Hi all, I thought I'd post this as a bit of fun, though I guess it will be an anathema to many of you died in the wool Morganeers
Following on from my post in the for sale section a month or so ago, you'll know that we planned to buy SWMBO a new Mercedes SLK to replace my Plus 4. We sourced the car from a M-B main dealer North of the boarder and collected it on the Thursday before the Independence Referendum. This of course provided an opportunity for some light hearted speculation around future exchange rates and potential benefits of the Euro vs the Scottish Pound! We took Virgin's First Class service to Edinburgh early in the morning and had a relaxed trip North with full English breakfast on the train; not quite as good as the old British Rail Silver Service, but not bad at all. The dealer collected us from Waverley Station and we were driven to a somewhat misty Grangemouth to pick up the car.
Having been made welcome with coffee and cookies, we inspected the car (a pre registered Internet find with delivery miles) to ensure all was as described over the phone and provided in the photos. All was well, and we were then very smoothly and professionally processed, parting with our hard earned pennies via the debit card; quite scary really!
SWMBO didn't want to take the wheel immediately in unfamiliar surroundings, so I initially drove the car with the top up (because the sea mist meant it was "a bad hair day") and very refined it was too; no creaks or rattles, no crashing or banging over pot holes, no side screens squeaking against the bodywork, etc. We wafted along on a wave of torque via the 7 speed auto box listening to CDs on the excellent stereo. We stopped at the first convenient Shell station on the M74 South to top up with fuel, by which time the sun was out and it was time to open the roof. With the ignition on, one finger lifted a small lever in the centre console between the seats and after 20 seconds or so of whirring noises the roof and rear window had disappeared into the boot, a "gong" sounded and we were ready for the off. No un-clipping, no fasteners to forget and break, no trapped fingers, no broken finger nails (not mine!), no cursing (not SWMBO!), no fitting a hood cover, just one touch of a button... Bliss!
SWMBO took to the driving like the proverbial duck to water and we wafted down the M74 and M6 to home. I'd reset all the trip computers before we left the dealers and by the time we got home we'd average 54.6mpg on the dashboard indication. Oh, I forgot to say earlier, it's a 250 Cdi twin turbo diesel, 204HP (PS) and 500Nm Torque from 1,600RPM, which the book says equates to 0-62mph in 6.7sec and 151mph max. The gear box has three modes, normal (Eco), sport, and manual with either stick or steering wheel mounted paddle changes. In all normal auto driving it never really gets much beyond 2,000RPM, even with the odd A road overtake.
Anyway, all this is of course just reflections on the first day and I headlined this as a 1,000 mile report. Well the car is run in now, the right foot is being more firmly pressed and the overall average mpg since we collected the car has understandably dropped a little to 51.2mpg. The ride quality and suspension have continued to impress (we bought the AMG Sport spec car with the larger wheels and 10mm lower suspension) with a more compliant ride that my M Sport BMW. There are no (that is non at all) rattles or creaks, which has been a pleasant surprise as with the complexity of the folding roof arrangement in truth I expected some. The diesel motor pulls like a train so in gear acceleration is most impressive, if a little underwhelming in the engine and exhaust note department largely due to it never needing many revs to pick up its skirt. It is a very relaxing car to drive top up or down, and on a long journey down to the Loire Valley it was in its element, and especially so given the lovely weather of late here in France.
So, to the $64,000 question(s)... Do I miss the Plus 4 and do I regret selling it? Well no, not really, to both. I/we enjoyed the Morgan experience for what it was and for the period that we had it. It was very different and involving in a way that the SLK will never be. But, and here's the rub, for the type of miles we do and the motorway distances they involve, our trip home in the Plus 4 from the Le Mans Classic this year in what I can only describe as less than ideal weather, was hard work and not pleasurable in the same way that a 50 or 60 mile country road blast was. Furthermore, I wasn't minded to run mine in the wet or on salty roads and let the galvanic corrosion take is course, that's just in my character and I admire those that can and do. Consequently the Morgan had to share the fair weather days over ~6 summer months of the year, and that was increasingly becoming a challenge.
By contrast, the SLK is just a very pleasant place to be. It's not as dynamic as a Porsche Boxster and it's not as quintessentially British as a Traditional Morgan, but it is a very competent all round cruiser with greater levels of refinement, safety and with the folding hard top security. The heated seats and air scarf should make cold winter days with the top down a pleasure and SWMBO is very happy... in that respect alone it was worth every penny. So, it is a car that we will get far more all year round use out of. The road tax is only £130pa and the insurance was only just over half that of the Morgan on an Aviva multi car policy with the BMW and, therefore, it is a more practical ownership proposition for us, and for our current circumstances we both feel that the change has been one for the better.
Finally, for those of you who know us, and still wish to speak to us now we've "gone over to the dark side", we enjoyed our Morganeering times and your company, and although we can't as readily share experiences of kingpin greasing or towel escapades to mitigate water ingress, we are still the same people below the surface... and you know where we are!
Philip.
