Ask any auto mechanic or car enthusiast, and they will tell you buying a faulty exotic car with high mileage is signing up for heart failure. Worse if that car happens to be a McLaren, but let’s be honest, folks. Sometimes, the allure of driving or owning a supercar is too great to pass such an offer. And nine times out of ten, we find ourselves walking into that crowded alleyway of bad decisions called – cheap is expensive.
Alex Palmeri of LegitStreetCars YouTube channel knows the consequences of buying expensive cars for cheap too well. Two years ago, he witnessed the dark side of buying a high-mileage Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG and driving it from Kansas to Chicago.
They say, ‘old habits die hard.’ The YouTuber and car enthusiast recently signed up for yet another heart-wrenching experience. He bought a 2012 McLaren MP4-12C.
We understand it sounds like a fax machine’s name, but the ‘MP4’ stands for McLaren Project 4, thanks to Ron Dennis’ Project 4 merger with the British exotic car maker. The ‘12’ signifies the supercar’s internal vehicle performance index, while the ‘C’ is for Carbon.
Compared to other exotic cars, the 2012 McLaren MP4-12C feels a little lackluster in design, but don't let that fool you. As Palmeri soon discovered, this 11-year-old exotic car has the kicks of a championship race mule.
Under the hood, it packs a twin-turbo 3.8-liter V8 engine good for 591 hp (600 ps) at 7,000 rpm and 443 lb-ft (600 Nm) of torque. The flat-plane crank engine is mated to a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission to harness all this power.
Photo: YouTube Screenshot/Legit Street Cars
In 2013, a year after the 12C came out, McLaren owners received a free memory flash update from the British automaker. The result was a boost in power. Consequently, the McLaren 12C later made 616 hp (625 ps) at 7,500 rpm.
While that’s a lot to smile about, YouTuber and car enthusiast Alex Palmeri had much to worry about. He’d just purchased a high mileage (65,000 miles/ 104,607 kilometers) 2012 McLaren MP4-12C for a measly $79,000 with a ton of warning lights only VW owners would comprehend.
Based on the supercar’s records, this unit sold for $256,975 when new. As far as wins are concerned, that’s as far as Palmeri goes.
His McLaren 12C has many issues, including a broken clock spring, a faulty infotainment system, and random misfire codes.
He planned to drive 600 miles (966 kilometers) to his hometown Chicago, which he completed successfully. However, by the time he got home, he had a new error code that triggered a flashing check engine warning – a fuel rail pressure code.
He’s not too worried about the clock spring. The entire thing could cost about $1,000. He’s confident the misfire could be due to rust in the ignition coils or a driveline damper issue.
Still, he wouldn’t have amassed more than 900,000 followers on the platform if he didn’t make bad decisions on cars with the hope of fixing them. We can’t wait to see what he finds out about his new exotic vehicle after a thorough professional check.
But there’s one thing we are sure about – it ain’t gonna be cheap!
You can watch the video below for a glimpse of the 600-mile (966 kilometers) road trip action. The McLaren breezed through the trip flawlessly despite all the issues.
Humphrey is a car enthusiast whose love and passion for automobiles extended into collecting, writing, driving, and working on cars. He got his passion for cars from his Dad, who spent thousands of hours working on his old junky 1970 E20 Toyota Corolla. Years later, he would end up doing the same with a series of lemons he’s owned throughout his adult life. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News