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Rowan Atkinson sells his McLaren F1 for $12 million

With little over a hundred produced (including prototypes and racers), there aren't a lot of McLaren F1 owners out there. Rowan Atkinson is among the most prominent, but he won't be any longer as reports from the UK reveal that he's sold his F1. The actor best known for his role as Mr. Bean bought his McLaren back in 1997 when it was still new for what was then a princely sum of GBP540,000 (about $830k). He drove it regularly over the nearly two decades since, putting some 41,000 miles on the odometer and crashing it twice – the most recent collision in 2011 cost his insurers a reported $1.4 million to fix. With values for the McLaren F1 skyrocketing, Atkinson put it on the market earlier this year. The consignment was handled by London classic and supercar broker Taylor & Crawley, headed by the same David Clark who sold Atkinson the car when he served as McLaren's sales director. Although the final transaction price has not been disclosed, the original asking price was GBP8 million – equivalent to over $12 million at current exchange rates. The supercar was reportedly purchased by another British enthusiast who intends to drive it as frequently as Atkinson did. Private treaty sales like this (where prices are not generally disclosed) notwithstanding, the Atkinson sale would eclipse the highest price paid to date for the iconic supercar at auction. According to Sports Car Market, the top price paid was at Pebble Beach in 2013, where Gooding & Co sold one for just under $8.5 million. The same event the following year saw one go unsold, despite a high bid of over $10 million. Related Video:

2016 McLaren 570S Coupe First Drive

The difference between a sports car and a supercar is lost on the Portuguese gentleman standing on the roadside. I've stopped in my attempts to flood the country air with V8 ruckus for the moment, and am parked on the shoulder, taking a breather when he approaches. My Portuguese is limited to bom dia and obrigado, and he's not saying anything in English, but his wide smile, rotating pointer finger, and ready iPhone are symbols that transcend language: "Please gun it." Fresh off some 75 miles of strappy pavement between hot laps at the Portimao circuit and my hotel, behind the wheel of McLaren's bouncing new baby, the 570S Coupe, I'm more than happy to oblige. The British company has hammered home that the 570S, the first of its Sports Series cars and the most accessible driving tool in its new range, is a sports car. That is; not a member of the unearthly Ultimate Series a la the P1, or a meat-and-potatoes supercar like the 650S from the Super Series. The guy with the phone held aloft couldn't care less about those delineations. I pull out into the street, offer my friend a few red-blooded throttle blips, and then give the cobblestones a footful of hell. The 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 makes a symphony's worth of sucking, blowing, whistling, and exploding noises behind my head, and the world again makes a blurry kind of sense. It's a stunner, even before the trick dihedral doors float up and drive the crowd wild. If you're McLaren, whose best-known current model may be the $1-million-plus, 900-plus-horsepower P1 everythingcar, it makes sense that you might want to sandbag a bit when it comes to your entry-level model. But for all that it may compete with the almost-commonplace Porsche 911 Turbo S and the Audi R8 – in terms of performance and price – the 570S reads as "supercar" to most of the world. Even stripped of the McLaren Orange or Mantis Green the brand's vehicles are so often photographed in, my Vermillion Red test car looks like the proverbial million bucks. The elliptical roofline, wheels at extreme corners, and short sloping front end telegraphs the mid-engine orientation. And anyone that's halfway familiar with the brand won't miss the signature-shape of the headlamps, and charismatic vent work on the sides of the body. It's a stunner, even before the trick dihedral doors float up and drive the crowd wild. Inside things are equally well conceived, and still subtler.

Seat shows Leon SC three-door ahead of Geneva

Seat has just unwrapped the Leon SC three-door hatchback ahead of its official debut at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show. Unlike some transformations from five- to three-door hatches, the Seat Leon underwent some meaningful surgery in the changeover, losing nearly an inch and a half of its wheelbase while still retaining the same amount of cargo capacity behind the rear seats.
The SC, which stands for Sports Coupé, is said to be more nimble than its larger counterpart, and therefore more fun to drive. A range of turbocharged and direct injected gasoline and diesel engines will be available in Europe ranging from 1.2 to 2.0 liters and with up to 184 horsepower. Manual transmissions with five or six gears will be offered, depending on the engine chosen, as will a six-speed DSG automatic.
Seat also says that the new Leon boasts more expressive styling than the five-door, and we can see where they are coming from. Of particular note, says the automaker, are the size and shapes of the glass areas and the sweep of the tailgate toward the ground. Take a good look at the new three-door Leon in the image gallery above, and feel free to read all the details in the full press blast below.