When McLaren’s first model as a fully-fledged supercar maker, the MP4-12C, was launched in 2011, it had all anyone could ask for in a car of this class.

In fact, on paper it was more than a match for its arch rival, the Ferrari 458 Italia. It had more power, a carbon fiber chassis, a trick suspension that made do away with roll bars and a Formula 1-inspired brake steer feature.

Despite all that, it lost out in every comparison test to the sharper, more fun to drive 458. The tech was there alright, but the MP4-12C somehow failed to exhilarate the driver the way the Ferrari did, and the 2012 upgrade to 616hp did little to change that. Plus, its looks were deemed a bit anodyne and certainly no match for its direct rival.

Enter the 650S, a heavily revised MP4-12C that has a new front-end design inspired by the P1 hypercar, revised suspension and steering set-up and aero mods. Its M838T twin-turbo 3.8-liter engine put out an extra 25hp, for a total of 641.

Like the MP4-12C, which was officially dead on April 2014, it also spawned a Spider version with an electrically operated hard-top roof. Motor Trend’s Carlos Lago drove it on the road, handing over the keys to racer Randy Pobst for a lap time around the Willow Springs track.

So, is the 650S Spider a new, more exciting to drive supercar in its own right, one that can challenge the 458 Spider, or just a more powerful facelift of the old model? You can find out right after the break.

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