AutoTrader Find of the Week: This McLaren MP4-12C is a Supercar Bargain

At the time of writing, the cheapest 911 in Porsche Canada’s dealer inventory has an asking price just a smidge over $162,000. Of course, that’s pre-owned. If you want something a junior vice president of wealth management hasn’t farted in, you’re looking at somewhere closer to $177,000.

Sure, Chevrolet Corvettes are a bargain by comparison. While the C8 ‘Vette starts at just over $91,000, tack on a few options and some taxes, and you’re easily knocking on the door of $140,000 to $150,000. A well-optioned Z06 will easily put you over the $200,000 mark.

This is not to put down the 911 or C8. Both are phenomenal sports cars that you could live with almost every day. Both have engines that sit behind the driver to give you the sense that you’re driving something exotic. And both boast nameplates and brands so iconic you’ll never need to explain them to anybody. They will also both, almost certainly, maintain resale value.

The big hairy but here, though, is that base 911s and Corvettes are essentially regular traffic. And to the average Joe, the “special” versions are indistinguishable. You see dozens of them every day, and while the appeal of blending in and not trying to impress anybody might do it for some (it’s what I find most appealing about a 911), if you’re spending over $100,000 for a supercar, there’s a good chance that for you, standing out is the whole point.

May I then direct your attention to this 2012 McLaren MP4-12C currently residing in Quebec and listed by a private seller on AutoTrader.

Let’s just cut to the chase. They’re asking $130,000.

That’s a lot of cheddar, sure. But it’s less than a new base Porsche 911. And probably about what you would pay for a new base C8. And you get a McLaren. 

A McLaren, I might add, that was optioned to the gills. The original owner opted for the orange special order paint, colour-matched brake calipers and contrasting leather interior, sport exhaust, and carbon fibre everything. The mirror covers, the front splitter, the engine cover, the side intake, a myriad of interior trim, all carbon. This is thanks to McLaren’s Stealth Pack — an option group that persists today for current McLaren models. Even the wheels are the highest option Super Lightweighted forged models. 

To put all of this into context, the base price of the McLaren MP4-12C was $231,400 USD in 2012 money. Loaded up with these kinds of options, prices were probably in the neighbourhood of $283,000 USD.

In 2025 Canadian money, that’s roughly $545,000. But that math doesn’t really add up.

Reports were that the MP4-12C’s prices started at $247,500 CAD in 2011, which is more like $335,600 CAD today. A similarly optioned new McLaren like an Artura would run you between $250,000 and $300,000 CAD — so that’s a better gauge of the original MSRP of this vehicle.

Still, you get the point. This is a full-blooded, carbon-festooned European exotic supercar that you could own for less money than what people pay for a well-optioned pickup truck nowadays.

And sure, this McLaren might be 13 years old now. But it doesn’t look like it's aged a day, perhaps partly because McLaren has made so many models since then that all use fundamentally the same design language. Terminally online car nerds (yours truly) might be able to point out the difference between the MP4 and 570S, but your friends and neighbours? They’ll be none the wiser.

It’s not like you’ll feel behind the times in terms of performance, either.

Nestled behind the driver is a 3.8-litre V8 that produces 593 horsepower thanks to over 17 psi of twin-turbocharged forced induction. It will scream to 8,500 rpm, snap the car to 100 km/h in 3.0 seconds flat, and run a quarter mile in the low 11-second range.

Which is all a bit irrelevant because this is a car that can reportedly set a flying lap time of 7 minutes, 28 seconds at the Nürburgring Nordschleife — quicker than a Porsche Carrera GT and just a smidge off the Ferrari 812 Superfast. 

And if you’re worried that this is an “old supercar” that isn’t as comfortable or efficient (read: easy to live with) as modern examples, know that the MP4-12C was likely the supercar that single-handedly pushed accessibility and approachability of the segment the furthest in the 2010s. Like the Audi R8 in the 2000s and Acura NSX in the 1990s, the McLaren set new benchmarks in terms of supercar livability.

Do some poking around owner forums, and you’ll find most 12C owners report decent reliability and dealer service experiences, with annual running/maintenance costing around $2,500 to $3,000. Which is about what I pay every year to upkeep my equally old Ford Mustang GT.  Certainly, you’ll be losing that in depreciation or maintenance on a 911 or Corvette.

Of course, I’ll grant you that in the right neck of the woods, McLarens aren’t exactly more rare than a Porsche or Corvette. When I worked in an office in the heart of Yorkville in Toronto, I’d see multiple McLarens a day. When I lived in Coal Harbour in Vancouver, I basically stopped noticing them.

But that’s because they were all the latest models, usually driven by somebody in a glittery tracksuit and parked out front of the Louis Vuitton store.

The MP4-12C’s design has not only stood the test of time, but has now become something of a working-class hero — a luxury supercar for aspirational blue-collar money.

If we’re comparing the MP4-12C to other luxury goods, you could think of it in terms of watches.

Think of McLaren like the brand Omega. Finely crafted. Highly technical. The new ones are serious money, and there’s always a new flavour of the month. But the MP4-12C is like the “Peter Blake” Seasmaster (2245.50) model from the mid-2000s. It’s everything you want from the brand, with an iconic design that has stood the test of time (which some argue is still the best one), and you can have one for one-third of what a new one would cost at retail.

But most importantly, it’s not a Rolex. It’s not the one everybody else has.