Letter From Europe, McLaren's 200 MPH Rocket, Infiniti Q50, Scion iM

By Andrew Frankl
European Bureau Chief
The Auto Channel

Oh, said the little boy excitedly rushing out from the Belvedere Tennis Club that is a McLaren 675LT with a top speed of 202 miles per hours. It also does 0-60 miles per hour in 2.9 seconds, is made mostly of carbon fiber to reduce weight and it runs of special Pirelli P Zeros.

How old did you say you were said the man from The Autochannel trying to digest all the information? Nine - said the little guy before rushing off for his tennis lesson adding - you could have asked my 7 year old brother as well, he would have told you the same. No answer to that really. Still, having spotted a beautiful azure blue Ferrari FF in the car park it wasn’t too difficult to deduce where the information may have come from. Daddy Jaime is a bit of a car collector. Apart from the FF- which he loves- he is also the proud owner of a 458 Speciale. Still he readily agreed that the 675LT was a beautiful car and that all great car makers such as Ferrari need rivals to keep them on their toes. Hence Aston Martin, Pagani and McLaren to mention but three. Oops , and Lamborghini of course.

Regular readers will know that apart from being European Bureau Chief of The Autochannel I have am also Grand Prix Editor and occasional feature writer for FORZA, the magazine about Ferraris. Consequently I have had the good fortune to visit Ferrari’s factory in Maranello for some 25 years. First time round it was in my much loved 328 GTS, a very special automobile indeed. My wife Suzie and I frequently traveled to St Tropez, Monaco and other rather wonderful watering holes, once even to the factory’s test track in Fiorano. Unforgettable. Since then it has been a whirl of 360s, 355s, 550s, 430s, an early 599, an F12 in the snow (not intentionally I hasten to add) an FF and of course my own California which I love.

So before anyone calls me a traitor I think the cars I’ve just mentioned speak volumes of my loyalty.

Which is not to say that my son Nicholas and I did not have a lot of fun in other cars as well. The one that got away until now was McLaren’s 675LT. Hardly surprising as it was only launched in March at the Geneva Auto show.

Everything the little boy knew about it was true. In fact there were several other little boys who recognized the car in an instant. Blame Top Gear I suppose. As an aside Daddy Jaime was telling me that the children’s vocabulary is colored by words courtesy of a certain Jeremy Clarkson..

I suppose to further their education they will have to tune in to Amazon’s program in the future as the BBC ‘s new team promised to be as pure as Snow White. Pity. Just for the record the engine is 3.8 liter, twin-turbo DOHC 32 valve V8. With 666 horsepower 0-60 is yours for a mere 2.8 seconds. How do I know? You’ll have to take my word for it , let’s put it this way-there is a private airfield nearby.

All in all it is a glorious celebration of everything irresponsible , irreverent and irresistible. Having lived with it for a week there was great sadness in the whole of Belvedere, especially among the kids. Young and old.

Note of warning. If you fall in love with the 675LT like I did you may have to pay over the odds to get one as the whole production of 500 cars is spoken for. And if were pinning your hopes on the new 675LT spider, well, bad luck. Even though this model has yet to be driven by anyone apart from the engineers in Woking, England, such is the excitement generated by the 675LT that the entire production of 500 spiders has been sold without as much as a test drive within days of the announcement.

Another word of warning. Unless you are relatively slim getting in and out is out of the question. The seats are tight and the door sills are high. Don’t expect to be elegant in the process either. As for other practicalities, well, there is a pretty decent trunk up front, perfect for tons of cat food. Having collected some from the local supermarket I can vouch for it.

Obviously the 675LT will never be anyone’s first and only car, when you fork out 475 thousand dollars clearly there is an SUV and probably a Tesla in your garage as well.

I knew Bruce McLaren-founder of the company back in 1969. He was tragically killed while testing in June 1970.

Looking down from the great racetrack in the sky I am sure he is proud of the new cars bearing his name.

Coming back to Earth the McLaren was not the only car I have had a chance to drive.

It was reality time. Take a Scion iM costing as much as one of the wheels on the 675LT. It has a 1.8 liter4 cylinder engine producing 137 horsepower. Front wheel driver, automatic transmission. Lots of airbags and amazing list of goodies including a 7 inch touch screen , display, 6 speakers, remote keyless entry, dual-zone climate control and it delivers over 35 miles per gallon. So while the fuel economy gets 8 out of 10 the smog rating is 5 out of 10 according to the authorities.

I will not pretend that the Scion is the greatest automobile the World but when it comes to value for money it is well worth considering. The list of extras is virtually nil so for once what you see is what you get. A welcome change indeed.

Infiniti’s 2015 Q50S 3.7 is a fine automobile, although at 54 thousand dollars it would be hard to call it a bargain. Unlike the Scion the Q50 chimes in at 42 grand but by the time you add the tech package, the touring package and the navigation package you are already over 50 thou.

What you get is a 3.7 liter engine producing 328 horsepower, 7 speed gearbox and rear wheel drive which I love!

Before 4 times world champion Sebastian Vettel left the Infiniti-badged Red Bull Formula One car Seb did some commercials for the Q50 and was really flying! Talking of commercials the company’s latest Winter ad showing one of their cars on a slalom ski course is nothing short of spectacular. As for the timing it could not be more perfect as the Sierras are full of snow and the Sun is shining!

While the ride and handling are absolutely first class the Government figure are not that great. On a scale of 1-10 both the fuel economy and the smog rating come out at a modest 5. I would blame the 3.7 liter engine which-as we all know-is not exactly the last word in technology.

On the other hand if you are not too bothered and would like to buy a very attractive looking , very quick automobile go to the dealer and start bargaining. If you could get it for under 50 thousand with all the goodies thrown in –go for it.