• Certainly not cheap to run
• Reasonable tax and fuel costs though
• Keep money aside for tyres

If you can afford a McLaren 570S in the first place it’s unlikely that its costs will put you off – but there’s some good news here. You might not need as big a budget as you’d think. In fact the McLaren Sports Series boasts the lowest running costs in the manufacturer’s history.

While its twin-turbo V8 promises 26.6mpg, if you get anywhere near that figure regularly, you might want to reassess whether a sports car is the most relevant method of transportation for you.

Still, 249g/km of CO2 at least means you avoid the top level of VED tax – even if it means the 570S falls into the second most expensive £500 a year category. A stop start system, standard for the first time in a McLaren, helps here.

Carbon ceramic brakes will last the lifetime of the car (Says McLaren) but tyres certainly won’t, especially if you make good use of the former or venture onto a track.

Aluminium body panels should be relatively easier to repair than the composite material used on previous cars. That said you’ll want to avoid dinging any optional carbonfibre trim – unless you like big bills.

It’s important to look at the McLaren 570S in context before gulping at the 249g/km of CO2 it produces – this coupe is powerful and fast in extremes and its V8 displaces nearly four litres.

Helping to keep harmful emissions at bay (when driving in town at least) is a stop-start system that shuts the engine down when you’re not using it, and fires it back up in no time at all when you need to move off.

• Engine and tub used elsewhere in the range
• Meticulous production standards
• Not a piece of flimsy trim in sight

McLaren Automotive doesn’t have the longest history to base reliability conclusions on so it’s difficult to say with any authority whether your 570S is going to go wrong.

That said it is hand-built to fastidiously high standards and from an interior quality point of view feels extremely well screwed together. Plus, all cars share a version of the same engine, which suggests this maker has great faith in its internal components.

Every car is also given a rigorous quality check and the fact McLaren keeps its productions numbers down also means engineers and quality assessors have an eagle-eyed view of the cars it releases into the wild.