[MSO]

The McLaren 12C Will Get More Power For 2014

Link below via Jalopnik

http://jalopnik.com/the-mclaren-12c-will-get-more-power-for-2014-516819619

 

[Markjayw]

Will gladly accept!

 

[andy c]

Lets just hope that they keep to their promise of upgrading all the cars !!

 

[6th element]

Thanks for the link, although it raises more questions than answers. Free upgrade? I doubt it. Sounds like it includes hardware if it is gleaned from the P1, which may mean existing cars can't even be technically upgraded. Will it be a new model entirely - 458 Scud killer? Also, Mr. Okulski has a habit of posting in haste and retracting/downgrading his statements later when manufacturers catch wind of what he wrote.

 

[ergoproxy]

An old (?2011) McLaren executive interview suggested a track oriented 12C variant with only 20 examples produced and a ludicrously high price. I wonder though, was he referring to the HS?

 

[6th element]

An old (?2011) McLaren executive interview suggested a track oriented 12C variant with only 20 examples produced and a ludicrously high price. I wonder though, was he referring to the HS?

He was probably referring to the 12C CAN/AM Edition?

 

[letsplay99]

If it is an upgrade to existing mclaren's via software and makes the car in the 2.5 0-60mph range, I think you will start to see a big appreciation on those 2012 models....if the upgrade is only 2014 models....I dont think it will bode well for 2013 models as who would buy a 2013 at MSRP if the 2014 has an upgraded engine/mapping/etc...

 

[Mikeyb]

tricky question this.. if they had to bolt on much bigger turbos to get 'only' 100 more bhp, how much more are they going to be able to ring out of the current setup... i suspect not much, although perhaps 650 is on the limit of what's realistic..

 

[ergoproxy]

I'll try to find the link mentioned above

If 2014 only, big price bump

If all cars, it'll devalue the tires and clutches

 

[andy c]

I'll try to find the link mentioned above

If 2014 only, big price bump

If all cars, it'll devalue the tires and clutches

Just the tyres ergo

 

[LimeyBloke]

If true ......
And, they don't update the 2013MY (even if a fee is involved) ...... They've screwed us twice.
Once by aiding dealerships to unload cars at huge discounts, thereby hurting an owner's used car values ..... and Secondly, by now outmoding a basically two year old vehicle. A slap in the face !!
I remember reading, when they announced the 2012/2013 hp upgrade, that McLaren did not feel it was right to make a purchasers buy a brand new car just to receive the latest upgrades... (I'll reserve judgement until this info is more clear; IF it turns out to be true, I'll assume they talk out of both sides of their mouth !)
They do that ..... and, I'm never a customer again.

 

[ZachF]

If it is an upgrade to existing mclaren's via software and makes the car in the 2.5 0-60mph range, I think you will start to see a big appreciation on those 2012 models....if the upgrade is only 2014 models....I dont think it will bode well for 2013 models as who would buy a 2013 at MSRP if the 2014 has an upgraded engine/mapping/etc...

Even if you upped power to 800hp it isn't going to change the 0-60 times much. The McLaren is already limited by tires/rwd to how much power it can deliver to the road under 60mph.

 

[6th element]

If true ......
And, they don't update the 2013MY (even if a fee is involved) ...... They've screwed us twice.
Once by aiding dealerships to unload cars at huge discounts, thereby hurting an owner's used car values ..... and Secondly, by now outmoding a basically two year old vehicle. A slap in the face !!
I remember reading, when they announced the 2012/2013 hp upgrade, that McLaren did not feel it was right to make a purchasers buy a brand new car just to receive the latest upgrades... (I'll reserve judgement until this info is more clear; IF it turns out to be true, I'll assume they talk out of both sides of their mouth !)
They do that ..... and, I'm never a customer again.

I see your point, Limey. What if they increase 2014 MSRP by 15%?

 

[Markjayw]

I see your point, Limey. What if they increase 2014 MSRP by 15%?

The car is already overpriced as it is. Another reason it drops so quickly in value. Doug's car was 308k, mine 303k before any MSO options. Add an MSO bumper and a few extenal carbon options and quickly you are approaching 350k! Soon enough, cars equipped like that will be worth low 200's, with MSO extra's worth no more than 50 cents on the dollar.

I agree on the above statement, 2WD and tires severely limit the 12C's capability of hitting lower than 2.8 sec. 0-60.

 

[noone1]

If it's true, it will probably be a GT model. I highly doubt they'd bump power again.

 

[Bridge2Gantry]

Probably the very same vers that's going to match the "F-Scud"...

 

[ringram]

Economies of scale suggest if the engine is the same as the P1 but running a milder software calibration (& therefore boost) then the cost of using a single engine instead of maintaining both models would make sense.
The engine for the most part is the same anyway, as mentioned above the P1 read to me the same as the 12C unit other than turbo's.
The marginal cost of the turbo's is probably negligible between the models.

Im sure they can offer it as a £20,000 upgrade option for people with too much cash.

You guys who think they got screwed conveniently forget that new models come out each year with more power and features. To expect to obtain retrofitted updates for life is somewhat naive IMO. No car gains in value once it leaves the showroom.

 

[TougeSpirit]

The P1's engine is 90% different from that of the MP4-12C. The block is even different. You can't simply plop in that engine into the MP4-12C without the electric motor and battery system.

What this will be is using some of the lessons on cooling and piston design and turbo sizing and plumbing from the P1 onto the 12C's motor.

Doesn't take that much to go to 650 hp from here.

That will almost certainly be going onto the McLaren "Scuderia competitor"

Doesn't make sense for the 2014 car to have this much power unless the McLaren lightweight model gets even more horsepower. Which just is incomprehensible to do two additional engine modifications within such a short time period

 

[6th element]

The car is already overpriced as it is. Another reason it drops so quickly in value. Doug's car was 308k, mine 303k before any MSO options. Add an MSO bumper and a few extenal carbon options and quickly you are approaching 350k! Soon enough, cars equipped like that will be worth low 200's, with MSO extra's worth no more than 50 cents on the dollar.

Somebody should tell Aston, then. It's only overpriced if nobody will pay. Only Ferrari has high residuals built in as part of their intrinsic value and even then only certain models. All others depreciate heavily. That will never stop manufacturers making better models and selling them for more money.

 

[jkheit]

Doesn't make sense for the 2014 car to have this much power unless the McLaren lightweight model gets even more horsepower. Which just is incomprehensible to do two additional engine modifications within such a short time period

For normal companies, perhaps.

These guys make F1 cars. In the same building. This is not some marketing bull like when Honda says we sponsor F1 cars so through osmosis our cars are zoomy fast. These are the same guys. How does that translate. You CAD/CAM adjustments on-the-fly in F1 for the next race to fix things. If a race shows a piece on an F1 car to be weak, they tweak the design, run a part, place it, test it, race it.

So here's an example of how that translates to our cars. An apocryphal tale I heard from one of the westcoast dealers. There have been parts in the A/C on an early model 12C that had some rattle, and i hear tell that this was picked up by a dealer before delivery to the customer. Mclaren apparently heard this, examined the issue, cut a custom piece, overnighted it, and replaced the part before pickup, and the design change got integrated into future cars.

It's in Mclaren's DNA to do this kind of feedback->rapid pro type->test->implement->more feedback design, and I have every belief that there will be a LOT of modifications coming forward. Now that the installed base is relatively sizable, we're providing a lot of data to tweak things, they've learned a lot, and I suspect will iterate a lot. I'm all for this. Of course I hope and expect some of the improvements will be easy software updates*, some will be hardware upgrades we might be able to gain/pay for, and other improvements will be limited to the newest cars. That's ok by me. I like the progressiveness/nimbleness of it all.

As always, YMMV.

*BTW, the free software update giving us 25hp more is mentioned as kind of a "meh" sidenote in reviews, but as a customer, I feel this is EPIC. I mean just beside myself kind of I-cant-believe-they-did-it EPIC. I hope that McLaren gets the feeling from their customer base at just how pleased we are with this. Because if it comes off as a "meh" and as a non-marketable thing, they may be less inclined to do it in the future. It is truly remarkable, and I wish there was more of a statement made by the press at how truly phenomenal this is. Tesla is also doing this, and they also deserve big kudos.