McLaren’s McL 6GT Brings Back the Manual Transmission

In July, McLaren unveiled the 788HS, a 777-horsepower, 205-mph take on the same basic model it has been making for nearly a decade. McLaren is “limiting” production to 200 cars, but it landed with a bored thud, and I suspect the company will struggle to sell the entire run.McLaren 788HS. Courtesy of McLarenAnd so McLaren has arrived at Monterey Car Week with something that, for once, looks different. The terribly named McL 6GT is technically just a concept, and details are thin — McLaren hasn’t released any performance figures — but the company says a production version will arrive in 2028. And it could be the most exciting model the marque has released in a long time.In many ways, this is painfully familiar territory: It’s a mid-engined, V-8-powered two-door with a carbon chassis, a variation on the template shared by every car in the company’s lineup.McLaren McL 6GT. Courtesy of McLarenMcLaren McL 6GT. Courtesy of McLarenBut it doesn’t look like any other modern McLaren. Instead, the retro coupe takes its cues from Bruce McLaren’s 1969 M6GT road-car prototype. It’s simple and a dramatic improvement over every other modern McLaren, but it’s not quite right, at least in pictures. That original car is low, flat, small, and long, and by trying to put its shape onto a modern supercar chassis, you end up with a design that doesn’t quite meld. The forward-raked, visor-like cockpit and rounded front arches give it a front-dominant, almost Koenigsegg-like posture that doesn’t sit with the relative delicacy and simplicity of the rear. The headlights also seem out of proportion, making the wheels look small by comparison. And because McLaren is late to the retro-inspired look, other manufacturers have already used many of these details better. The rear profile resembles the Gordon Murray T.33, the front headlights recall Gordon Murray Special Vehicles’ Le Mans GTR, and, more than anything, the whole car looks a bit too much like the Lotus Evora-based Radford Type 62-2 that Jenson Button helped develop — particularly at the rear.McLaren McL 6GT. Courtesy of McLarenThat said, some awkwardness can soften when you see a car in the metal or simply live with it for a while. The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG is an incredible-looking car, but it didn’t feel that way to me at first; its front and rear seemed to have been designed by different people in part because they actually were. Even if the McLaren’s looks don’t grow on you, at least it looks better than the rest of the lineup.McLaren McL 6GT. Courtesy of McLarenMore important, it should drive better too, because McLaren says the concept has the company’s first manual transmission since the F1. Yet McLaren hasn’t detailed whether its “authentic” six-speed is mechanically connected in the old-fashioned way or simulated like Ferrari’s 12Cilindri Manuale, and I suspect that’s because the company hasn’t decided. The concept label gives McLaren plenty of wiggle room before production and lets it count deposits before locking every decision. But it’s a relatively handsome car, with some kind of manual and hydraulic steering. So expect it to do much better than the 788HS, or whatever its last model was called.

McLaren’s McL 6GT Brings Back the Manual Transmission

McLaren’s McL 6GT Brings Back the Manual Transmission

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