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The McLaren 750S is not a new car, and knowing that is worth money. It is a 720S that McLaren went back through component by component for the 2024 model year: lighter, sharper, with the 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8 lifted to roughly 740 horsepower. That is a compliment. The 720S was already one of the quickest things sold to the public, and the revision made it better in the ways that matter on a road.
But it matters enormously at the desk, because the car the McLaren 750S replaced is still out there, still extraordinary, and depreciating while you read this. Most buyers at this level negotiate the car. Very few negotiate the specification, and the specification is where the money actually goes.
What Changed Between the 750S and the 720S?
A great deal, none of it structural. The carbon-fibre monocoque carries over, which is the point of a McLaren: the tub is the car, and it is why these weigh what they weigh. Around it, McLaren revised the suspension, steering, brakes, exhaust and powertrain calibration, and took weight out almost everywhere.
| Consideration | McLaren 750S | McLaren 720S |
|---|---|---|
| Model years | 2024 onwards | 2018 to 2023 |
| Engine | 4.0 L twin-turbo V8, roughly 740 hp | Same V8 architecture, lower output |
| Structure | Carbon-fibre monocoque | Carbon-fibre monocoque |
| Layout | Mid-engine, rear drive, 7-speed dual-clutch | Identical |
| Curb weight | Lighter | The benchmark it was revised against |
| Published 0-60 mph | The quicker of the two, and quoted separately for coupe and Spider | The figure the 750S was revised to beat |
| Typical transaction price today | Governed by allocation and specification far more than by list | Below the 750S and still moving, so price the individual car |
Both are offered as a coupe and as the open-top Spider. The 750S arrived for 2024 and carried into 2025 without a redesign, so anyone selling a "2025 update" as a reason to pay more should name it in writing. A genuine running change appears on the build sheet and in McLaren's own model-year documentation; a verbal one is a sales line.
Two things McLaren kept that buyers underrate: hydraulically assisted steering, now unusual and much of why these cars feel the way they do, and hydraulically interlinked suspension in place of anti-roll bars, which is why a car this capable stays tolerable on a broken road.
Coupe or Spider, and Does It Change What You Should Pay?
The Spider adds a retractable hard top and a small weight penalty, and it does not blunt the car in any way most owners will detect on a public road. Buy the one you will actually use: the Spider if your driving is warm and unhurried, the coupe if it is early-morning and fast.
What you should not do is buy a Spider as a resale hedge. The two body styles do not track each other evenly, and which commands more varies by region and season. Check the current spread in your own market before you assume either body style is the safer asset, and check it against cars that actually sold in comparable specifications rather than against asking prices.
How Does Allocation Really Work, and What If You Are Not in the Queue?
Allocation at this level is a relationship business, and the relationship is not with McLaren. It is with a specific retailer, built on prior purchases, service history and how much of your business a sales manager believes he already has.
The outcome for a first-time buyer is predictable. You are quoted a build slot further out than you expected, at a specification leaning towards the options the retailer wants to sell, and you are invited to feel fortunate. Some of that is genuine scarcity. Some is leverage that only works on a buyer who has not called anyone else. The 750S is not a limited-series car, and retailers in one region often hold cars a buyer three states away has been told do not exist.
CCP advantage: we approach multiple McLaren retailers in parallel, on your behalf, with no relationship to protect and no emotion in the conversation. You are not asking anybody for a favor. You are collecting competing offers on a specification you chose, without setting foot in a showroom.
Which Options Hold Value, and Which Are Pure Cost?
This is the highest-leverage decision on a car like this, and the one buyers make fastest. On a mainstream car, mileage drives resale. On a supercar, specification drives it far harder: a badly specified car with 2,000 miles sits, while a well-specified car with 12,000 miles sells.
| Option | What it actually does | Effect on resale |
|---|---|---|
| Vehicle lift system | Clears driveways and ramps without scraping the splitter | High. Cars without it get filtered out of used searches |
| Carbon-fibre exterior packs | Marginal weight saving; appearance is the real purchase | Positive when specified with restraint |
| Carbon racing seats | Genuine weight saving, harder to live with daily | Divides buyers; know who you will sell to |
| MSO bespoke paint and one-off finishes | Real exclusivity | Entirely color-dependent, and that market is narrow |
| Parking sensors and cameras | Usability on a car with poor rear visibility | One of the strongest resale filters there is |
| Stitching, badging, interior personalisation | Personal taste | Close to nothing comes back |
The rule we apply: options that solve a physical problem with owning the car keep their value, options that express your personality do not. A lift system will still be a selling point in five years. A contrast stitch package will not. And a difficult color costs more on exit than almost any option costs on entry, so be honest about how many buyers exist for that shade.
New Allocation or a Low-Mileage Used Car?
| Scenario | New allocation | Used, one to three years old |
|---|---|---|
| Wait | A build slot months out | Immediate, if the right car is sourced |
| Specification | Yours, exactly | Someone else's, and you inherit their taste |
| Depreciation exposure | You absorb the steepest part of the curve | The first owner already did |
| Warranty | Full factory coverage from delivery | Balance of factory cover, or an extended plan priced on the car's age, mileage and history |
| Condition risk | None | Real, and manageable only with a proper inspection |
| Price position | The retailer's number, plus whatever the market allows | Set by the market and by how long the car has been sitting, which makes it negotiable in a way an allocation is not |
Be clear-eyed about depreciation. A modern supercar built in normal numbers is not a limited-series collectible, and the 750S is not exempt. The 720S proved the point: a phenomenal car that lost real money for its early owners. Expect the same shape of curve here.
Which is why the 720S deserves a serious look. It shares the monocoque, the engine architecture and most of the experience, and it has already taken the hit a new buyer is signing up for. If your priority is driving a McLaren rather than owning the current one, the older car is the better decision, and we will say so.
What Should a Pre-Purchase Inspection Cover on a Car Like This?
Never buy a used McLaren without a marque-specialist inspection. Not a general exotic shop. A McLaren specialist, with the diagnostic equipment. What we want to see:
- Full main-dealer or specialist service history, with dates as well as mileages. A low-mileage car that skipped three years of servicing is the worse buy.
- Diagnostic fault history, not only current codes. Stored and cleared faults show what the last owner was quietly living with.
- Coolant and hydraulic system condition. The suspension is hydraulic, and leaks are expensive.
- Paint depth readings panel by panel. The tub does not rust, but bonded panels and the repairs behind them exist, and they change what the car is worth.
- Tire dates and brand match. Mismatched or aged tires on a car this powerful are a safety issue first and a negotiating point second.
- Infotainment and electronics exercised properly, not glanced at. A system that misbehaves on the test drive will misbehave for you.
CCP guides you through the findings and converts them into a number. A specialist report is only useful if somebody turns "front discs at forty percent" into money off the price, without a relationship with the seller to protect.
How Does CCP Represent a Buyer at This Level?
We are paid a flat fee by you and never by a dealer. That is the whole model, and it is set out on our pricing page. It is also why we can tell you to buy the older car, or to walk away entirely. On a supercar purchase we:
- source across the national market, not the three retailers within driving distance of you;
- benchmark the car in front of you against what comparable specifications actually transacted at, not against advertised numbers;
- negotiate price, trade, finance and add-ons as four separate conversations, not the blended one the desk prefers;
- commission and interpret the pre-purchase inspection on a used car;
- read every line of the paperwork, where removed fees have a habit of reappearing.
Before any of it, run the total yourself with our out-the-door price calculator. Taxes, registration and documentation in this bracket are not a rounding error.
Book your free consultationFrequently Asked Questions
- Is the McLaren 750S a genuinely new model or a facelifted 720S?
A comprehensive revision rather than a clean-sheet car. The carbon-fibre monocoque, the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 architecture and the mid-engine, rear-drive layout carry over; almost everything attached to them changed. Treat it as the best version of a very good car.
- How much power does the 750S make?
Roughly 740 horsepower from the 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8. The badge follows the metric figure, which is where 750 comes from.
- Should I buy a 750S or a used 720S?
If you want the current car, the sharper responses and the newest warranty, buy the 750S. If you want the McLaren experience for materially less money, the 720S has already absorbed the depreciation you would otherwise pay yourself. We price both before recommending either.
- Do I need a dealer relationship to get an allocation?
It helps, and retailers will tell you it is decisive. It is less decisive than that framing suggests, particularly outside the largest metro markets. Approaching several retailers at once changes the answer more often than buyers expect.
- Which options should I insist on?
The vehicle lift system and the camera package, every time. Both solve real problems with living with the car, and both are the first things used buyers filter for. Cosmetic personalisation is for your enjoyment, not your resale.
- Does track use hurt the value of a 750S?
Not if it is documented. What damages value is undocumented use, aged tires, tired brakes and gaps in the service book. A car driven properly and serviced on schedule sells better than one that has sat.
