‘Breathtakingly Fast’ McLaren W1, a $2.1 Million Hybrid, Sets a High Bar for Supercars
4 min
Every street McLaren since the F1 in the 1990s has been, of course, a supercar. But now the British company is hitting a new and higher mark with its W1, which has a 1,258-horsepower hybrid drivetrain—producing the most powerful McLaren to date. It’s a successor to both the F1 and the P1, and was revealed on Sunday.
Auto makers worried about the ups and downs of the battery electric car market are hedging their bets with hybrids and their plug-in variant. McLaren is no different. It has electric range, but only 1.6 miles.— he W1 will be priced at US$2.1 million, and only 399 will be sold globally. Unsurprisingly, all of them have already been allocated to customers.
Many familiar McLaren build traditions are in place, including rear-wheel drive, lightweight carbon-fibre unit construction and uplifting gullwing-type doors hinged only at the roof. The company says the W1 doors are of “anhedral” design and optimised for aerodynamics. The doors also “allow optimisation of airflow from the front wheel arches into the high-temperature radiators, providing extra cooling space that allows the size of the radiators required to cool the powertrain to be reduced, optimising packaging and saving weight.”
McLaren
This is a breathtakingly fast car. The all-new twin-turbo, four-litre aluminium V8 engine produces 916 horsepower, and the company’s electric motor module (coupled to a 1.38-kilowatt-hour battery) adds another 342, yielding the aforementioned 1,258 horsepower and 988 pound-feet of torque. The car revs to 9,200 rpm before hitting redline, and power flows through an eight-speed transmission with electronic reverse and a technically innovative hydraulic electronic differential. In a car weighing only 3,084 pounds, this produces zero to 60 miles per hour in 2.7 seconds, zero to 124 in 5.8 seconds, and attainment of 186 mph in less than 12.7. The top speed is electronically limited to 217 mph.
The W1 is slower off the line than a US$89,990 Tesla Model S Plaid edition (1.99 seconds to 60, the company claims), but off-the-line acceleration is a big advantage of electric cars. The McLaren’s power plant is, without doubt, impressive. About that engine, Richard Jackson, chief powertrain engineer, said in a news release, “We’ve designed it to be much more power-dense than our previous V8—generating 230 horsepower per litre and capable of revving higher…with supreme driver engagement.”
The driver will have the option of choosing Race mode, which stiffens the suspension (via Race or the more bone-jarring Race+ setting) and extends downforce wings at the front and rear. The motorised wings aren’t there because they look cool—they’re capable of putting 772 pounds of downforce on the road at the front and 1,433 pounds at the back. Racing cars have to stop, so the car gets six-piston brakes up front and four-piston units in the rear. From that 124 mph, the W1 can be at a standstill in 95 feet.
McLaren
The W1 will spend a lot of its time among civilians on the road, and there’s the choice of a Comfort setting that smooths out the ride for unstressed cruising around town. Comfort uses the hybrid system only for occasional torque applications. Sport is the interim choice, with full hybrid availability and faster throttle response.
Photographs of the W1 show an exceptionally aerodynamic two-door supercar, shaped by the preferences of the wind, in a gold-and-black two-tone color scheme, with that pattern carried over into the seating. The bottom cushions are gold but the black gradually intrudes in what might be called a Jackson Pollock thrown-paint effect. The mid-mounted engine, just behind the driver, is part of the design.
McLaren
In keeping with the trend toward owner customisation, McLaren says there are “virtually unlimited bespoke options” for the W1, including a new lightweight knitted-to-fit interior material called InnoKnit. The company claims that visibility is “best in class,” which is good if it means the driver can actually see what’s happening behind the supercar—a notorious issue. The driving position is said to be fairly reclined, with plenty of thigh support—useful when these cars corner at high speeds. The aluminium pedals are adjustable.
Start/stop buttons, the gear selector, window controls, and Race-mode switch are all mounted overhead the driver, with the Boost button on the steering wheel. The 8-inch centre screen offers USB-A and -C, as well as Apple CarPlay. Supercars aren’t known for storage space, but the W1 has small stowage and a sliding cup holder between driver and passenger. Weekend bags (or crash helmets) can be stashed behind the seats if the headrests are moved aside.
The W1’s fuel economy will undoubtedly be helped by its hybrid drive, but an actual figure has yet to be announced. It wasn’t a make-or-break figure for customers in this league.
Even aficionados of the marque who already own a McLaren Senna will want a W1, because it has 102 horsepower more. Keep in mind that 102 horsepower was considered perfectly adequate for British sports cars of the 1950s. In that same era, racers would drive to the track, compete, and then drive home again. The W1 appears ready to bring back that era.
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The 1860s Darlinghurst mansion Stoneleigh could become Sydney’s most expensive home ever sold under the hammer when it goes to auction. Clint Ballard is giving buyers a $28 million guide for the heritage-listed mansion on Darley Street, opposite Iona, the former home of Hollywood royalty Baz Luhrmann. Stoneleigh is being offered for sale for the …
Set on one of the city’s last absolute riverfront sites, The Riversdale by Mosaic combines irreplaceable waterfront ownership with one of Brisbane’s most significant residential opportunities.
From auction floors to TikTok — the professionals who made property education a public good
6 min
Australian property has always been a national obsession, but the way Australians learn about it has changed fundamentally. Where previous generations relied on a real estate agent’s advice and a bank manager’s approval, today’s buyers and investors are walking into the market with suburb-by-suburb data, auction strategy insights and valuation knowledge that would have required a professional consultation five years ago.
The ten creators on this list are the reason why. What distinguishes them from the broader landscape of property content is not their following size but the professional substance behind what they publish. Most have spent years doing the work, valuing, buying, negotiating, financing, before they ever picked up a camera. The audience can feel that difference, even when they cannot articulate it.
Today’s buyers are walking into the market with knowledge that would have required a professional consultation five years ago. These ten creators are the reason why.
1 –Tom Panos: Founder, Real Estate Gym
Tom Panos is the highest-profile real estate trainer in Australia, which is a distinction earned over more than two decades of working directly with agents, auctioneers and principals across the country. The content he publishes, on auction strategy, market psychology, agent mindset and the mechanics of negotiation, is backed by a career that predates social media by years.
What makes his presence exceptional is that he speaks to both sides of the transaction simultaneously. Agents follow him for craft. Buyers and investors follow him for intelligence. It is a rare position, and it explains why his audience has grown consistently through every market condition since he began publishing.
2 – Belinda Botzolis: Certified Practising Valuer; Founder, “The Valuer”
The gap that Belinda Botzolis identified and occupied is one that, in retrospect, seems obvious: professional property valuation, made accessible on social media. With seventeen years of practice as a Certified Practising Valuer, more than 15,000 individual property valuations completed, and over $12 billion in real estate assessed, she brought to social media something most content creators in this space cannot fake, a professional opinion.
The response has been significant. Over 20 million TikTok views for valuation content is not an accident. It reflects an audience that has long wanted access to qualified property analysis and found it, for the first time, without having to pay for a report.
3 – George Markoski: Founder, Positive Property
The credibility order matters in property investment content. George Markoski built a portfolio of more than 100 investment properties and retired at thirty-seven on passive income before he built a social media following. That sequencing, wealth first, content second, is the foundation of why his audience trusts him with decisions that carry six and seven-figure consequences.
His content covers RBA decisions, APRA changes and property cycles with the kind of strategic depth that comes from having navigated them personally. He is not forecasting the market from a position of theory. He is reporting from a position of ownership.
4 – Ravi Sharma: Founder, Search Property
Ravi Sharma‘s differentiator is structural: he runs an actual buyer’s agency. The suburb analyses, growth projections and investment frameworks he publishes on YouTube and social media are not constructed for content, they are the methodology his business uses to advise paying clients on real transactions. With more than 114,000 YouTube subscribers and a Bachelor of Business in Real Estate, his content sits at the intersection of professional advice and public education.
The result is content that reads like genuine analysis rather than commentary, because in most cases it is.
5 – Damien Cooley: Director, Cooley Auctions
Damien Cooley has called more auctions on live television than almost anyone in the country, a five-time premiere auctioneer on The Block, and 2015 Auctioneer of the Year. As Director of Cooley Auctions, his authority comes from decades on the rostrum in front of real buyers and real stakes, not from a studio.
His social presence extends that same on-the-ground credibility online, breaking down auction strategy and market sentiment for an audience that wants to understand the mechanics of a sale, not just the result.
6 – Ella Cas: Buyer’s Agent
As a buyer’s agent operating across Melbourne and its surrounding suburbs, Ella Cas brings professional transaction experience to a TikTok presence that covers market trends, price predictions and first home buyer strategy in the Victorian market. What distinguishes her content from general property commentary is its specificity: she is talking about markets she works in, for outcomes she is paid to deliver.
For Melbourne buyers navigating one of Australia’s most competitive property environments, that local professional knowledge, delivered in an accessible format, is exactly the kind of content that earns genuine audience loyalty.
7 – Gavin Rubinstein: Founder, The Rubinstein Group at Ray White TPG
Gavin Rubinstein built The Rubinstein Group at Ray White TPG into one of Sydney’s highest-performing individual real estate practices, and his Instagram engagement outranks every major franchise account in the country. That distinction matters: he is not a media personality who sells property, he is a top-performing agent whose content reflects live transactions in one of Australia’s most competitive markets.
For buyers and sellers trying to understand how Sydney’s top end actually moves, his day-to-day content is closer to a transaction diary than a highlight reel.
8 – Robbo Roper: Mortgage expert & home buyer connector
Robbo Roper‘s content sits at the junction of property aspiration and mortgage reality, which is precisely where most first home buyers get stuck. As a mortgage expert and home buyer connector, he publishes short-form video that walks Australian buyers through the finance side of property ownership: what to expect from a broker, how to prepare for a loan application, what the common mistakes look like.
His placement in Favikon’s Top 20 Australian real estate influencers for 2025 reflects an audience that is not just watching but acting, the kind of content engagement that distinguishes an education account from an entertainment one.
9 – Michael Biviano: Property developer; business coach & real estate strategist
Michael Biviano built his platform on the strategy side of the business, working as a speaker, business coach and property developer before turning that experience into content for agents and investors navigating the industry. His focus sits less on individual listings and more on the frameworks behind sustainable success in real estate.
That distinction, teaching the business of property rather than just showcasing it, is what places him among the professionals worth following rather than just watching.
10 – Consulting by PK: Investment property educator
The property content space has no shortage of people telling audiences what to buy. What is rarer, and more valuable, is someone teaching them how to decide. Consulting by PK builds investment theses from actual data: top 5 per cent growth property analysis, cashflow modelling, suburb research methodology, the frameworks behind the conclusions rather than just the conclusions themselves.
With more than 60,000 YouTube subscribers, the audience that follows this content is a specific and self-selecting one, investors who want to understand the process, not just receive the output. That is a harder audience to build and a more durable one.
What this list reflects, taken together, is a professionalisation of property content in Australia. The era of anonymous property spruikers making market predictions without credentials or accountability is being displaced, slowly, but measurably, by practitioners who are willing to put their professional reputation behind what they publish. That is good for the industry. It is better for the buyers.
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