McLaren 765LT Review & Prices

The McLaren 765 LT is a more hardcore, focused, track-ready version of the already-pretty-bonkers 720S (which has, itself, been upgraded to the even more ferocious 750S). It’s sort of like taking a really big, fast space rocket and adding more rockets to it. 

So, what makes a McLaren into an LT? Well, the name dates back to the 1990s, and stands for Long Tail. It references the time when McLaren was racing the famous F1 supercar at Le Mans and needed a longer body at the back for better aerodynamics. 

These days, what it means is a road-going McLaren that’s been optimised for track days. So, to live up to the Long Tail name, this 765 LT is longer than the 720S and 750S, by 56mm if you’ve got your tape measure out. That improves the aerodynamics, thanks to a nose that’s pointier, with a more aggressive front splitter to channel air under and around the car. Even the ‘eye socket’ headlights are a little smaller and tighter, almost like the 765 LT is scowling, Clint Eastwood style, at the road ahead of it. 

The 765 LT also sprouts extra vents and side panels compared to the cleaner look of the 750S, while at the back there’s a new bumper and an extended rear diffuser to suck air out from underneath, increasing downforce at high speeds. The back of the 765 LT does stick out more than that of the 750 S, partly thanks to the bumper, partly thanks to the bigger, fully active, rear wing — which is 20 per cent larger and has four sawn-off-shotgun-like exhausts underneath it — but it is odd that it’s called a Long Tail when actually it’s the front end that’s longer. Blame the mysteries of aerodynamics, and the fact Long Nose sounds more like a sinus infection than a sports car.

It all works, though. The 765 LT gives you 200kg of downforce at 150mph — more than the 720S and 750S. When we say this car is stuck to the road, we really mean it.

Weight reduction is another LT speciality, so the 765 gets light carbon-fibre seats, similar to those used in the hardcore Senna model, as well as ultra-light alloy wheels with titanium bolts. Combined, these shave 40kg off the kerb weight. A titanium exhaust, thinner glass, polycarbonate engine cover, and the total lack of carpets in the cabin save even more weight. You can go further by deleting the air conditioning and the stereo, but would you? Really? Overall, and taking account of the heavier, upgraded brakes, the 765 LT is 80kg lighter than the 720S it’s based on — but only about the same as the newer 750S. Time marches on and all that…

You do still get a power advantage over the 750S, of course. As the 765 LT’s name suggests, the 4.0-litre twin turbo V8 engine has been tuned to deliver 765hp, giving it a 0-62mph time of just 2.8secs, and a top speed of 205mph. It’ll hit 100mph, if you’ve got legal space to do so, in just over 5.0secs. 

Also matching the name will be the production run — McLaren is only going to make 765 of these, and they’re all going to cost lots and lots of money, so don’t expect to see another one parked next to yours outside Aldi. 

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At this kind of price point, the whole concept of value kind of goes out the window a little. Add a few optional extras to the 765 LT and you’re going to be looking at a price tag of more than £300,000. Then again, these cars are not really bought as conventional vehicles, and many will be simply squirrelled away under a dust cover to be sold at auction many years hence.

If you’re looking for similar levels of thrills, you can get them for much less money in the shape of a Porsche 911 GT3 RS. It’s not as fast nor as powerful as the McLaren, but for sheer driving fun it’s pretty hard to beat. Closer on price and power is the limited run Lamborghini Huracan STO, but even that’s not as ferociously fast as the McLaren. If you fancy a Ferrari, there’s the 296GTB which is a very different machine — it has more power, but also costs a fraction less and is actually a hybrid. It’s not as pin-sharp to drive as the McLaren, though. Actually, the closest comparison to the 765 LT is probably the Ford GT, which is really a road-going racing car, and which is around £150,000 more expensive, too.

The McLaren 765 LT is a super-focused supercar, best sampled on a race track, really. It is still a thrilling car to drive on the road, but the 720S and 750S are almost as thrilling, and a lot more comfortable when you’re not pressing on

In town

To be honest, if you’re driving a 765 LT in town all that much, you’re kind of doing it wrong. This is not a car in which to commute. The longer, lower nose — compared to the 720S and 750S — makes speed bumps a bit more sweaty, even with the front axle lift fitted. The reversing camera display, helpfully, takes up the entire digital instrument panel when it’s active, but the guidance lines don’t turn with the steering — as they do in many much, much more affordable cars — so with the pretty poor rear visibility, the 765 LT is never going to be easy to park. Honestly, if you can afford a 765 LT, you can also afford a nice, sensible Volkswagen Golf for getting in and out of town, although of course that means people don’t get to admire your dramatic dihedral up-and-forward doors when you’re getting in and out.

On the motorway

A car with no carpets, lots of carbon-fibre cabin trim, and a titanium exhaust is never going to be the most relaxing thing on the motorway, and so it proves with the 765 LT. There’s lots of noise, and lots of hard surfaces in the cabin for it to bounce off, so you might want to bring some earplugs if you’re going more than a junction or two along. Actually, ride comfort isn’t too bad, thanks to McLaren being more than a bit clever in how it designs its suspension, but the 765 LT is really too much of a focused track-day car to be truly comfortable on long runs. If that’s what you want to do, get a McLaren GT instead, or even the 720S or 750S, which combine much of the 765 LT’s responsiveness and speed with much better levels of refinement and comfort. Better still, get a Bentley Continental GT.

On a twisty road

We say twisty road, but really you’re going to want to get to a race track to really experience what the 765 LT can do. The steering feel is fantastic, thanks both to the fact that it uses hydraulic power assistance instead of feel-sapping electric boosting, and that the steering wheel has delicate, thin rim wrapped in Alcantara fake suede. You can always feel and sense what the front wheels are up to, and how much grip the special Pirelli Trofeo tyres have. 

Performance, as you pretty much expect, is astonishing. Any car that can hit 150mph in less than ten seconds is a serious high performance car, and while the 765 LT isn’t as out-and-out rapid as some rivals, it’s still silly quick. The brakes and the way the big rear wing tilts forward to act as an air brake mean that you can almost always get everything slowed down for a tight corner, and we love the little detail that there’s a cut-out section in that wing, so that when it’s fully extended you can still see behind you. 

Better still, the 765 LT is hugely forgiving and biddable — make a mistake with your braking point, or your cornering line, and it won’t turn around and bite you, but will instead help you sort everything out without spitting you off into a gravel trap. 

The tweaked final drive and shorter gear ratios for the seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox mean that the V8 engine always seems to be in the thick of its power band, while the traction and grip on the way out of corners is immense thanks to well-judged traction control. In fact, the 765 LT is so fast, so focused that really you’re going to want to get some special instruction and on-track time in order to learn how best to drive it. 

On the public road, you’re going to have to be a bit more saintly. The 765 LT is so potent, so fast, that you’re going to be in constant danger of points or even a ban if you’re not careful. Equally, those sticky Pirelli tyres don’t really like the wet very much, and for all the clever traction control, it’s easy — even in the dry — to unstick the back end coming out of a tight corner or a junction. You have been warned. 

One thing — on-road, the V8 engine doesn’t feel as responsive as it does on the track, and the Ferrari 296GTB is far snappier, thanks to its hybrid system, in how it responds to your right foot. 

The 765 LT isn’t as impractical as you might expect — there are useful front and rear boots, and some storage in the cabin. Just don’t expect Volvo estate levels of space, that’s all

The 765 LT is, of course, only a two-seater so practicality is always going to be a bit limited. It’s limited further by the fact that, thanks to the weight-saving regime, McLaren has stripped out some of the practical elements that you find in other models. So, the little lidded door bins that you get in the McLaren GT are gone, and replaced by simpler, but smaller, fabric pockets. There’s no glovebox at all — not even for your racing gloves. You do get some cupholders and some storage areas, but mostly they’re lined in rock-hard carbon fibre so anything you put in there is going to rattle something awful.

Boot space

Considering that it’s been designed, really, as a track weapon, the 765 LT has surprisingly good boot space. In fact, it basically has the same space as you get in the more road-friendly 750S. Up front, in the nose, there’s a 150-litre ‘frunk’ which is big enough to sit in, if you’re a bit slim-hipped. Behind the seats, and above the engine bay, there’s another 210-litres of luggage space, although you’ll want to make sure that everything is strapped down nice and tight of course. Basically, that means that the 765 LT has the same luggage space as a Vauxhall Mokka, which by supercar standards isn’t that bad. It’s worth noting that the convertible Spider version loses the rear luggage space entirely, but then again you could carry something very tall in the passenger seat, and let it stick out where the roof used to be. Perfect for carrying an antique grandfather clock, surely? 

There's plenty of drama and focused appeal to the cabin, but the infotainment system is off the pace

Befitting its mission in life, the 765 LT’s cabin looks and feels stripped back and minimalist. As in the 720S and 750S there’s a big 12.3-inch digital instrument panel right behind the slim-rimmed steering wheel, and that can fold down flat, leaving only a thin strip giving you the most important information, for maximum concentration when you’re on track. It’s a very cool piece of in-car theatre.

Everything is made from carbon-fibre, and what’s not is covered in Alcantara man-made suede, so the effect is one of sheer focus on the driving task. You do get an infotainment screen, of course, but it’s quite small and set low down, so it’s not going to distract you very much. The vertical row of buttons that selects Drive and Reverse in the seven-speed gearbox look almost fighter-jet style, as does the dark red engine start button. Meanwhile, the solid metal gearshift paddles feel fantastic to use.

Next to the touchscreen, there are knurled metal switches for the driving modes — Comfort, Sport, and Track — and other functions which also feel fantastic to use, but it’s not all good news. 

Those wraparound carbon-fibre seats look fantastic, and clamp you in place in corners, but the sides are rock-hard and it’s really easy to catch your elbow, or worse; your funny bone, on the edges. 

The upright infotainment screen uses the older McLaren software, which — considering how dodgy even the new setup in the GT and 750S is — is pretty poor. Porsche, for instance, has a way, way better screen setup, and even Ferrari’s fiddly system is better and more reliable. McLaren really needs to play catch-up in this regard. 

While the cabin looks and feels fantastic, for the most part, the rear view mirror is appallingly cheap and nasty, and does spoil the vibe a bit.

If this is a section of the review that actively worries you, you’re probably not really in the market for a McLaren 765 LT. May we suggest a MacLaren push-chair might be more your speed? For the record, McLaren claims average fuel consumption of 23mpg, but if you’re taking your 765 LT to the track much (and you really ought to) then your economy is going to be down into single figures. And low single figures at that. 

A CO2 emissions figure of 280g/km is pretty steep, and means that you’ll be paying the maximum in first-year VED road tax, plus the annual levy for cars costing more than £40,000 in years two to six. If you’re getting the LT as a company car — well, someone might we suppose… — then it’s going to set you back at minimum £1,200 a month in BIK tax.

You won’t find a Euro NCAP crash test result for the 765 LT, and that’s probably just as well as it’s lacking a lot of the high-tech electronic safety systems that NCAP expects of modern cars. You do get stability and traction control, of course, as well as cruise control and a speed limiter, but you won’t find autonomous emergency braking, nor a speed limit recognising camera. Heck, even parking sensors are an optional extra, as is a 360-degree camera system. 

McLaren does offer an upgraded alarm system and a built-in vehicle tracker, but these really ought to be standard in a car such as this. 

McLaren’s standard warranty is a three-year unlimited one, and you can optionally extend that out to a whopping 12 years, if you keep your 765 LT serviced according to the strict schedule and at a McLaren agent. 

Reliability has long been a major issue for McLaren, and it’s well behind the class-leaders such as Porsche and Bentley in this regard. Items such as the in-house infotainment system are known to be very failure-prone, and the fact that the 765 LT is a track-focused car means that you’re very likely going to be putting extra strain on the car’s systems. The major items — the engine, gearbox, and brakes — seem to be solid enough, but expect trouble with minor items.