The Engineer drives the McLaren 720S: Prodigious horsepower at a bargain price

Power, agility, comfort and a bargain price make the McLaren 720S possibly the best all-round supercar ever made

Even in this age of spiralling power outputs, the McLaren 720S packs a particularly formidable punch. Sure, there are a handful of multimillion-pound hypercars that can outdo its prodigious 720 PS (710 bhp) output, but this is a proper production model, aiming to shift a not-inconsequential 1,500 units this year.

Unlike the 720S’s big brother, the McLaren P1, there’s no hybrid assistance here. All that grunt comes from a 4-litre twin turbo V8. And unlike the Lamborghini Aventador or the Porsche 918 Spyder, there’s no four-wheel drive system either: it’s all channelled through the rear wheels.

That’s a slightly sobering thought when you go to thumb the starter button on a cold, damp morning. By rights, it should be terrifying.

The V8 fires instantly and settles into a racy idle. It’s a development of the 3.8-litre unit found in the old 650S, but McLaren claims that more than 40 per cent of the engine is new. The increased capacity comes from a 3.6 mm increase in stroke, but lighter internals and ultra-low inertia twin-scroll turbochargers mean this engine reacts even quicker than its predecessor.