Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 Bespoke sportscar or hastily put together kit car?

This is the kind of post that people need to make when they have issues with their vehicles; factual, with photos and videos to illustrate the problems. I just don’t think that you can accurately compare Morgan with BMW. The quantity of vehicles produced, the scale of their operation, the method in which they are built, and the resources invested in R&D are nowhere close to equal. The only thing that they share is a price point. The analogy is very apples to oranges.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Blake had his vehicle flown in and, looking at the photos, appears to have been picked up right at the airport; totally skipping the dealership (correct me if I'm wrong). So, there was never any chance for the dealership to detail it or give it a good quality-control inspection. I was informed by my dealership that when the car arrives it is filthy and they request an entire day for detailing and inspection. When I went to see my car for the first time, it was spotless.

As for the bevel box - that was one of the earliest and most well documented issues that this car had. From my own experiences with the dealer demo vehicle and my vehicle this was vastly improved upon to the point that it was hardly noticeable when compared to the old version. But, either way, some noise from the bevel box must have been somewhat expected, unless there wasn’t much research done pre-purchase.

Now the improper weather strip installation and the wobbly shifter nob are both issues that I would take up with my dealership, and I would expect them to fix these issues as the car is still under warranty and these are all manufacture defects. While the not-quite-right size floor mats may be a bother, some double sided tape or Velcro would remedy this as it seems only a very minor inconvenience.

I am glad that overall, as he stated, Blake is still happy with his purchase despite these issues, and while it is unfortunate that anyone has to deal with these little issues no car no matter who makes it is going to work all the time at 100%. If you wanted to still compare Morgan to BMW, my BMW has had a faulty head gasket, leaky headlight washers, had to replace the weather stripping on the rear windshield, who knows how many recalls and service bullitins; and it was built by robots.

A long time ago when groups like this were called news feeds, I made similar comments to Blake on the product the news feed was about. I was castigated by the product owners in America and banned ( moderated) from being allowed to comment on the site. This backfired on the product and created an awful lot of negative comment not on the product but on the manufacturers. It's nice to see that we have progressed a lot since then and allow " product enhancing" conversations to occur. I hope not only MMC take some of these comments on board but also the dealers who have had the attitude of " it's a Morgan what did you expect" for far too long

Rant finished

This has been an ongoing subject and one which I read with interest and slight concern.
The interest comes from having owned my 10 year old 4/4 for nearly 8 years and having had very few issues.
The concern comes from my love of MMC and all it represents for me.
I have my own ideas as to the reasons for recent quality concerns, but I am just saddened that a percentage of new Morgan owners have not had the good experience that I have with my 4/4.



Bud
__________
2003 - 4/4

Me again

Reading the posts chaps (and chapesses) , two things do strike me as a little odd.

If BMW (other "premium brands" are, of course, available) vs Morgan is like Apples vs Oranges... then where do boats fit, Passion Fruit maybe? IMHO that really is a bit of a tenuous link, and possibly more suited to a Boats vs Vintage car analogy, where with both you invest in an experience where ongoing fettling is to expected at the outset.

I suggest that with a new, or recent, Morgan (Classic or M3W) you are really buying into the vintage look and feel, with modern, reliable (hopefully) mechanicals to support reasonably affordable running costs without the need for a workshop and backup army to keep you on the road. So comparisons with true vintage cars are a bit of a stretch beyond the period look and feel aspect.

Again, just a point of view in the debate

I read Blakes comments just before I went to bed last night, and thought it a bit late to post anything meaningful, as it's a pretty serious subject. I'm glad I held off, as there have been some good and well argued points on both sides, and very little I can now say which hasn't been said.

What I would say however, though, is how sorry I feel that the MMC do not acknowledge the products' problems a little more openly, maybe this is down to the sueing culture, or they just don't see they have a problem. For example, I suspect that if the M3W front wishbone collapse hadn't happened to journalists, it would not even have been acknowledged as a problem, not publicly anyway.

I hate it when a business is so succesful that they no longer take notice of their customers justified comments about genuine problems, and I feel that is where the MMC is now, especially with the M3W?

I don't know how the analogy between Morgans and boats works, more like apples to watermelons I guess.

Probably better, the water melons bit, I like it

Again more balanced words, and really getting to the nub of the issues, perhaps?

I think PualJ is speaking a bit more to some of the points i was trying to highlight which is that when there is an open line of communication and a properly/honestly marketed/advertised "to be expected experience" i am way more willing to work through these "niggles" with my dealer.

but when issues are either glossed over or not mentioned entirely and just have a fingers crossed approach taken that's when it gets a bit more frustrating.

another thing to mention to those in the UK vs us morgan orders here in the states (or other parts of the world), it's a bit more difficult if not impossible to just "send the car back to the works" to have them tinker with it and make adjustments as it is for those in the uk who have been working through these issues one on one with morgan. Those of us who are in the states are working with our "dealers" which in all honestly are more like brokers, especially due to the low volume of cars that make it over here.

The Morgan and boat analogy works really well actually, because as boat owners know, most boats are hand built or at least hand assembled, and use plenty of wood [if not leather] inside.