Mclaren released their one off X1 at the Quail motorsports gathering in Monterey this past weekend. It is the culmination of “3 years of hard work” they said, and I have to ask for what? I find the X1 unappealing; it looks like its design is trying to hard to be extreme, and real supercar beauty usually comes from function and purity of design. There is also the obvious influence of elegant 1930’s French cars, and that sort of Cruella de Vil look does not work well on a supercar. The covered rear wheels take the car’s aggressive stance away as well, leaving us with an appearance that is just plain awkward. On top of this, that 3 years of work has only gotten the customer a normal 12C with an ugly body kit, so again I have to ask, why?

Looking at all the supercar news sources I can see the usual amount of oogling over this car. Most people only like this car, and cars like it, because they are rare, expensive, or just stigmatized as a “supercar”. That, to me, is mindless dribble. I will give credit where credit is due (like the Ferrari P4/5), but I am at a personal point now where I don’t care at all about a car being a status symbol. It must have its own legitimate merits to get my good graces, and this Mclaren falls way short. I saw a normal 12C go by tonight, and it looked brilliant. So why bother making this ugly thing if not only to use as another soulless status symbol by someone with far more money than self security?

Different is not always a good thing, and I could care less if the owner locks the X1 away for eternity. In fact, I kind of hope he or she does.

-Nick Walker