trip. And it currently has 33000+ miles on it. Bang for buck it's hard to compete with a 12C.

However, although the 2022 NSX S's have (from what I hear) all been sold out, the left over 2021s seem to be going for good deals, new.


While the 12C will still smoke the NSX, the NSX is new, and it's a Honda, so you'll likely have zero issues daily driving it. Not sure how much the above story is real, and I'd guess there are few of these left overs, but might be worth a look.

All the cars you note are great, so doubt you cant go wrong with any of them.
 
#12 ·
So while Ive loved my 12C, and have had it for years, under warranty, lots of niggles were cured. The operative part of the car...turn the key, drive away, has been rock solid for basically 9 years. I've driven it on a 14000 mile round the country road trip. And it currently has 33000+ miles on it. Bang for buck it's hard to compete with a 12C.

However, although the 2022 NSX S's have (from what I hear) all been sold out, the left over 2021s seem to be going for good deals, new.


While the 12C will still smoke the NSX, the NSX is new, and it's a Honda, so you'll likely have zero issues daily driving it. Not sure how much the above story is real, and I'd guess there are few of these left overs, but might be worth a look.

All the cars you note are great, so doubt you can go wrong with any of them.
But the doors!!😭😭
 
#14 ·
Hi,

I am currently looking at 12C, 570S/GT, Audi R8 V10, and Acura NSX.

My heart says 12C, but my brain says R8 or NSX.

I plan to drive the car quite often, 2 or 3 times a week at a minimum. I am concerned about all the reliability issues that I read about (and via Youtube). I understand that every sports car has various issues, but I feel like issues with the 12C are more unpredictable, more frequent, and more abundant. On top of that, McLaren discontinuing to provide the extended warranty for the 12C beyond 2024 worries me.

I know this has been discussed many times..., but are there any owners that drive their 12Cs regularly or even better , almost daily? I want to see if there are any owners that have not had any significant issues. Particularly, interested in hearing from those with high miles.

I love going on long drives, and not being able to drive the car reliably is something I care about.

Would appreciate your thoughts!
Do you prioritise cost or performance? If it's the former, buy something with higher production volume. If it's the latter, 12C.

The 12C could give you some big bills, especially if you don't use a good independent, but it is very special. It is a more complicated, and older, car though.

I have just renewed the ESC on my (early) 2012 12C, mainly for the powertrain cover. I suspect that my next car will be a (very capable) electric one, but it will not have the level of class or engineering of the 12C. I'm not ready for something that heavy, or plain, yet.
 
#15 ·
NSX production numbers are far lower than even the limited 12C. I think they sold 200 in the US in 2019 or something like that and only like 9 in 2020! Sad commentary on the car. If they sold the NSX from the get go around the 100k level, the would have been far more successful. Too much competition in this category.

But the weird thing is, 25 years from now, the NSX may be more of a collector's item than the 12C.
 
#16 ·
I think the answer to this is very simple, it depends on your budget, if you are looking for a supercar purely, if you are looking at 12cs, I already have an understanding of your budget, let me tell you this. There is nothing that can be matched for the price. Impossible in terms of design, engineering, performance, looks. I had a 12c budget I looked into this pretty much everyday for months, I was going to go R8 V10. I love those cars, but the 12c is undoubtedly the better choice. I have not warrantied my car and I wont, I am a mechanic (Ex Mclaren) and have full faith in the car not to warranty it. There have been some common issues which were all sorted when the car was in warranty years ago, but none of it was serious and was small. The key is for these cars is care, the oil needs to be changed yearly without delay, oil levels checked regularly and not driven hard when cold. Since I have owned my car unfortunately there was an intermittent misfire issue which has been extremely hard to find, but now I have found it after wasting around 700 dollars in sensors, and get this, there wasn't anything wrong with any of them and was due to to careless technician fitting a set of cats before the car came into my ownership and was no fault of the car itself and punching a hole in the pipe right next to a lambda sensor. I CANNOT WAIT TO GET IT FIXED AND FINALLY BE ABLE TO ENJOY THE CAR PROPERLY AFTER A YEAR OF DIAGNOSING.

Thats the R8, NSX out of the way compared to the 12c.
 
#18 · (Edited)
I am currently looking at 12C, 570S/GT, Audi R8 V10, and Acura NSX.
I plan to drive the car quite often, 2 or 3 times a week at a minimum
Really depends more on what you want out of the car, beyond driving it frequently... I'm mostly a 911 guy (currently a GT2'ified 996 Turbo and a 991 Turbo S) but a 12C is on my short list. I'm a power junkie, and combined with living and driving at altitude, the Mclaren 12C/650S are part of the very few that even have a chance of being of interest to me...

Within my driving buddy group, we have a 12C and a manual R8 V10, I've had a fair bit of seat time in both, canyon roads and some on-track. The R8 V10 is a fun car and enjoyable to drive, but far more of a grand touring car than true sports car. I'll take the keys for it anytime but no desire to own one. The 12C is one of the very few sub $200K sports cars that comes close to tempting me away from the 911 Turbos. Awesome fun, but if you are a 'somethings wrong with my car, here are the keys, fix it' kind of guy the ownership experience might get pricey (thought my buddies R8 has had far more time and $ in the shop than the mac...).

NSX also holds nearly zero appeal to me...

And while yes, this is a Mclaren forum, and I will likely have a Mac in my garage within the next six months, for the frequent driving, mileage accumulation, reliability, easy ownership experience you describe and the super high performance level I assume you are also looking for, you might want to look more closely at the 991 Turbo S. I have almost 60,000 miles on mine and it has been pretty much flawless. It will run rings around the R8 and NSX and keep a 12C honest.
 
#22 ·
Just as a follow up to my earlier note: I get my 12C back from the dealer tomorrow. My first big expenses while being off warranty. About $10k for a failed steering rack. Full steering being replaced. Plus a water pump job at $4k and new engine mounts at $3k.

Still, by avoiding many years at $7k plus annually for a warranty, I’m still ahead of he game. But note this at around 60,000 miles.

Just full disclosure here. I love the car, but there are not too many local independent shops that can help you avoid paying the dealer when it’s something as specific as the engine mounts (apparently, this is a thing with older 12Cs, lots of vibration on those engine mounts.
 
#23 ·
Just as a follow up to my earlier note: I get my 12C back from the dealer tomorrow. My first big expenses while being off warranty. About $10k for a failed steering rack. Full steering being replaced. Plus a water pump job at $4k and new engine mounts at $3k.

Still, by avoiding many years at $7k plus annually for a warranty, I’m still ahead of he game. But note this at around 60,000 miles.

Just full disclosure here. I love the car, but there are not too many local independent shops that can help you avoid paying the dealer when it’s something as specific as the engine mounts (apparently, this is a thing with older 12Cs, lots of vibration on those engine mounts.
Just curious, since it is out of warranty anyway, did you get a price quote from the McMedics? If not, why? And if so, how much did it differ?
 
#25 ·
I bought my 570S a year ago used, and I've put another 8k miles on it, including 5 autocross days and 5 track days (including COTA!) and am driving it to the track again tomorrow for two more days of flogging and fun at Chuckwalla. So far, no significant problems at all. I've used launch control around 10 times, too.

Another 6 months of warranty to go to try to break it and make them fix it!

The 570S is a simpler car than the 12C, which is why I bought it, since I'm used to Porsche reliability. So far, the Mac has matched my Cayman GTS 4.0 in track days and reliability.
 
#28 ·
FWIW, I owned a 12C from new and used it as a DD. Did 10K+ miles a year for 2.5 years. Was Porsche dependable. Never had an issue. And like Zombie, I did some big road trips without any drama.

Two notes:
1) By observation, I think there is a decent amount of variability in how the cars run. Mine was great. Others less so.
2) The cars are getting older. They are getting to the point where age matters almost as much as miles since some bits just age out. You will need to be able to accept an ugly surprise--it may never happen, but as time goes on, it becomes more likely.

I miss my 12C and think about buying it back from time to time. Really was a singular car.
 
#29 ·
FWIW, I owned a 12C from new and used it as a DD. Did 10K+ miles a year for 2.5 years. Was Porsche dependable. Never had an issue. And like Zombie, I did some big road trips without any drama.

Two notes:
1) By observation, I think there is a decent amount of variability in how the cars run. Mine was great. Others less so.
2) The cars are getting older. They are getting to the point where age matters almost as much as miles since some bits just age out. You will need to be able to accept an ugly surprise--it may never happen, but as time goes on, it becomes more likely.

I miss my 12C and think about buying it back from time to time. Really was a singular car.
As far as I'm concerned, the only opinions of how the cars are, are from current owners. Every car I've serviced has come with praise from the owners. Some haven't had them long, some have had them years. What I never hear is "I've had all kinds of problems" from anyone who's owned one in the last 5 years that wasn't wrecked or neglected.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top