I had a chance to actually see and sit in my first M3W today at my local dealer, couldn't go for a drive as apparently dealers have been told that they should not go out in their demo cars, even on trade plates, until the car has been homologated, which it still hasn't apparently.
My first impression was very positive, and as has been noted elsewhere, it is slightly bigger than you would think, but looks nicely made and as nice as it looks in the pictures. Getting in and out of it was easy, at least for me at 5'8" and with only size 8 feet the pedals, although close were right where I would expect them. The scuttle was high, and I would probably heighten the seat squab an inch or two. Fit and finish looked good, as with all Morgans. The nice fly-off handbrake looked good, switchgear looked classy. The Momo steering wheel, on the other hand looked a little large, although I know large wheels are traditional, I fancy it is not necesary as the steering should be quite light.
Luggage area and stowage room in the cockpit is non existant............. but.......... there is stacks of room for a parcel shelf above the tunnel and even a small oddments bin and maybe a small glove locker, if they had wanted to put them in at the design stage. Shame they didn't consider storeage important.
I was interested to see what is under the 'bonnet', as I'd only seen one picture, showing a battery and what I assume is an oil tank mounted centraly. Again, there is quite a lot of room, but because of the central position of the oil tank and battery, a lot of the room was relegated to a smallish space either side of the battery. Again a wasted opportunity to position the tank and battery in better places, or use a smaller battery, would have released some space for carrying stuff. Whilst on the subject of poor design, I was appalled at the weight of the lift-off 'bonnet' especially at the front, the salesman and I lifted it off and I nearly dropped it, not expecting the weight in the front where the cowling is attached.
If they have been so cavalier with other aspects of the design, it is not surprising the thing weighs so much. I bet we will see a M3W Lightweight coming in closer to 400kgs, announced in a couple of years time when they have fulfilled the existing order list. It doesn't seem too difficult to lose a quite a lot of that flab by the look of it.
However, that aside, I'm still excited and will wait in anticipation for my order to reach the top of the list, I just know that I will not be able to resist changing a few things on my car.
