McLaren 720S

– Los Angeles, California

Each year, we move closer and closer to an inevitable future where driver involvement is the lowest priority. I spent more time in 2017 with my hands removed from steering wheels, testing semi-autonomous technologies, than I have in any year before. But I’m not ready to give up that connection between car and driver. And thankfully, I’m not alone.

Despite the push for driver assistance tech, many automakers are pouring research-and-development money into building some of the best driver’s cars I’ve ever known. I’ve enjoyed a bumper crop of great-driving cars this year, from cheap and cheerful coupes, to wild hot hatches, to freaking fast SUVs, to sophisticated supercars. And at the very top of my personal best list – the car I will use as the benchmark for all great cars in 2018, the car I talked about more than all the others, the car I have more pictures of in my iPhone’s camera roll, the car that when I talk about it with other auto writers, we agree that it’s simply amazing – is the McLaren 720S. This is the antidote to boring cars. The inverse of driverless technology. The car that never stopped making me drive faster, harder, and for longer periods of time.

No car I drove in 2017 compares to McLaren’s incredible 720S. Here’s why.

“Goes like hell” is an understatement.

I’m not just talking about the 2.8-second 0-60 time here. Sure, that’s damn impressive in its own right. But the McLaren’s real ass-kicking moment is in its mid-range pun...