“If you liked that one, wait till you drive the 720S – it is so much more,” said Mike Ward last summer after I’d driven and praised the experience in the McLaren 570S Spider.

The 720S, in convertible form, came my way in late June 2021 and it took about a quarter-mile for me to understand the declaration by Ward, owner of McLaren dealerships out south in Denver and at Scottsdale in Arizona.

The 720, styled along the lines of Ferrari and Lamborghini, is awesome in power, well-balanced for superb handling and precise steering.

Its twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 explodes with 710 horsepower and 568 lb.-ft. of torque with paddle-shifting 7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. It’ll run 0-to-60 in 2.7 seconds, 0-to-100 in 5.3 seconds and attain top speed of 212 miles per hour. Backing up all that acceleration and power are carbon-ceramic 15.3-inch front brake rotors/15-inch rear. There is no pussyfooting around with the brake pedal; it is firm and insists on serious application.

It is a 720S Spider and its top will drop in 11 seconds. The open-air maneuvering of such a powerful rear-drive, two-seater supercar is exhilarating, even with its rough ride at times.

To the fact it sits only 47 inches high, with ground clearance barely over 4 inches, add its dihedral doors in which they open out and at the same time swing upward, requiring the driver and passenger to clamber out. It is an awkward exit. The midengine configuration allows a small luggage compartment under the up-front hood.

Almost anyone seems to recognize a McLaren; this one was finished in a beautiful belize blue. A few blocks before a pit stop in Johnstown, a mother followed me in the 720S several blocks in her car so her 10-year-old son could get close to the McLaren. Another mom and her 6-year-old walked up after he recognized it as “a McLaren.”

The McLaren company was launched by Bruce McLaren as a racing enterprise in 1963. McLaren died in a car accident in 1970, though the company continued on and today hand-builds the supercars at its factory in Surrey, Woking, England.

The McLaren 720S Spider, sticker-priced at $362,960, is the second-priciest car I’ve driven; the costliest was last summer, the Rolls-Royce Cullinan SUV at $394,275.

Curb weight of the 2021 McLaren 720S Spider is 3,236 pounds, about 150 heavier than the 570S I drove a year ago. Both the 720 and 570 are about 179 inches in overall length on a wheelbase of 105 inches.

The 720S, with an EPA estimate of 18/22 miles per gallon, averaged 19.9 overall, including lots of strong acceleration.

The belize blue paint was a $5,270 option for the McLaren; another highlight was the 12-speaker Bowers & Wilkins surround sound,

A limited general and powertrain warranty cover three years and unlimited miles.

The 2021 BMW 430i portimao blue convertible, carrying me south from Greeley on U.S. 85, is beautifully restyled, at least to the point up front of its large, new grille, which has been called a detraction by some onlookers.

I turned the Bimmer to the east onto Colo. 52 at Fort Lupton and drove on to the Pepper Pod at Hudson, where I enjoyed morning coffee with Bob Smith, Hall of Fame wrestling coach from Wray. Smith, now retired out northeast of Denver, established one of the nation’s best coaching records in the years 1958-1991 at Wray High School.

In 33 years with the Wray Eagles, Smith won 30 league titles, 10 state championships and was second at state seven times. After leaving Wray, Smith coached Fort Hays State University at Hays, Kan., into national rankings in wrestling before retiring.

Sports aside, there’s another line of interest that merits Smith space in my column – automobiles. He’s always been fascinated with cars. He has a North Denver High School graduation photo of him in his suit and tie and standing beside a 1936 Ford Cabriolet, his first car in 1954. A few years later, he acquired a 1930 Ford Model A Rumble Seat Coupe, which he helped overhaul in the Palmrose Ford shop at Wray in 1960.

Parked outside the Pepper Pod while we were coffeeing inside was a great-looking 2004 Chrysler PT Cruiser, Smith’s current “car of choice.” He likes its turbocharged 4-cylinder, and is especially proud of “door wraps” on both sides featuring three photos of the ’36 Ford and three more of the Model A.

As for the 2021 BMW, the top will drop in 16 or 17 seconds. The 4 series convertible, formerly a hardtop, is equipped this year with a fabric softtop with multiple layers of insulation, which provide quicker heating of the cabin in cold weather. It is a bit noisier than the hardtop, though the softtop is lighter in weight and takes up less space in the trunk.

As for the grille, Peter Henrich, senior VP of Product Management for BMW, said most response to the bigger grille has been “very positive,” but most feedback I received was of the “dislike” opinion. It is 18 inches in depth, about double the size of traditional BMW “twin-kidney grilles.” Adding to disaffection is that license plates are bolted right onto the middle of the grille.

The rear-drive performance comes from a 2.0-liter, twin-power turbocharged 4-cylinder engine and 8-speed automatic transmission, not so smooth on acceleration as the former 6-cylinders. It was impressive in the fuel-mileage compilation, averaging 32.1 miles per gallon. Built in Dingolfing, Germany, the 430i rides on low-profile Michelin Pilot Sport 225/40R19 tires.

The 430i softtop base price of $53,100 jumps to $67,220 with addition of blue-stitched black leather interior, M-sport brakes with blue calipers, variable-sport steering, heated front seats and steering wheel and neck warmer.

Step into the rear seating; I’ll be driving and Jan will be up front with me.

It’s the 2021 Mercedes Maybach GLS600 4Matic SUV, one of the finest luxury models available today.

Yes, only two rear seats, the center console dividing them is electronic; oh, behind them? It’s a chill box refrigerator with two champagne flute glasses. Yes, the champagne is cooled.

Those are reclining, massaging seats with footrests, and rest your head upon the soft pillow lying back there. The fragrance; that’s from up front, a mix of gentle leather and spicy tea. Should you need to work along the way, pull up those small folding tables.

We’re heading out, northward bound, testing a 4.0-liter, biturbo V-8 engine of 550 horsepower, 538 lb.-ft. torque, 9-speed automatic transmission with paddles, permanent all-wheel drive, 23-inch wheels.

During an unusually pleasurable drive up north, with smoothness and quietness as good as I remember in any luxury vehicle, we stopped for a photo of the Maybach at the Wyoming State Capitol grounds at Cheyenne.

Delivery of this super-sensitive road control comes from Airmatic air suspension, which with sensors providing independent control for each wheel smooths the path ahead. In December 2019, I tested an early version of this E-Active Body Control while driving a Mercedes GLE450 4Matic SUV for three days to snowy Avon at Christmastime.

Electronically extending running boards, with surfaces of anodized aluminum marked with black rubber strips and wider at the rear doors than the front, are eye-catchers and offer safety for accessing and exiting the seating positions. The boards are designed to automatically swing into position as the SUV lowers slightly with the opening of any door; the running board system for the Maybach I drove was effective only about half the time, as someone apparently had messed with the menu.

Its 123.4-inch wheelbase is topped only by the 129.7 inches of the Rolls-Royce Cullinan. Other competitors are a bit shorter in wheelbase – the Cadillac Escalade at 120.9 inches, Aston Martin DBX at 120.5 and the Bentley Bentayga at 117.9.

It is finished in iridium silver metallic and selenite gray metallic special two-tone paint at an optional cost of $18,200, a Maybach-specific feature.

The optional two-tone paint helped push the Maybach’s sticker price to $190,100; other costly add-ons were the 23-inch multispoke forged wheels at $5,500, the refrigerated compartment at $1,800 and the folding tables at $1,050.

Only four luxury models I’ve driven have been higher-priced: the 2020 Rolls-Royce Cullinan SUV at $394,275, the 2021 McLaren 720S Spider at $362,960, the 2010 Bentley Continental Supersports $286,845 and the 2020 McLaren 570S Spider $233,780.

While the Maybach is equipped with German-built Mercedes engine and transmission, the luxurious unit is assembled in the U.S. at Vance, Ala.

The original Maybach company was founded in Germany by Wilhelm Maybach, an early automotive designer. The company was acquired in 1960 by Daimler-Benz.