[polar993]

I have been in the market for a pre-owned 720s for a few months. I've been searching Cargurus, Cars.com, Autotrader, McLarenLife, eBay, etc. and I've narrowed my search down to two cars.

My first choice based on price, specs, and color combo is a 2019 720s Performance with less than 4,000 miles. It's a 3 owner car, so I would potentially be the third owner. It is being offered by a McLaren dealer in Texas and their advertisement didn't indicate that it would be a CPO car. They just took the car in on trade and it finally went through the service center. The salesman just informed me that due to some "missed maintenance" McLaren will not CPO this car. It's a McLaren Corporate decision, not the dealer's choice. I told the dealer I'm willing to pay more for the car to get the 1 year CPO warranty, and I would actually extend that to 2 years for more peace of mind.

Unfortunately, McLaren will not CPO this car despite the low mileage and the fact that the original factory warranty is still in effect....due to expire later this month. This means the car can never be covered under a McLaren warranty. I'm not sure if that also means it cannot be covered by a 3rd party warranty provider, but it may seem so.

The car has never been tuned and is a full OEM spec. No aftermarket parts whatsoever. I have requested the service records, as this decision by McLaren to blacklist this car is very strange.

This is an obvious red flag....I assume, or have any of you seen McLaren take this position before on other cars that may have simply missed a scheduled oil change, etc.?

Should I absolutely pass on this car? It has a clean Carfax, low mileage, and a great spec. Price isn't too low....at least not yet. The dealership may reprice it now knowing it cannot be covered under any McLaren warranty.

Appreciate your thoughts.

 

[polar993]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. It does seem a bit fishy, but then again it could be as simple as a missed annual service and McLaren doesn't seem to want to accept the "risk".

At this point, unless the dealer is willing to offer the car at a substantially discounted price, I'm going to pass. I'm not planning on tuning the car or doing any mods that would void a warranty, so I think for my peace of mind I should find a car with a CPO or valid extended warranty.

If any of you know or come across a 2019 or 2020 720s Performance in either Black or Grey with an all black alcantara/leather interior (no orange, yellow or red accent trim....contrast stitching okay), with under 10k miles, please shoot me a message. First choice is a Coupe but would definitely consider a Spider as well. Believe it or not there aren't a lot of cars out there that fall into this search category.

There was a great low mileage Storm Grey Spider being offered by Ogara in San Diego that I unfortunately missed out on. The search continues.

 

[polar993]

I ended up passing on the 2019 that couldn’t be CPO’d. Too much risk for me.

I ended up buying a 2020 720s Coupe that only has 1,100 miles. It has a clean service history and Carfax. The original warranty is good until June of 2024, so I’ll be covered for a while.

The car is super clean and has almost all the options I wanted. I would have liked more exterior carbon and heated seats, but otherwise it’s well optioned.

I will be getting the car transported out to me in a few weeks. I’m very excited to own my first McLaren! Now time to think about a few mods….lowering springs and exhaust to start.

 

[polar993]

Don’t mod it all if you like the warranty!!!

A cat back exhaust will void the warranty? Never heard of that.

Lowering springs may void some components of the suspension warranty, but shouldn’t void the entire suspension.

If any of you have experience contrary to what I just stated, please LMK.

 

[polar993]

What are your thoughts on 200 cell sport cats with an aftermarket exhaust in terms of the original warranty? Will the sport cats void anything?

I’m not sure if a new cat back system will give me the sound I want.

 

[polar993]

I am not looking for any performance gain. My
Interest in upgrading the exhaust is purely for the sound. My car has the standard exhaust, not the sport and I feel it is way too muffled for the beast of a car that is the 720s.

I’m not looking to shoot flames or have crazy pops, bangs and burbles. I just want a generally louder exhaust note…even louder than the OEM sport exhaust.