By Ken Fletcher

IF YOU want to shout your presence loud and proud, then there's no better way to do it than sitting in Formula 1 giant McLaren's most liveable with road going car yet, the 570 GT.

So Santa, it's for one of these that I send out my heartfelt plea for Christmas. Just be very careful bringing it doon the chimney and please don't start it up as it will awaken half of Renfrewshire with its raucous engine noise.

For its relatively small engine size – it is a 3.8-litre V8 fitted with a twin turbo set-up – it does make a lot of noise. It's a bit like a Yorkshire terrier barking at you but with the sound of a Doberman coming out of its gob.

But there's been little engineering effort to spare the noise of those horses, as 562 bhp is crackling and popping away behind your head. A quick squirt of the accelerator and it sounds like several groups of banshees out at a rave. For boys who like their toys, this is some kind of machismo heaven.

The lightweight engine works because, in usual McLaren fashion, the chassis is made of lightweight carbon fibre and the entire jing-bang weighs just 1350kg. But the chassis itself weighs just 75kg. So, with 417bhp per tonne, this gives a power to weight ratio akin to sticking a race bike engine on a skateboard.

But you can forget it feeling like that when you drive it. The name GT equals Grand Tourer and McLaren's design boys have acknowledged this with much better sound-proofing than on its more 'out there' creations, low noise Pirelli P Zero tyres and a damping system that's a bit softer than other McLarens. Lightweight noise absorbing and damping materials are also used to line the main deck and bulkhead to help, primarily, reduce road noise.

There’s even a button that produces a quieter exhaust note, though quite why you would press that, God only knows. It also has other refinements like a fixed glass sunroof and then there’s an eight-speaker audio system to blare out your top 10 driving songs while propelling yourself along at lightspeed.

Despite being a Grand Tourer, though, you'll have to send your spare luggage on before you if you plan anything longer than a day away, as the front compartment holds only 150-litres worth of stuff and an awkward little bit in the rear has a capacity of 220-litres.

But McLaren would be denying its roots if it did not produce a car of any kind that is simply phenomenal in its performance. It was really interesting coming out of a roundabout and putting the squeeze on, which can produce an nerve jangling wobble.

Newcomers to it must first understand that the 0-62mph timed run takes just 3.4 seconds and you really need to use that power carefully if you are not going to end up a tree somewhere, especially as it is a two-wheel-drive motor. If allowed, this thing will take you to more than 200mph.

It's a thing of some beauty to hear the engine note changes as the 570 sweeps up through the seven-speed semi-automatic transmission. In many ways, Audi's R8 feels more secure thanks to its all-wheel-drive, but I think the fact that the McLaren is only two-wheel-drive tends to concentrate the mind on the fact that this has, after all, the flakiness of a supermodel – and just as expensive to run!

Thanks to McLaren's adoption of a gull-wing door system, it is also surprisingly easy to get in and out of and the seating and dash on the test car I had was done out in first class nut-brown leather supplied by Bridge of Weir Leather. Leather is standard fare.

Both the seats have eight-way adjustable electronic control, and there's also an electric steering wheel adjustment, with memory, which is useful for those of us who are carrying a little too much avoirdupois.

So, Santa, the 570GT is one of the cheapest McLarens ever available and that's why I think that the £154,000 needed to buy it will be money well spent... Please consider my request. I promise to be a good boy FOR EVER!

My top 10 cars of 2016 for Santa to get me:

1, McLaren 570GT

2, Ford Focus RS

3, Volvo V90 estate

4, BMW 640L x Drive

5, Ford Edge

6, Audi R8

7, Ford Mondeo Vignale

8, Audi A4 Allroad

9, Jeep Renegade

10, Ford Ranger pick-up