Guide
McLaren vs Ferrari for a three-month lease
Updated 7 min read Performance & Prestige
Both ranges are partner-sourced and priced on request. For three months, the McLaren GT and the Ferrari 296 GTB are the two to shortlist: they carry the most workable mileage rates and deposits in their ranges, and the GT has the most achievable driver criteria of any car either make offers here.
What three months changes about the question
A car you have for an afternoon is judged on how it feels in the first ten minutes. A car you have for three months is judged on everything else: where it sleeps, whether a weekly shop fits, what happens on the third wet Monday in a row, and how fast you are using an allowance of 1,000 miles a month.
That is why this comparison is not a list of which make makes the better car. Both build extraordinary machines and neither of them needs defending. It is a comparison of what each range asks of you over a term of months rather than an afternoon — in money held, in miles, in how much of the time the car is usable rather than admirable.
What shapes does each range come in?
McLaren is the more single-minded of the two. Every McLaren we list is a two-seat, mid-engined car on a carbon fibre tub: the 750S, the open 750S Spider, the stripped-out 765LT, the plug-in hybrid Artura Spider and the GT. Two seats, every time.
Ferrari spreads much wider. The 296 GTB and SF90 Stradale are the mid-engined supercars; the 12Cilindri is a front-engined V12 grand tourer; the Roma Spider is a four-seat convertible; the Purosangue is a four-seat, four-door SUV. If your three months includes other people, that breadth is the whole argument.
Which car in each range is livable?
For McLaren it is the GT, and it is not a close call. It is the one designed to be used: mid-engined like the rest, but with a long rear luggage deck over the engine and a setup aimed at distance rather than lap times. It is also the most achievable McLaren to qualify for, at a minimum age of twenty-eight with five years of licence and up to six points, and it holds a refundable £7,500 deposit against a £7,500 excess with mileage at £3 a mile.
For Ferrari it is the 296 GTB if two seats are enough — £7,500 deposit and excess, mileage at £2.95 a mile, the lowest in the range — and the Purosangue if they are not. The Purosangue is the only car in this comparison with four doors, and for three months with a family attached that single fact outweighs everything else on this page.
Mileage is the number that decides a lease
You are working to 1,000 miles a month, and the excess rates across these two ranges vary by a factor of nearly three. At the workable end: £2.95 a mile on the 296 GTB and the 750S Spider, £3 a mile on the McLaren GT, £4 a mile on the Artura Spider and the Roma Spider.
At the other end: £4.50 on the 750S and the Purosangue, £7 on the 12Cilindri, and £8 on both the 765LT and the SF90 Stradale. A car at £8 a mile is not a car you drive to Cornwall on a whim, and knowing that before you sign is the difference between a good three months and a bill you did not plan for. Excess miles are reconciled at the end of the agreement rather than charged as you go, and if you know your mileage will be high, say so at enquiry so the agreement is built around it.
The flagships ask for more than money
Four cars here sit behind a harder gate, and it is a licence gate rather than a price one. The 765LT, the SF90 Stradale and the 12Cilindri all require a full licence held for at least eight years and no more than three points, as does the Lamborghini flagship elsewhere in the catalogue. The rest of both ranges asks for five years and up to six points.
The money behind them moves too: the 765LT and the 12Cilindri hold a £30,000 refundable deposit against a £25,000 excess, and the SF90 Stradale holds £35,000 against £25,000. Those are not typing errors and they are not negotiable by charm. If your licence is six years old, these cars are closed to you for now regardless of budget, and the sooner that is established the less of your time the process wastes.
Roof, weather and a British three months
A three-month agreement will almost certainly include bad weather, so it is worth deciding early whether you want a roof that opens. Both ranges have an answer. The 750S Spider and the Artura Spider drop their roofs; so does the Roma Spider, and it is the only open car here with four seats.
The Artura Spider is the quiet outlier in both ranges: a plug-in hybrid that can leave a village without waking it and then behave like a McLaren once you are out of it. For anyone leasing a supercar into a residential street for three months, that is a more practical feature than it sounds. It holds £10,000 as a deposit against a £10,000 excess, with mileage at £4 a mile, and its minimum age is thirty with five years of licence.
So which range for three months?
Take McLaren if you want the purest version of a mid-engined car and you are content with two seats for the whole term. Shortlist the GT first for usability, the 750S Spider if the roof matters, and the 765LT only if you understand what you are taking on.
Take Ferrari if the three months has to flex around other people or other uses — the Roma Spider for four seats and a roof, the Purosangue if it has to work as the only car, the 296 GTB if you want the classic supercar shape with the most workable numbers behind it. Every car named here is arranged through a vetted partner, so nothing on this page is a published price: send your dates, your licence details and the delivery address, and we confirm the car, the figure and your eligibility in writing before anything is agreed.
Common questions
Which McLaren is easiest to qualify for?
The GT, at a minimum age of twenty-eight with a full licence held for at least five years and no more than six points. Every other McLaren we list is set at thirty, and the 765LT also requires eight years of licence and no more than three points.
Is any Ferrari here suitable as an only car?
The Purosangue is the only one that genuinely works that way: four doors, four seats, four-wheel drive. The Roma Spider has four seats but the rear pair are occasional. Everything else in the range we list is a two-seater, which over three months is a real constraint rather than a detail.
How is excess mileage charged on a three-month lease?
The included allowance is 1,000 miles a month, counted across the agreement, and anything above it is charged at the rate on that car and reconciled at the end of the term. It is not billed as you go, and it is not a surprise — the rate is on the car’s own page before any form.
Do you publish monthly prices for McLarens and Ferraris?
No — and no car on the site carries one. Every car from both makes is also arranged through a vetted partner, so there is no firm availability claim either until the specific car is confirmed. We quote it properly at enquiry rather than approximately on a page.
Is insurance included on these cars?
The cover arrangement is confirmed with you in writing before anything is agreed, along with the excess for the specific car. Given the deposits and excesses involved at this end of the catalogue, that conversation happens early rather than at handover.
Related guides
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McLaren vs Ferrari for a three-month lease
Every figure in this guide is published per car, before there is any form to fill in.
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Written by Performance & Prestige against the rates, driver criteria and delivery areas published on this site. Rates are “from” prices inclusive of VAT and are confirmed with you before anything is agreed — see driver requirements, insurance and excess and delivery.