Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Aero 8, 2012< Plus 8, SuperSports, Coupe & Aeromax Mileage....

Hi

I'm in the early days of an Aero hunt and what sort of mileages you figured as normal? Seen a few comments on the various threads but not many cars over 40k.

Mechanically it doesn't seem to be an issue but I tend to use as much as possible and would rather know up front if there's massive bias against the higher mileage cars come resale time?

many thanks
Charlie

If you are going to do the mileage, it's not worth worrying about. I have 18,000 on mine at the moment. I consider that low for a 19 month old car but there are still a lot of series 1 & 2 Aero's with 10 or 11,000 miles on them or less! It will be up for sale soon in preparation for the new one.

As long as the car has been serviced according to schedule, and had a good thick wad of paperwork with it you should be ok.

Like they say for porsches - buy on condition, not mileage.

Don't know why I'm saying this as mine is a 2002 car with only 15k on it! In general though (phew) the market view is that low milers are more desirable and have a bit of a premium. In real life, this doesn't really reflect on any practical benefit I can see other than having a lower number on the dial.

So in your case, if you're going to put a lot of miles on the car, better the get one with miles already on it. You'll pay less up front, and yes you'll get less for it when you trade, but it will work out better than getting a low mileage example and turning it into a high mileage one I would think.

Good reflection, never looked at it that way

Some thoughts. Don't quite agree with Mr T, as there is a definite difference in feel between low and high mileage cars. However, he is right in that both should be pretty reliable if cared for. My feeling is that the BMW bits should last well - but Morgan bits like steering and suspension may come in for refreshment sooner than people think after a certain mileage, just from the feel of the higher mileage cars I drove (and rejected)...

1) higher mileage cars do feel looser. My 9,000 miler feels a lot tighter than three cars I drove that were a year older and had done 35k+ miles. Other cars with lower mileages felt tighter, but the 18,000 miler was in between those circa 10k and those 35k+. Now given that all of the cars I saw have been well cared for, with a known history, and haven't been skimped on, this shows that natural wear does appear at least in the non BMW components. This is obvious especially when you drive a lower mileage car back to back with a igher mileage car.

2) By "looser", I do not mean loose. A 40,000 mile Aero feels a million times better than a 40,000 mile TVR, for example. You may feel a little slack in the steering and suspension, but it should be just that - a little. Anything that feels like a 40k mile TVR has not been taken care of.

3) As said above, if you are going to put miles on it, buy a high miler rather than paying a premium for a low miles car and then blowing that money by putting 20k miles a year on it; that few thousand you save can go into a fighting fund for preventative maintenance and you will be left with a higher mile car that you know is well fettled and sorted.

4) Pay less for a high mile car. You will be nearer to some more preventative/remedial maintenance/tightening. The market does recognise higher mileage cars as cheaper.

5) Don't worry about clonky drivetrains. The variety on these is astounding - my car, one of the newest feeling I test drove, has one of the clonkiest gearboxes. A high mileage car I drove had a quiet gearbox, but the steering and suspension felt noticeably slacker. Confusing!

6) Low miles are no guarantee of reliability. Mine had an immobiliser and clutch switch problem (both BMW parts!!!) at 9,000 miles when I bought it - problems which are simply leftfield and unfortunate, and seemingly random. Luckily easily and cheaply fixed.

PM me if you would like a view on the cars in the market at the moment. I have pretty much driven and inspected all of them, as I only got mine recently and continued to test others while mine was having its immobiliser sorted out.

Interesting Post Harry Thanks for your observations. It's all very well me spouting on about theory - but you've actually driven a very large cross section of these cars and that experience really is valuable stuff to share like this

No worries! One of the "benefits" of the delays on getting my car has been tyhat I have been travelling all over testing the others, and have now driven a wide variety of S1s. Becoming quite good at inspecting them and spotting the idiosyncracies of each one!

Happily, my beast is back, sorted, fitted with Cat 1 alarm and ready for some good weather (not holding my breath).

After the refreshment by both factory and BHM for the minor cosmetic issues, and finding that the immobiliser unit was playing silly buggers and sorting it out, the car looks and feels absolutely mint. Just waiting for the transfer of my number (the rather apt V8 OAF) to the car!

Very happy at last. I drove it to SGT in order to test the bi-coloured car as a back up plan in case the electronic problem resurfaced (it didn't) - the guys there commented on what a good S1 mine was, after a good poke around and even driving it. Good, given that it had looked so neglected and grubby just a few weeks before.

Going back to the original point. If we igmore the immobiliser issue (a bit of a freak, to be honest), my car was arguably in poor condition; it had been used as a daily driver, and neglected. This had led to rejection by a number of potential buyers. But driving it told the sory of a very tight, sorted and new feeling machine - so I went for it, negotiatin g rectification of cosmetic issues with the seller.

In the long term, this was a good tactic - it took a while, and as you know there were various delays, but I am left with a mint car (even the interior looks brand new after the reconnolisation) that drove well. Ultimately, the cosmetic issues were easier and cheaper to fix than mechanical worries like slack steering and worn rose joints.

I'd rather by a scruffy car that feels tight (and knock some cash off the price for the obvious faults), than a cosmetically great one that feels loose. Really.

I think you are right Harry the BMW mechanicals are fairly bullet proof the only issues are likely to be those where the technologies meet.
The issue of mileage is a nightmare though. I have 530d 2 years old 70,000 miles worth half what I paid. Been offered one today 700 miles and 4 months old £7k of list.

Anyway Charlie regardless of what you buy on the aero front you'll enjoy it, just make sure its got side exhausts.

What a fantastic response - thanks. Harry, have sent a pm.

Very reassuring that nobody's thinking of a 40k car as "high mileage" and anything above as unsaleable. And having looked at a Maserati that had done all of 15,000 miles over 3 years a higher mileage Aero compared to a rattletrap doesn't sound like a daft idea!

Frankly despite best intentions I don't reckon I'll get more than 10k a year on it so back to the hunt based on condition and depth of pockets....

I'm glad the "they all do that sir" explanation for drive train clonking seems to be true!

Charlie

Certainly is - all S1's clonk. Later cars hadd some kind of rubber thing added to the equation to smooth it out, and quieten things a bit. But we all know that just means it's a girls car

Looks like a higer mileage car is the right way to go, just spend you time to find one you like. The selection won't be huge, but the cost of working on these is one hell of a lot less than messing with Maseratis, so if you find one that needs a few monor jobs doing to get it back to 100% then it probably won't break the bank.