Tested (again): 2015 McLaren 650S Spider

Dream Weaver _

2015 McLaren 650S at the yacht club | Shaun Keenan for Ignition
2015 McLaren 650S at the yacht club | Shaun Keenan for Ignition

For many, dreams are the closest they will come to experiencing a car like this. I thought it would be fun to change that for a lucky few. So, instead of a long drive in the country, this time I went for a relatively short drive around my neighbourhood and other affluent parts of Oakville to gauge people’s reactions to it. The replica FINA racing livery drew stares from everywhere, and it’s virtually impossible to look at this car and not smile. The proof is in the pudding, as the vast majority of people I came across while driving the 650S were completely taken aback by it.

There were, of course, the camera-happy people, the curious onlookers, the unabashed complimenters and the totally amazed. The kids on my street all came over to take photos of the car and selfies with it, and there was a small group of kids on another street running behind it and trying to catch up for an up-close look. I did even better, and let them all sit in the passenger seat while they snapped photos with their GoPro camera. One of them seemed so excited that he nearly had an asthma attack right there in the seat next to me…

My best friend claims the experience was “better than sex” after I showed him a very small portion of this car’s performance envelope following an “eight-minute test drive.” He likened the ride to a roller coaster, which is a great, PG-rated description. To make the drive even more memorable, we ended up passing former Toronto Maple Leaf Mike Palmateer driving his vanity-plated BMW in the blink of an eye. Talk about a fluke…

2015 McLaren 650S with Bentley | Shaun Keenan for Ignition
2015 McLaren 650S with Bentley | Shaun Keenan for Ignition

Continue reading about my experience with the 2015 McLaren 650S Spider on the IGNITION MAGAZINE website!