Three cars carry McLaren’s legacy more than any others: the 1992 F1, the 2013 P1, and now the W1. Having driven the latter at more than 300km/h in Italy earlier this year, we can tell you that the name comes with some fairly serious expectations.
First deliveries of the W1 are expected soon, but McLaren Australia won't say exactly how many are coming, only that it’s a good number. Understandable, considering all 399 models built globally were allocated shortly after the October 2024 reveal. Australia is therefore getting an undisclosed slice of a car nobody can still order.
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Climbing into one, the first thing you notice is just how serious the driving position feels. You step into the fixed carbon-fibre seat, close the anhedral doors behind you, and set yourself against the adjustable pedal box.
It’s closer to lining up on the track in a racing car than any conventional road-going McLaren, although the proper stereo and surprisingly accommodating cabin are reminders that this is still something you could, in theory, drive to dinner. I say ‘in theory’ because there is a 9,200rpm V8 sitting directly behind your head.
Under the (rear) hood, a 4.0-litre twin-turbo flat-plane V8 is combined with an electric motor integrated into the transmission. The important numbers – 938kW, 1,340Nm and a remarkably low 1,399kg – are quite frankly ridiculous on paper, particularly when the power is being sent through the rear axle alone.
The return is a claimed 0-100km/h time of 2.7 seconds, 0-300km/h in less than 12.7 seconds, and a 350km/h top speed. Perfect, then, for the midweek school run. I joke, but whilst the W1 is a suitably extreme successor to the cars that came before it, McLaren has been careful to retain what many drivers will expect from a road car. The W1 gets Comfort, Sport and Race driving modes, along with a cabin equipped with an 8.0-inch infotainment screen and Apple CarPlay.
Pricing for Australian examples has not yet been confirmed, although the W1 started at around £2 million (~AU$3.8 million) in the UK before any sort of McLaren Special Operations personalisation that can very quickly add up. Once Australian taxes and local specification are accounted for, expect the final figure to climb well beyond the $4 million mark.
McLaren says its Australian W1 customers span industries including technology, property, and mining, with existing brand loyalty playing a significant role in allocation. Which, in all honesty, feels about right. The F1, P1 and W1 are separated by more than three decades of automotive development, but each represents McLaren’s most uncompromising interpretation of a road car at the time. With the W1 now allocated to Australian customers, the country can claim examples of all three.
For a market that has spent the past 30 years watching McLaren’s ultimate road cars from a distance, completing the F1, P1, and W1 set is a fairly significant arrival Down Under.