Update: We've added fresh video footage that shows the aftermath of this crash more clearly. Check it out and tell us what you'd do with some destroyed 650S bits.
One very unlucky owner of a brand new McLaren 650S Spider had the unfortunate pleasure of colliding into a Saab 9-3 Convertible in London on Saturday night (21 February). We don't really want to place blame here, just discuss the outcome of the crash, which is spectacular.
The McLaren 650S is a brand new car, built around the ultra-durable "MonoCell" carbon fiber chassis. Yes it sustained much more severe damage than the old Saab convertible it crashed into.
How is this possible? Well, Saab have always been pathologically insane about safety. In an age way before people were so conscious about crash tests and such things, the Swedes designed some of the most structurally rigid cars on sale.
General Motors often complained that their Swedish engineers never asked what they were supposed to. Instead of simply restyling the Opel Vectra body with different headlights and bumpers, they changed just about everything to make it strong in a crash. So that's why a car that entered production over a decade ago is made of the right stuff and the supercar… isn't.
There's also the fact that carbon fiber tends to shatter on impact to dissipate force and that the heavier Saab has more momentum, but that's kind of insignificant in this type of urban crash. What isn't insignificant is the amount of damage sustained by the 650S, which pretty much needs a new front end from the windshield forwards.
What's interesting is that at about the 1-minute mark in the video, there's another McLaren 650S Spider visible in the background. Now, the last time we checked, the only green model in Britain belongs to supercar spotter Shmee150, who previously owned a 12C and an Audi R8.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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