It's been now 5 days that I own my little wooden car (ivory 4/4, pictures are in the gallery), and finally the first rush of adrenaline and all sorts of weird hormones are slowly disappearing. That means my brain returned to work and my hands stopped shaking, so I can report my first impressions. I've covered some 250km so far, all in sunny weather (26degC), enough for quite a sunburn!

General:
Big grin. Ride is very good. My dealer told me that the suspension still has to bed in, but for me it's nearly perfect already.
I limited the revs to around 4000rpm and still had a lot of fun, including some mild drifting, which is perfectly controllable with the narrow tires of the 4/4. Once or twice I had some fun with two baseball-capped kids in their Golf GTIs trying to overtake. (Still stayed below 4000rpm, though.)

Interior:
Wooden, riveted Motolita is great with enough grip, leaves also more room to position my left leg when off the clutch than the leather versions. Steering column conversion with metal indicator/wiper switches pleases the eye and also the fingers, although rotating them (for lights, wiper intervals) is difficult with sweaty fingers. (and man, were they sweaty!)

Exhaust:
Il concerto mi piace! Great sound, nice burbling when lifting the foot. Sound as if attached to an engine much meaner then the Sigma. And no, I don't have the sport exhaust, just the standard one. Any louder than that would be too much for my taste.

Gear box:
That the best part: The new MX-5 box transforms the 4/4 into a complete new car! The car I drove last year still had the Ford gearbox, which was no revelation at all. The Mazda box is crisp, exact and still super-smooth! The gear lever is also positioned a bit more to the front, suits my right arm much better.
And now you even have a fifth gear! Not just a kind of overdrive. I can cruise along in fifth gear at 75kph, nevertheless for acceleration shifting down proofed to be a good idea.

Any downsides? Yes, one. Indicators sound like the chinese copy of a korean copy of a 1988 Nintendo game. Which is broken. And been trampled upon. Horrible. But then I admit I had to think deeply to find something I dislike!

So far, so good. That's it for the moment, got to go and nurse my sunburnt forehead...

Cheers,
Alex.

Excellent Enjoy

+1.
I like the indicator sound as it is easy to hear.
Enjoy your car.

I have to admit that I really like this type of stories with new owners sharing their impressions. Thanks for sharing and keep them coming!!

Have you had time checking out the details - interior, lacquer and assembly?

Any more options on your wish list?

Just bought a new Citroên C4 for commuting (170 km round trip to work, environmental friendly and with 3,9 L/100km you even look forward to the next time you will visit a filling station for fresh diesel). On this French beauty you can switch between 4 different polyfonic tones: Jungle Fantasy , Urban Rythmic , Classic and Crystal Symphony ...well the only one missing is probably Malvern Panel Beating .

The positive thing with owning/driving both French, German and English car is that people can not categorize you that easy

Alex,

I had my first Morgan driving experience in a 4/4, 4 years ago and it was emotional. I think all Morgan owners remember that first journey. T

Good health to enjoy!

Good point, M3W!

I also have a C4 (Sebastian Loeb Edition!), it's a kind of undercover operation: Nobody knows if you are anglophile, francophile, or just pretty dumb!
Third car is a Kia, so may be I'm just a frugal cheapskate...

Yep, paint job is pretty impressive, only some minor inaccuracies around the inner door edges. Concerning the assembly in general I noticed some rattles from the dashboard when accelerating from below 2000rpm and rear drum breaks emit some noise when they are cold and breaks are applied only slightly.

What the heck, it's a hand built british motor and for a car being assembled with not much more then a hammer and a screwdriver, let's call it perfect!

Options: Would have loved the distressed leather, but was not an option for the Sports when I ordered the car. And as I have learned the distressed leather is only offered without warranty now, as there have apparently been too many dickheads that complained about the distressed leather having got some marks, bruises etc.
Hello?!?! What did they think they ordered?!?!

Yes, a really excellent write-up! It sounds as though you are very happy with your new toy.

Enjoy...