Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 M3W action

Hi Merlin 123,

I'm a friend of Barry. He liked his new three wheeler. He didn't have any problems with it as far as I know. He sold it as he was slimming down his collection of cars. However, when advertised by Melvyn Rutter on Barry's behalf, the advert stated it had only 500 miles on the clock.

Tony Quinn

Well, I was only going on what he told me and what he posted on another forum. He has other non-Morgan historic racing interests, so the three wheeler probably didn't get much use.

We have two members in our South West Group who have unfortunately experienced the chassis fractures. One had done 10,000 miles, so there is no doubt he loves his and will continue to do so after its rebuild by MMC. The other had covered only 2,000 miles when it broke completely (I saw the breakage). He has rejected his and the supplying dealer has fixed him up with a 2005-ish Roadster they had in stock. He is a very nice guy and still in Morgans, but a loss to the MTW community.

Tony Quinn

Tony Quinn

If I had a vehicle which had suffered a complete chassis break then it would be reported to VOSA without delay. That is a major safety issue and should be reported before somebody is seriously injured or worse.

Mine has been at the factory for four weeks with a badly cracked chassis.
It is being replaced and I was asked to give them a month to do the work.

I went to an unofficial meet a few weeks ago and both the 2012 cars that turned up had the same crack in the same place. One of the vehicles had a completely sheared chassis. Both owners were unaware of the problem until I looked at their 3Ws All early non braced cars will fail, no doubt about it.
Factory were responsive in first instance but I have not hear from them since they collected the old girl.
I'm sticking with the 3W but it has been a hard slog. if it can go wrong it has.
I bought the 3W privately but have been well served by my local dealer and the factory to some degree.
Communication is the biggest problem. E mail should always be responded to in this day and age. I cannot conceive of ignoring my customers emails.

Can you indicate if the chassis was cracked at the usual place, behind the top wishbone bolt? what was the mileage of these cars? Trying to get some idea of statistics ;-)

I don't buy a £34k vehicle and expect to be doing minor maintenance any more than I buy a new learner scooter for my kids and expect to be doing that!

Motorcycles aren't mechanically needy, noisy or oily when new any more than their owners aren't all bearded tattoo freaks, and the perpetuation of such stereotypes does little credit for your points raised.

To put the ownership thing into perspective, I bought a year old Ural sidecar outfit a while ago. The outfit had been bought brand new by an Aussie who had toured the UK before selling it back to the dealer and flying home.

Urals are made in Russia, and are generically an air cooled flat twin with a five speed gearbox and shaft drive. They have a reputation for being very home maintenance as that's how it's done in Russia. I understood this when I bought it, but in the year I had with it I never even undid the tool roll. It never leaked oil, never failed to start and never lost anything when on the move. In short it was a cracking outfit.

It too was a parts bin special, with wiring loom and connectors made in the USA, alternator from Ducati, brakes by Brembo, switchgear from somewhere East.

I also have a T140 Bonneville Triumph in the garage, and my M3W leaks more oil than that onto the garage floor!!

I have a right as a consumer to expect a product that is fit for the purpose of use. To date the M3W is on VERY thin ice..

@SBM, what happened to your car? are these new issues or the ones at delivery?

just curious

B

That's worrying to hear SBM bearing in mind yours is a 2014

Interesting that the producer of a rival to the M3W (incidentally one of the most attractive of the 3 wheeler replicas IMHO - well done Merlin!) should be springing to the defense of MMC.

The points Merlin raises about owner expectation are entirely fair and valid should they pertain to machines such as he supplies, which are kit cars after all - but when purchasing an expensive vehicle from a long established manufacturer one should be entitled to expect it to be reliable and hassle free for the first few years at least.

I remember much discussion when the M3W was first launched about the issue of weight and how they could have made it lighter and saved a load of hassle had they used the Guzzi motor & drivetrain instead. With hindsight this appears to have been spot on. Apart from the bump steer issue, the M3W's main problems seem to have been engine & drivetrain related, while the chassis cracking might well not have arisen had the whole vehicle been more sylph-like.

Come what may, MMC really need to get a grip on these issues before the M3W drags down the whole company. History is littered with examples of manufacturers of essentially good cars fatally wounded by warranty issues on ill resolved models. Triumph (with the Stag), Facel Vega (with the facellia), Jensen (with the Jensen Healey) to name but a few.

SBM - the car should not leak ANY oil at all!!