Mclaren 540C – The New Champion Of Junior Supercars?

Although less than a month has passed since Mclaren unveiled the first car in their ‘Sport Series’ range - the brilliant 570S, another model has been announced and this time it’s going after the Porsche 911 Turbo (Check out prices of 911 Turbo here).We gave you four reasons 570S will be an awesome car, so let’s see what we’ve got on this one.

The 540C is basically a detuned 570S, so it gets the carbon ‘MonoCell’ chassis and 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 fitted to all current Mclaren cars. In the 540C though, as the name suggests, it puts out 540ps with 540nm of torque to back it up. Priced at around $190,000, it is slightly more expensive than the 911 Turbo its set to do battle with. There are areas in which the 540C claws back an advantage though, here are five that might ensure its victory.

                                        Mclaren         Porsche (Sport+)

1.Top speed:                        320km/h        315km/h

2.Acceleration 0-100km/h:       3.5sec           3.2sec

3.Acceleration 0-200km/h:       10.5sec          10.8sec

4.Weight:                             1318kg          1595kg

5.Power/Torque                      540/540         520/660

Though the 911 beats the Mclaren to 100km/h and has greater torque, the 540C’s lighter weight, better power, higher top speed and roll-on acceleration all beat the Porsche. There is around $10k difference in price, but on top of the figures, the Mclaren offers exclusivity the Porsche can’t match, chassis technology that cannot be matched and is the more focused supercar. On paper at least, the Mclaren 540C wins.