Secondly, why is the car so heavy? It really isn't rocket science to make the car lighter. I've said before, that if the likes of Caterham can do it, then Morgan should be able to as well. Just think, Caterham make their R300 weigh in at 515kgs - 515kgs! Morgan 3 wheeler - 525kgs. Come on, Morgan really aren't trying are they? Frankly I am appalled that a company dedicated to light weight sports cars cannot do better. If I was in charge of development of the M3W I would hang my head in shame. It's not that the thing won't sell, I would feel that my integrity as an engineer has been laid bare. Maybe in time they will knock it out with full power and lighter weight and it will be the car it should be now, but in the meantime.......................
Am I being too harsh? For £30 big ones I don't think so!
Is this the same R300 that was introduced circa 2000 (wracking the old grey stuff here to remember) and that was a continuous developmemt of the car Caterham started to build in approximately 1970? Not quite the same scenario is it.
I know that one tends to overlook faults with a favourite car company, the same with a favourite uncle or child, but that doesn't mean the faults aren't still there, and more importantly, it doesn't mean they should be swept under the carpet. The MMC are big enough to take a bit of constructive critism, and in the end they will benefit and more importantly, so will the paying customer, ie us.
Most here know that I have a great affinity for MMC as I like the products, the people and have a bit of an understanding of the huge constraints they work under (cost, legislation, tradition, legislation, history, legislation, (many) peoples high expectations and of course strict and restrictive legislation). Ok I may have over egged the legislation side
but I hope you see my point.
However irrespective of the above, comment, concerns and indeed criticism (hopefully constructive) are vitally important in any similar situation and they are no different.
Personally, I think stating that the Head of Development should 'hang his head in shame' (my interpretation of your words) is a bit harsh. More so considering that, and I'm assuming here, you don't really know the issues they faced nor the constraints (see above) they have to battle every day. I happen to know him, and I can promise you, you will struggle to find a harder working, more dedicated, more loyal and more enthusiastic person in MMC or any other business, and at my age, I've seen and been involved with one or two.
You are correct that we tend to overlook faults, maybe more so with MMC than elsewhere (though most probably applies to Caterham also?), but I have a theory of why this is true. IMHO I really do think that were we not able to do so, we genuinely would not have these vehicles at our disposal; from 4/4 to Roadster, plus 8, 3W to Aero. It just would not be feasible to develop and sell in small numbers as the development costs required wouldn't work with the relatively small numbers of vehicles actually wanted. They are niche vehicles after all. We would therefore all be driving VW's or Toyotas with an Eos or a Celica (or new GT86? Thingy) as our 'special car'.
