Comedian and uber-car-guy Jay Leno can’t tell you what his favorite car is, since there are simply too many in his collection to pick from. His favorite manufacturer, however, is McLaren.
Leno favors the British sports car builder and engineering firm for both the performance and civility of its cars. When the new McLaren MP4-12C was announced, Leno hopped the pond to visit McLaren’s Woking, England factory.
A brief drive in a pre-production car was all it took for Leno to put a deposit down. A year later, McLaren hosted Leno again, this time to give him some personalized instruction behind the wheel of an MP4-12C test mule.
Now, two years later, McLaren has delivered Leno’s own MP4-12C, and even sent along its U.S. representative, Damian Forbes, to answer a few questions. We doubt Mr. Forbes will be personally delivering your McLaren, unless, of course, you also have celebrity status.
While the latest episode of Jay Leno’s Garage doesn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know about the MP4-12C, it does remind us what a remarkable engineering achievement the car is.
In fact, it may be the most livable supercar on the market today, suitable for everything from a daily commute through turning the fastest lap time at your local road course. Not only does it escape a gas-guzzler tax, but Leno even managed to average a respectable 23 mpg in the McLaren on a recent trip.
We’re willing to help McLaren prove the point that the MP4-12C is the “world’s most user-friendly supercar.” In fact, we’ve even made room in the garage for a long term loaner; now if we could just get McLaren to agree to it.