Emira vs McLaren 570S

[LotusB]

Also consider cost of insurance. I haven't quoted one before, never got that serious. But I did have a 2019 Aston Martin Vantage quoted, and it was 2x the cost. The McLaren is probably more than that.

Was curious about this, so I just called my insurance company to get a quote and it's mostly a wash. I quoted a 2024 & 2026 Emira V6 and a 2019 570S, the McLaren was between the Emira's, interestingly enough.

 

[Cutting42]

One last point, I am still here on the Emira forum as I love the cars looks and the balance of power/handling and do not rule out getting one in the future. Especially if they release a higher power Turbo and sort out the shifting on the gearbox.

 

[Thirdgen89gta]

I think it's funny that a car that does 185mph and 0-60 in 4 seconds is not considered fast enough by some. Where are you driving? Who are you drag racing? Are you only using 4000 RPM? 400hp is a fast car, 600hp is ridiculous and pretty much unusable on a public road.

My Elise is more fun than my Emira with 2/3 the power to weight ratio.

The Emira always feels slow to me. Mostly because my daily drive is a Model S Plaid. Everything feels slow after that.

But really in the Emira’s price class it’s underpowered. The same money gets you an E-Ray or even a C8 Z06.

You have a plethora of options that cost similar or less than the Emira.

I bought mine over a C8 Z06, or even a regular C8 Z51 because I wanted a manual. I was cross shopping against C7 Z06, C6 ZR1, Aston Martin V8 Vantages….

I’m not dissatisfied with the Emira but I’m not afraid to say it should be closer to 500hp. And I’ll mod it to get there.

 

[ffre92]

I think it's funny that a car that does 185mph and 0-60 in 4 seconds is not considered fast enough by some. Where are you driving? Who are you drag racing? Are you only using 4000 RPM? 400hp is a fast car, 600hp is ridiculous and pretty much unusable on a public road.

My Elise is more fun than my Emira with 2/3 the power to weight ratio.

That is very true. In my weekend drive club, a miata keeps up all the same with Ferrari 812 and 992 gt3 at our spirited but sane twisty road speeds.

 

[me73]

That is very true. In my weekend drive club, a miata keeps up all the same with Ferrari 812 and 992 gt3 at our spirited but sane twisty road speeds.

Not to divert the conversation too much but I have a '96 Miata and I have no problem keeping up with pretty much anything on a twisty road. To the point where I get comments on how fast the car is. The difference is that I'm really working the car and actually having more fun.

 

[Jinba ittai]

Not to divert the conversation too much but I have a '96 Miata and I have no problem keeping up with pretty much anything on a twisty road. To the point where I get comments on how fast the car is. The difference is that I'm really working the car and actually having more fun.

I have a 99 Miata and I am so much more confident wringing it out than the Emira. The performance limits are approachable, so I’ve learned where they are and I drive it at 10/10ths. The Emira (or any other higher performance car) have limits that are so much higher that overstepping comes with real consequences. Because of that I end up driving at probably 7/10 of what the car could handle.

 

[geoffbland]

Cheaper (to repair) = less (financial) consequences = faster

 

[OppositeLock]

The McLaren that I investigated had some rather nutty costs.

First, I intend to track my sports cars, and I do, a lot. The McLaren engine costs about $80,000 for the crate motor, if you ever need a new one, but their warranty covers track usage, so I decided I wanted to keep the warranty. It broke down like this:

warranty: $11k/2 years. You can extend this warranty for a while, IIRC, it was possible for 8 more years on the 600LT
inspections: $600 pre-trackday and $600 post-trackday inspection required + whatever maintenance items are needed.

You can do pre-track inspection within ~week of your track day, and post-track needs to be done within 3 days.

So, there's a strict inspection/maintenance regimen at the dealer to keep your warranty. I assumed I'd be doing ~10 track days per years in this car, so I'd need to budget $12,000 just for the inspections.

CCB brake rotors are about $6k each and last about 10 track days. Thats kinda bonkers, but aftermarket alternatives exist, like SurfaceTransforms, that are a lot cheaper. If you go with iron rotors, you lose warranty on the suspension.

Once I did all the numbers, I decided it wasn't worth the constant trips to the dealer and the hassle.

I can afford a 2GR-FE engine without worrying about it.

 

[David s]

I have a 99 Miata and I am so much more confident wringing it out than the Emira. The performance limits are approachable, so I’ve learned where they are and I drive it at 10/10ths. The Emira (or any other higher performance car) have limits that are so much higher that overstepping comes with real consequences. Because of that I end up driving at probably 7/10 of what the car could handle.

I think a drivers performance is directly proportional to how far are you really wanting to push your car(any car) compared to not wanting to trash it into a rock wall. This is usually proportional to what you paid for the car. The more expensive, the less likely you will push the limits.

 

[Read T]

To chime in with my .02$ to the original post comparing the two cars

McLarens all look the same to me (though I know there's lots of different models). In my area, McLarens are much more common than Loti

I'd say neither are underpowered, but I raced miatas :-D

I wouldn't call butterfly doors a pro, they're just different.

I've never owned a McLaren, so otherwise I don't have much to offer here ha

 

[VR1]

The McLaren that I investigated had some rather nutty costs.

First, I intend to track my sports cars, and I do, a lot. The McLaren engine costs about $80,000 for the crate motor, if you ever need a new one, but their warranty covers track usage, so I decided I wanted to keep the warranty. It broke down like this:

warranty: $11k/2 years. You can extend this warranty for a while, IIRC, it was possible for 8 more years on the 600LT
inspections: $600 pre-trackday and $600 post-trackday inspection required + whatever maintenance items are needed.

You can do pre-track inspection within ~week of your track day, and post-track needs to be done within 3 days.

So, there's a strict inspection/maintenance regimen at the dealer to keep your warranty. I assumed I'd be doing ~10 track days per years in this car, so I'd need to budget $12,000 just for the inspections.

CCB brake rotors are about $6k each and last about 10 track days. Thats kinda bonkers, but aftermarket alternatives exist, like SurfaceTransforms, that are a lot cheaper. If you go with iron rotors, you lose warranty on the suspension.

Once I did all the numbers, I decided it wasn't worth the constant trips to the dealer and the hassle.

I can afford a 2GR-FE engine without worrying about it.

Talk about not being confident in your own product lol. The $600 x 2 mandatory inspections before and post track day to retain warranty sounds ridiculous

 

[Toomanyloti]

I have a friend who was a long time Exige S1 owner like me and swapped into a Mac when he retired. It didn’t last long. He said it was great but way too fast for him and public roads. Once the novelty wore off he got rid. Spoken the John Thorne in person about macs and hes the man if you want one. He knows them better than you know your wife
Great machines if they are looked after. Never had a go in one but would love to if the chance came up.

 

[NJemira85]

I recently moved from a McLaren 720S to Emira. I can give you a perspective.

But first of all, let me start by saying McLaren 570S is known to have a noticeable turbo lag. I suggest you consider this very carefully in case you're leaning to get the 570S.

McLaren 720S is absolutely a fantastic car, handling and suspension second to none. Fast as hell. I owned it for about two years but then I started to feel this car is just too much for the road. Sure I got a rush for acceleration, but that just wears out quickly. It felt like the car needed more than street roads to give me the driving pleasure I needed.
After a while I started driving it less and then for a McLaren you're advised to maintain expensive warranty. Insurance and registration is just at least double the Emira. I started to miss shifting gears.

My previous cars were Subaru BRZ, 718 Cayman, 718 Spyder, R8. Whenever a car became automatic, I couldn't stand it after a year. With Porsche (both manual) I started to get bored because the damn 2nd gear was just so tall that the car might as well had 2 gears.

So this whole journey brought me to one final decision: to get the Emira. Why?
1. The closest steering and suspension enjoyment there is to McLaren 720S with a third of the money
2. Not too fast, I can feel I'm doing something with the car before hitting the speed limit
3. Fantastic manual gearbox feel (to me)
4. The gearing is short enough that I find myself playing with 2nd, 3rd, and 4th very frequently
5. Supercharger sounds fantastic. Cat delete will undoubtably make the car sound even better (I yet need to do this)
6. The car is much much cheaper to maintain and to mod due to the core that is the Toyota engine. (in my opinion this is a blessing about this car)

I would personally after my car journey think everything has led me to Emira as the right balance I'm looking for. Is it perfect? No, can it be made perfect? Almost yes! with a few mods the car can become 5% more punchy and it'd become the perfect car in my book.

Hope this helps!

Agree coming from 600lt and 488. Fully.

Lag bad depreciation biblical on 570 and reliable as a prison snitch

 

[NJemira85]

Was curious about this, so I just called my insurance company to get a quote and it's mostly a wash. I quoted a 2024 & 2026 Emira V6 and a 2019 570S, the McLaren was between the Emira's, interestingly enough.

Full carbon spec $349k msrp 600lt spider was $24-30k / annum for all but one underwriter. Terrifying

 

[bshads]

First, I intend to track my sports cars, and I do, a lot. The McLaren engine costs about $80,000 for the crate motor, if you ever need a new one, but their warranty covers track usage, so I decided I wanted to keep the warranty. It broke down like this:

Lots of FYI's after owning a 650s on warranty and the GT4 track car.
Engine rebuild / replacement service is recommended at 10,000 miles of race use to remain competitive, and yes was quoted $70k for a fresh motor. However, I haven't met anyone that actually needed a full new motor. Turbos sure, but not the whole thing.

warranty: $11k/2 years. You can extend this warranty for a while, IIRC, it was possible for 8 more years on the 600LT
inspections: $600 pre-trackday and $600 post-trackday inspection required + whatever maintenance items are needed.

These costs are negotiable.
I think I paid 5700 for 2 years warranty extension.
The trackday inspections are also negotiable. I made a deal with the service manager at my service center to bring the car in once every 1-2 months while tracking the car and they would keep the warranty active. Every inspection got you a brake fluid flush and fluid top off, plus a clear view of consumable wear.

CCB brake rotors are about $6k each and last about 10 track days. Thats kinda bonkers, but aftermarket alternatives exist, like SurfaceTransforms, that are a lot cheaper. If you go with iron rotors, you lose warranty on the suspension.

The CCB's are pricey, but Mclaren will sell their clients steel rotors if you want.
This thread was on the 570s, which there are steel options from the 570GT.

Consumables are kindof a wash car to car.
With the Emira, I ruined the front brakes in one day at Laguna Seca. Replaced the stock tires after that even as well for the Cup 2's. Consumables are consumables.

The big difference is that I can email my Mclaren parts guy on Monday morning and have a transmission coolant line shipped in from the ATL warehouse by Tuesday. Good luck with finding OEM Emira parts available.

 

[leofin]

We have a McLaren 570s and an Emira V6 in the garage. My friend owns the 570s and we go for spins often. The cost of keeping the 570s is higher: parts, service, insurance. It doesn't look more special and it brakes quite often. The Emira with the Toyota engine has excellent maintenance cost. The McLaren accelerates faster but I don't see any other pluses.

 

[LotusB]

We have a McLaren 570s and an Emira V6 in the garage. My friend owns the 570s and we go for spins often. The cost of keeping the 570s is higher: parts, service, insurance. It doesn't look more special and it brakes quite often. The Emira with the Toyota engine has excellent maintenance cost. The McLaren accelerates faster but I don't see any other pluses.

Which Emira are you comparing to (engine/transmission)? Is the 570 a Spider? What year? What has broken on the 570 and how long has he owned it?

Thanks!

 

[leofin]

Which Emira are you comparing to (engine/transmission)? Is the 570 a Spider? What year? What has broken on the 570 and how long has he owned it?

Thanks!

It’s a 570S coupe 2019. Within a year windscreen cracked twice ($6K each), suspension issues, engine turbo failed once, headlight had to be replaced with a new, something on the drivers door not opening, exhaust had to be fixed, and cracks on the paint so he wrapped it. His new issue is battery draining. The car has about 60K km’s total. Bad karma?

In the same time I did two oil changes with filters and changed front brake pads, on the Emira V6 automatic. I visited the track 2 times plus my usual after-work driving.

 

[LotusB]

It’s a 570S coupe 2019. Within a year windscreen cracked twice ($6K each), suspension issues, engine turbo failed once, headlight had to be replaced with a new, something on the drivers door not opening, exhaust had to be fixed, and cracks on the paint so he wrapped it. His new issue is battery draining. The car has about 60K km’s total. Bad karma?

In the same time I did two oil changes with filters and changed front brake pads, on the Emira V6 automatic. I visited the track 2 times plus my usual after-work driving.

Thanks, honestly, that's the stuff that worries me. Things can wrong on anything mechanical, but some of the issues you listed are pretty "common" and wide-spread. That'll sour any ownership experience. It's not just the cost, but "dealing" with the issues all the time and having the car in the shop.

 

[Rcktmn]

I met a guy with a 570S a few months ago at cars and coffee. He said he’s put like 20k miles on it without any issues