C stands for ‘cheap’?
- 540C Coupé completes the two car line-up in the McLaren Sports Series;
- Most attainable McLaren yet at under £130k;
- A pure sports car but with more of a road focus and broader torque range;
- Little compromise on speed with 3.5 seconds sprint and 199mph top speed.
McLAREN has unveiled it’s ‘cheapest’ model to date in the shape of the new 540C Coupé, at the Shanghai Motor Show.
Billed as the most attainable supercar from the British manufacturer, the 540C Coupé joins the recently revealed 570S Coupé in the Sports Series as the brand brings its race derived DNA to a new audience and segment.
Available and priced from £126,000, the 540C Coupé can be pre-ordered now with deliveries scheduled to being in early 2016.
Despite the ‘budget’ price tag, the 540C Coupé is a pure McLaren shares much with its siblings in the Super Series and Ultimate Series, including a light weight carbon fibre chassis and race-derived technologies.
Its award-winning 3.8-litre V8 McLaren power unit generates 540PS at 7,500 rpm and 540Nm of torque 3,500-6,500 rpm, a broader range than on the marginally faster 540S Coupé.
With stop-start technology, it offers optimised levels of efficiency and a longer range suited to the typical usage of cars in this segment.
Power is delivered through the rear wheels via a seven-speed seamless shift gearbox (SSG) which, aided by the low weight of the 540C, sees the 0 to 62mph sprint completed in 3.5 seconds and on to a top speed of 199mph while claiming fuel economy of 25.5 mpg and emissions of just 258 g/km.
