McLaren's 'entry level' sports car has arrived. Time to hit the road

Let's open with something startling: the McLaren 570S is as fast as the fabled McLaren F1. And this, let's not forget, is the firm's entry-level car. An entry-level car that hits 100mph in 6.3 seconds.

Only it doesn't. It's faster. More on that later. Nevertheless, claiming F1-matching acceleration times is not a coincidence ' there'll have been a parameter laid down when the car was conceived, a target to be met ' but as a statement of speed and intent, the numbers are revealing.

McLaren calls the 570S its 'luxury sports car'. Does anyone else have similar issues getting their head around the concept of the words 'luxury' and '6.3 to the ton' appearing together? Maybe not. Maybe it's 'luxury' and 'McLaren' that's harder to equate?

The simple facts are these. The 570S is the first car in McLaren's Sports Series range. It'll soon be joined by the EU126,000 540C, and in 2017 by a roadster version. Above it in McLaren's three-tier line-up sits the Super Series (the 650S and 675LT) and at the top, the Ultimate Series (P1 and P1 GTR). For the first time, it feels like there's proper clarity and cohesion to McLaren's model range.

We're now used to the idea that all cars use the same 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8, the same SSG twin clutch gearbox, the same carbon-fibre chassis tub. It's the ancillaries that change. So the crux of the matter for the 570S is how it differs from the 650S.

'Only 10 per cent of parts are carried over', says Andy Palmer, the head of the Sports Series product range. 'And these are mostly things such as the front and rear wishbones, the braking system, some engine components and the IRIS infotainment system. The engine uses new injectors, turbochargers and cam phasers, the exhaust and manifold is bespoke and we've even changed the carbon tub itself.'

There's a reason: McLarens are not easy cars to get into. The angle the dihedral door opens to and the chunkiness of the side sill means it's like posting yourself into a circus cannon. So, here, the carbon sill height has been reduced by 85mm and the doors now rise further and twist outwards more. You could argue that's a change that should be passed on to the 650S as well, unless owners believe that the harder the car is to get into, the sportier it must be. There is possibly some truth in that. But the dynamic differences, the reason for the cost saving, largely comes down to suspension and aero.

Instead of the high-tech hydraulically cross-linked dampers of the 650S that keep the car super level without the need for anti-roll bars and contribute so much to the spookily smooth ride, the 570S has regular spring/damper units and (a first for any modern McLaren) actual anti-roll bars. Nor are there any moveable aerodynamic devices. No pop-up wing to keep the 570S planted at high speed or level under braking. Instead the unadorned body has to do its own work using just a set of flying buttresses, a lip spoiler and many intakes and vents.

What I didn't appreciate until I was up close with the 570S is just how sparingly the bodywork has been drawn over the underpinnings. It covers the vitals, but not a lot else and hints suggestively at what goes on underneath. The tease. It makes it doubly frustrating that you can't open that rear deck to have a good pore over the engine. All you get is a miserly little flap for the oil fill. Still, it's got concave rear glass like a Citroen C6, and that's just cool.

Reassuringly, it doesn't appear to distort the view out the back, but given that view is currently occupied by nothing but blackness, maybe I'm being too hasty in my judgement. It's 4.45am and I'm heading north, away from the warm southern coast of Portugal, to the chillier uplands, where we've arranged a little get-together for the 570S.

There's no more hostile way of getting acquainted with a supercar then stumbling out of bed into a dark, unfamiliar seat, and having to do many hours of motorway plodding. It's all the stuff that you can't imagine a supercar needs to be good at. But actually, to be a daily driver, how easily you can get the satnav sorted (very), a beefy holdall in the boot (simple), phone Bluetooth'd up (straightforward), and comfortable in the seat (the driving position is superb), is the kind of stuff the 570S needs to be good at.

Here's what else I noticed. It's still not that easy to get into, though it doesn't help that our car has the optional EU4,910 one-piece carbon buckets. It sounds especially rowdy and belligerent in an underground car park at 4.15am. Every time I get out, my ankle seems to clout the external carbon sill. The headlights have a massively potent main beam. The cruise control is easy to master. The sun visors contain vanity mirrors which look and feel a bit' TVR. The digital dash isn't one large screen, but three small ones. I was a bit disappointed when I noticed this. The optional Bowers & Wilkins 12-speaker stereo has to work quite hard to overcome the background noise. Can't imagine the standard four-speaker system is up to much.

This is important. In fact, of all these things, refinement and access are the two that most concern me about the 570S. Getting in and out requires deft joints, and I can't in all honesty say the next five hours pass in perfect tranquillity. It's fair to say the carbon tub transmits a bit of hubbub, and noise insulation could be improved.

But if it were, the 570S would be heavier. And that would make it slower and less efficient. As it is, when I stop to fill up after 242 miles, I work out I've averaged almost 25mpg. Pity it's not the 29.1mpg the trip computer is telling me I've done. But I have no aches and pains, I'm not deaf and the ride and ease of progress has impressed.

And we're nearly there. Serra da Estrela, a national park containing Portugal's only ski resort, its highest point and the N339. The N339 is so good I want to track down the roads minister and give him a hug. That's until I find the N338. Then I want to have his babies.

Majestic granite scenery woven together by fabulous ribbons of road. Up through the cobbled heights of CovilhEU we climb, the 570S feeling narrow and easy to place on the old streets, its gearbox proving to have no vices, and finally above the trees to the surrealist land where every roundly-weathered rock looks like a Henry Moore sculpture.

Deep breath, drink it all in, savour the scenery. And' go. We climb and climb, up beyond 1,600, 1,700, 1,800 metres and yet there's no sense that the 570S, unlike me a few minutes later, is struggling for breath. The turbos feel sharp and eager and the power delivery is so' exciting. It pays to use the revs because it's ferocious at the top end, but you always feel on top of the performance because the chassis is so biddable and controllable. And the brakes are stellar. Palmer had said to me last night that 'McLaren wants to own steering feel'. At the time I'd thought it was a pompous statement, but now I don't doubt him.

Where Ferrari favours steering so quick it's almost nervous, this McLaren feels, well, peerless. It's feelsome, direct and puts the car exactly where you want it.

This feel and sensitivity bring colossal confidence. It helps that the car never seems to grow around you or lose its agility. Instead you get utterly caught up in the process of accelerating, braking, steering and shifting. Because the suspension isn't trying anything too tricky, it feels beautifully natural, and the car moves with the road.

Push hard and you'll find the point where the 570S proves it's an everyday car, not a track hero. The clarity of communication means you sense the surprisingly modest 225-width front tyres starting to edge wide before understeer ever becomes an issue. But it does mean you have to be slightly circumspect about getting on the power coming out of corners ' too much, too soon and you'll push wide and sense the traction control subtly doing its thing.

But this is safe, and it's not like you're travelling slowly. Here I refer back to where we came in. This car has almost surreal sprinting ability. And it teams this with a chassis of astonishing dexterity to create something really quite special indeed. The 570S may not have the technological focus of the 650S, but driving it, two things strike me: the whole spiel about F1 tech in road cars is claptrap, but what F1 has undoubtedly given McLaren's road-car department are the processes necessary to improve and make changes fast.

The speed of development since the 12C arrived has been vast. The 570S is a confident car from a company that has found its feet. The other thing that strikes me? Given a straight choice between the two, I think I'd have the 570S. I prefer the way it looks and drives. But choosing between two McLarens? That's not the reason we're here'

Photography: Mark Fagelson