McLaren GTS review – the entry-level McLaren you forgot existed
The McLaren GT returns with a new name and more power, promising grand touring credentials in a supercar package
You forgot this existed, didn’t you? The McLaren GT, or GTS as it’s now known. Embarrassingly, we nearly did too. The GT has been around since 2019 as the softer-edged, most-useable entry-level McLaren, but when it was updated to become the GTS in late 2023, nobody seemed to notice. Not only because the updates were almost undetectable to the casual observer, but also because a year earlier the Artura had been launched to redefine what a baby McLaren could be. As a truly next-gen product with a bespoke V6, hybrid drive and a brand new carbon structure, it left the GTS sitting awkwardly in the range, and seeming out of date before it even arrived.
But perhaps we were wrong to ignore the GTS, because on paper it’s a refreshingly pure supercar in the context of more modern rivals: mid-engined, rear-drive, with no batteries or electric motors in sight, all of its power coming from a 4-litre twin-turbo V8 alone – a rare thing in 2025. Having eight cylinders instead of six is a key point of difference to the Artura, so too the general approach of the car, says McLaren. It’s been engineered to have a more rounded, refined character, to fulfil the GT part of its name. This extends to the tuning of its suspension and electro-hydraulic steering, plus the trimming, insulation and packaging of the interior, which includes an expansive rear luggage area that extends from behind the seats, over the engine and to the tail.
As part of the update, the GTS has a lightly tweaked exterior with new vents for better cooling and airflow to the V8, which is marginally more powerful than before. Changes to the combustion phasing and ignition timing tease out an extra 14bhp, bringing the total to 626, and at 1520kg it’s a hair lighter too (though the saving is from the standard fitment of carbon-ceramic brakes, which were optional on the GT). A new nose-lift system boosts usability, too, and it does work swiftly in practice – raising or lowering in as little as four seconds.
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Though certainly more useable than other carbon-tubbed exotics, the previous GT didn’t lope along with the grace and refinement of a traditional grand tourer, and the GTS follows the same theme. It doesn’t hide its supercar core, from the drama of lifting the dihedral doors, swinging yourself over the tub and sinking into the seat, to the start-up theatrics. The V8 whaps into life with a hollow flat-plane blare and buzzes through the structure – not intrusively, but enough to have the wheel tingling in your hands at idle.
Not much has changed inside save for new upholstery options, and as a result the cabin does feel a bit last-gen – mainly in terms of the HMI, which doesn’t have Apple CarPlay or Android Auto capability, either via a cable or wirelessly. In 2025. Plenty of glass area (helped by the £5200 electrochromic panoramic roof option) does give it an airy feel, however, and the materials are generally high quality. The metal speaker grilles of the optional Bowers & Wilkins hi-fi are a particular highlight, even if it feels like they could grate the skin from your knuckles.
It’s still no Continental GT rival inside, then, but once underway the GTS has its own virtues – those typical of most McLarens. Namely steering that’s measured and tactile, a fabulous driving position and a level of compliance that you don’t expect from a supercar. The body is free to move on its springs and that gives the GTS a relaxed feel as it flows over a smooth, undulating surface. That’s despite it using conventional springs, anti-roll bars and adaptive dampers, instead of the sophisticated hydraulically cross-linked setup you’ll find on a 750S, which does away with roll bars entirely. It feels compact as you thread it along too, somehow more like a sports car than a supercar or GT.
Its performance definitely falls within the latter two categories though. Under light loads the V8 is happy to fade into the background as the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission slips through the ratios, but take manual control via the tactile aluminium rocker paddles and it takes on a fierce edge. On a damp road the power is heavily reined in by the TC, but the delivery intensifies as you pick up speed and gain traction, building to an addictive rush. The GTS is not as rabid as a 750S, or even the older and similarly powerful 650S, but it feels revvy and sharp when fully lit. The only disappointment is that the V8 doesn’t sound any more exciting than an Artura’s V6, yet it lacks the snap and response of that car’s hybrid system.
When the road surface gets challenging, the GTS is less cohesive than its sibling too, and its sense of comfort and refinement comes undone slightly. It’s largely smooth and controlled, but sharp bumps and intrusions can thunk through the tub and kick back through the wheel, and the rush of the tyres filters in over rough tarmac. As a result you don’t feel totally cocooned and isolated from your surroundings, at least not as you would in a true GT.
But there’s a flip side, because the GTS is more alive and involving than, say, a Maserati GranTurismo when you aren’t cruising, and guiding it from corner to corner, riding the torque and enjoying its clear, measured responses, can be immensely satisfying. At speed the stiffer damper modes (usually Sport, sometimes Track) are needed to stop the body moving too freely, but even then it feels light on its feet and wieldy.
There’s fun to be had beyond the limit, too. In the wet the front end is strangely tricky to read and fully lean on, but the rear is totally transparent. With the ESC in Sport mode (or switched off) the GTS is fantastically controllable when it breaks away, and you can precisely meter out the power to tease out small, satisfying slides on the way out of corners. Given it has an open diff, it feels like sorcery.
If the GTS were the only car McLaren made we’d applaud it for its distinctive and compelling dynamics, and (infotainment aside) how useable it manages to be. You really could commute in it and cover long distances, because while it doesn’t fully lean into the GT role, it’s a supercar with impressive bandwidth. The trouble is, the Artura is more impressive again, in every sense: faster, more competent, more vividly exciting and just as easy and undemanding in normal driving. It’s the future of McLaren, and in some ways, the GTS feels like the past.
Living with the McLaren GT
Was the original GT really a grand tourer, or best enjoyed as a subtly different take on McLaren’s brilliant supercar recipe?
Had you forgotten about the McLaren GT? Don’t be embarrassed, we too had pushed it to the back of our minds during the scramble to drive 765LTs and the (long) wait for the Artura. But still exist it does, albeit now in GTS-form, filling that gap for those who find a 750S too extreme and the now-defunct 570S not practical enough.
Launched back in 2019, the GT is a stand-alone model in the McLaren line-up. Based on a stretched Sports Series MonoCell tub it’s 5mm longer in the wheelbase than both the 750S and 570S and 140mm longer than the former overall. It’s also, claims McLaren, the most aerodynamic of its series production road cars thanks to its hammerhead nose and long tail rear.
Along with the Sports Series carbon tub it also utilises the aluminium double-wishbone suspension and adaptive dampers from the 570S, but the power steering and 4-litre twin-turbo V8 are from the 720S, although the latter is detuned to 612bhp and has an eight per cent higher compression ratio and more responsive, low-inertia turbos. Peak torque of 465lb ft is not to be sniffed at in a car that weighs 1530kg with fluids and can deliver 95 per cent of that torque from 3000rpm. Like all McLarens, the GT is an absurdly quick supercar, regardless of the name it’s been christened with.
Ah yes, the name. It’s not really a GT car, though, is it? Bentley Conti GT, Ferrari Roma, Aston DB11, Lexus LC500, even Jaguar’s F-type, they are GT cars. Cossetting, stylish, brutally quick when required, soothingly refined when needed. Performance aside, the McLaren GT isn’t any of these, certainly not based on our previous time with the car, which has included a lengthy, grand touring-style drive from the foothills of the Alps to the UK. Quick – blisteringly so – engaging, fun, richly rewarding… it was all these things, but as we since discovered, a GT car it wasn’t. And not only because it couldn’t carry much of our luggage.
‘Our’ car here benefits from three option packs: the Luxe Pack (power seats and steering column, soft-grain Aniline leather throughout, aluminium and gloss black brightwork and surrounds), the Practicality Pack (nose lift, rear-view camera, front and rear parking sensors, folding and heated door mirrors) and the Premium Pack (LED adaptive headlights, Bowers & Wilkins 12-speaker stereo, power-operated rear tailgate and a cabin air purification system). All three packs are no-cost options, which begs the question: why not fit it all as standard? Another freebie is the sports exhaust.
Paid-for extras added to the £163,000 basic price here include the panoramic glass roof (£1750), privacy glass (£500), gloss black wheels (£950) and MSO black paint (£4500), the last two of which we’d ignore if it was our money being spent. The black paint kills the design of the car, exaggerating its size and giving it the least GT-like appearance possible; lighter hues pick out the design details far better. And the day that black wheels are banished back to the prototype vehicle workshop can’t come soon enough.
Colour aside, the first few weeks of having a 612bhp McLaren at your disposal won’t be forgotten for a long time. It takes a few trips to perfect your entry and exit technique to and from the cabin, and every once in a while you go to adjust the seat hoping it will drop an inch or two lower as per other cars in McLaren’s line-up, but it doesn’t. Not that it has a huge impact on the ergonomics, which are pure driver’s car, with your legs outstretched, steering wheel in your chest and your feet instinctively placed above pedals that are set-up perfectly for those who enjoy a bit of left-foot braking. Combined with a near panoramic view out, few, if any, manufacturers get cockpit design and ergonomics so right as McLaren.
While our journeys in this car so far have been UK-based, there’s been a 200-mile trip that GT06 MCL absorbed with ease, the driver arriving calmed rather than frazzled. Perhaps there is a GT car in here somewhere after all. It’s going to be some experience finding out. – Stuart Gallagher, evo issue 295
