McLaren McL 820 vs 750S: Is the Upgrade Worth It?

McLaren has confirmed its 750S successor will be called the McL 820, and the naming convention tells you most of what matters. McLaren badges its cars by metric horsepower in PS — the 720S made 720PS, the 750S makes 750PS, and the 820 will make 820PS, which converts to roughly 809bhp.

That's about 69bhp more than the 750S's 740bhp rating. Here's the trap buyers fall into: assuming a bigger number on the spec sheet means a proportionally better car to actually drive. It doesn't. The 750S already hits 0-62mph in around 2.8 seconds and tops out near 206mph — numbers that already outstrip what almost any owner will use on public roads.

Extra horsepower above that threshold mostly shows up in lap times, not in how thrilling your Tuesday commute feels. The other thing nobody tells you: the 820 isn't out yet. It's expected as a 2027 model, built around a new hybrid powertrain and a shift toward broader electrification for McLaren.

That means early units will carry first-year pricing and first-year unknowns, while the 750S is already a mature, reviewed, delivered car with a track record — for better and for worse, given some reported reliability complaints from recent owners.

McLaren's own naming logic confirms the 820 is the most powerful series-production car the brand has built — more powerful than the 765LT, let alone the 750S. That's a legitimate engineering achievement, and on a track with a skilled driver, those extra 69 horses will show up in lap times.

But the 750S was already evo and Top Gear's benchmark for weaponized competence, as one widely shared Throttle House review put it. Reviewers consistently note the 750S feels sharper, lighter, and more aggressive than its 720S predecessor — McLaren shaved weight and shortened the final drive ratio specifically to make the existing power feel more urgent.

In other words, McLaren already solved the 'does it feel fast enough' problem before the 820 existed. The 820's real differentiator will likely be its hybrid system and electrification — a shift that changes the character of the car, not just the numbers.

Whether that trade-off (added complexity and weight from hybrid components, offset by instant torque) nets out as 'better to drive' is genuinely unresolved until road tests happen in 2027.