2026 McLaren 750S Spider Review: Proof That Supercars Should Still Be Punishing

Nowadays, you can dumb down even the most hardcore supercars with the push of a button. From Bugattis to Ferraris and your run-of-the-mill Germans, the quest for versatility has delivered both great and horrible things to supercar owners. Sure, dailying your 800-hp statement piece is nice, but have you ever feared that making a mistake could cost you big time? The 2026 McLaren 750S leans more toward the latter.

The McLaren 750S, as I recently found out, is focused on one thing: going as fast as possible all the freaking time. Whether you’re taking a corner or driving in a straight line, the car’s sole desire is to do so as quickly as possible, just like its Papaya Orange siblings in F1. Taking it easy, cruising for the sake of showing off, or being practical and comfortable are things the 750S isn’t concerned with. In fact, it kind of despises all of that.

It’s not uncomfortable or torturous, but the difference in behavior between Comfort and Sport mode is minimal, unlike in other supercars that can be completely subdued by their software. The 750S always feels like a supercar, always feels on-edge, and when you really ask it to be a supercar, it basically lights your pants on fire.

The 750S is not exactly new, and we’ve driven it before, so I’ll focus on my driving experience of the Spider rather than give you the whole enchilada once more. You can revisit our first-drive review, where we called it “Incremental Excellence,” or check out its reveal, where we appropriately called it “The 720S but turned up to 11.”

On a recent jaunt up the Los Angeles Crest Highway, I found out just how intense the McLaren is, and most shockingly, just how much skill and attention it requires to perform at its peak. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t hop behind the wheel thinking this was a Cozy Coupe that required little to no skill to drive fast, but having driven some of its direct rivals on that same road, I was blown away by how much more engaging and raw the 750S really is.

It all starts with the foundation of every McLaren: the carbon fiber tub or “monocell.” This is what differentiates it from the Ferraris, the Astons, and so forth. The car’s otherworldly handling begins there and is further enhanced by McLaren’s adaptive damping system on its double-wishbone independent suspension. Damping has three modes: Comfort, Sport, and Track. The rear-mid-mounted, twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 produces 740 horsepower at 7,500 rpm and 590 lb-ft of torque at 5,500 rpm. Those ponies are sent to the rear wheels only via a seven-speed, dual-clutch automatic transmission with the same three powertrain and transmission modes as the suspension.

It’s those key bits and McLaren’s decades of engineering and racing experience that make the 750S feel like something completely different than everything else out there. Taking a corner at speed requires an understanding of basic physics and how a car’s dynamics work. If you come in too hot, you’ll probably just fly off the road because it’s so easy to carry so much speed. Carry too little speed into a corner, and you’ll be bored because things feel unventful. However, nail the pace and your hands’ movements, and you’ll hear the angels sing as the McLaren settles into your chosen driving line.

Nailing that sweet spot took me a solid 45 minutes to an hour of high-speed driving. Getting used to the 750S’s many little movements mid-corner, the way you had to set up the steering when entering a bend, the way the weight settled at turn-in (hint: it stays flat). Plus, you don’t really want to rush into driving a $443,000 tester on a public mountainside road, y’know?

Once up to speed, it’s truly astonishing how much race-car-like the 750S really is. I don’t mean that in a cliché “race car for the road” way, but in a way that there aren’t many street cars that command your attention at speed like this one. While bombing down those famous roads, I realized I hadn’t said a word to my son the entire ride because I was so focused on driving. Each corner was an opportunity to learn about its behavior and how it would react to different inputs.

The V8 just propels you into the stratosphere quicker than you can even think about it. However, unlike a Ferrari 296, it’s pickier about where you are in the rev range. If you’re too low on revs, it’ll take a bit to reach max power and torque. Same if you’re too high. The 4.0-liter mill does seem to be a bit peaky, and the window for ideal performance feels narrower than in most other cars, but that’s what makes it so rewarding when you get it all right. Likewise, getting it right also means braking properly and working your way down the gears with the right cadence. The last car I had driven on these roads was the Ferrari 12Cilindri Spider while chasing my good friend (and Angeles Crest master) Chris Rosales in a Lexus LC500. This time, he was leading the way in a Lamborghini Urus Performante. The McLaren was superior in just about every way, but I’m nowhere near Chris’ level in skill and local road knowledge.

The two-piece carbon ceramic brakes are strong, just as you’d expect, and they’re also quite touchy. That can be a mild annoyance at a normal pace on the street, but when you’re going into a corner at, uh, considerable speed, feeling like you’ve got the stopping power of a brick wall is reassuring.

And just as you are trying to understand the madness of it all, the whail of the engine is resonating behind your head and overwhelming your ears, and it’s all your brain can process at times—especially with the top down. And that was my favorite part of it all: the fact that I could enjoy the entire performance, all the rawness and speed, while taking in unlimited headroom and the Californian sun on my forehead.

Verdict

There are only a handful of cars at any price point that demand as much respect from the driver as the 750S. It’s not about fearing it, but rather understanding it. It’s about learning how the driver and the machine can work together to get the most performance out of the package, rather than just jumping behind the wheel, pushing a few buttons, mashing the gas pedal, and assuming that the computers will sort things out.

The 750S may feature all the latest technology, but at heart it drives like an old-school supercar that communicates with the driver in the most nuanced ways (and some rather loud ones, too). At the end of the day, don’t be surprised if it doesn’t take it easy on you and tries to bite—it’s just telling you that you need to do a little better.

McLaren provided The Drive with a four-day loan of this vehicle for the purpose of writing this review.

2026 McLaren 750S Spider Specs

Quick Take

A serious supercar for serious drivers.

Email the author at jerry@thedrive.com