Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Aero 8, 2012< Plus 8, SuperSports, Coupe & Aeromax Some Thoughts on The Difference....

They looks superficially similar, but how different are they?

I’ve now driven Tarka the 2014 Plus 8 around the roads I know, so I can start to make a comparison whilst Aldermog, our 2009 Roadster, is still fresh in my mind.

Let’s start with “Fit and Finish”. In many ways Tarka is very much improved: under the dash and into the footwells the soft leather extends as it does in Caroline’s Mercedes, a vast improvement. It is actually quite difficult to see or feel any lose wires. But there are still some hangovers from the Roadster, for example the hex head screws holding the door hinges are still mild steel and have rusted: why, oh why, can’t they use stainless steel? The hinges are stainless anyway.

Moving on to Comfort: this is where the difference shows. The car rides like a modern car, the suspension is controlled and the car passes over small road damage almost imperceptibly and deals with sleeping policemen without a concern. The ride is actually more controlled than that of our Mercedes E 350 Coupe. Inside the high back sports seats with seat heaters are as good as any high end seat, but for the broad of hip they might be a bit too snug! The extra 10cm cockpit width makes a big difference on a long run. I got Williams to trim the inside of the side screens, this has finished off the cockpit perfectly and it is draft free. The hood has a separate lining and driving hood up it is warm and dry, indeed the heater is powerful and infinitely controllable with modern electrically driven controls.

The radio is mounted in sight of the driver, a novel improvement and the car comes with a full 6 speaker installation. I’ve fitted my Alpine CDE 136 BT and it works perfectly: it is a DAB unit and as in the Roadster the DAB reception with a simple powered splitter works very well. The sound quality is as good as any other basic sound system in a modern car.

Overall the car is very significantly quieter than Aldermog, at least until the loud pedal is exercised, when it produces a wonderful rasp from the exhaust, drops a gear or two and rockets forward.

There a few in cockpit negatives, two that are easy to sort are the lack of a transmission tunnel locker and the ever useless door straps. I’ve fitted Librands door checks: this also replaces the rusting set screws and I’m working with Austin at Williams to develop a locker to go over the transmission tunnel between the seats. It will also act as an elbow rest! The more difficult challenge is the insane open ended glove box under the dash. Quite how this has been allowed to exist is beyond me: all it needs is a small 10cmx 10cm square of aluminium attached to the base of the glove box. Easy in construction but very difficult now.

Finally, to the important bit: how does it drive? I’ve only lightly explored the envelope, due to a combination of darkness, wet roads and lack of time. But Tarka certainly has lots of power and the right foot needs to be very controlled on cold wet and greasy roads, I was driving into a supermarket car park and needed to apply a little throttle to get over some speed bumps: the back end stepped out sideways about a foot…the road was wet and perhaps there was diesel about, but the sort of care any biker will understand is needed.
On the open road it is another matter: the car can be driven as a lazy tourer, letting the smooth auto box do everything or by putting the gear lever into “Sport” and using the steering wheel paddles it becomes a quick and responsive thing. The noise when accelerating hard is sinful, it sounds exactly how a big V8 should, but so often doesn’t. My “friends” at the BMW dealership were most impressed, not just with the noise but the overall product. Tarka’s unusual colour was also considered to be really good, distinctive yet subtle.
Manoeuvring in confined spaces is not as convenient as in Aldermog, other than the hydraulic power steering is a bit lighter: but not massively so. The big problem is the lock, or lack of it. The lock is worse than Aldermog, quite how that can be I’m not sure! Once on the road I like it, much faster response to input than Aldermog and some semblance of feedback, not much but more than the electric power assist on my BMW. I know there are those who feel for track use the steering is slow to respond to rapid steering inputs. Perhaps, but that isn’t going to worry me: I have little time for the “how fast is it round Nürbergring?” method of comparing cars.

Driving at night showed the 7” headlamps up as weak. I’ve asked Williams to investigate fitting a pair of Wipac auxiliary main beam lights, they are certainly needed. Meanwhile I’ll fit the head lamp units with LED sidelights I had on Aldermog, they are better than the standard units.

Glad you`re enjoying it. I agree about the hex screws - why stainless arn`t used is a wonder - also on mine I noticed when tightening up the screws that on each hinge 2 screws are hex and one cross-head - logic??
I mentioned recently to MMC design team about the tacks holding the leather trim in place being mild steel instead of brass & therefore bleeding rust into the leather. They were unaware of the problem but made a note and promised to look into it. It is good that MMC are listening at last and little niggles can be improved upon & corrected - but it is up to us to inform them (politely and in the spirit of being constructive) of these faults as they are obviously not apparent on a new car(most of the time!).

PS - some of the things we complain about eg those stupid dipping mirrors and grotty wing mirrors have to be used to meet homologation specs. and are therefore beyond the ability iof MMC to improve although they know the problems and, I think, sometimes are quite embarrassed about it. On the other hand it does give us a constant list of things post-sales to write to Father Christmas and ask to include in his sack. Ho Ho Ho!

I am hopeful that the new team at MMC are more amenable to listening - as you say - we can but hope.

Excellent insight into the world of 1st Class Morganeering, look forward to the next installment.

Thanks for your insightful first report. Tarka seems to make a lot of fun.

You say: "I have little time for the “how fast is it round Nürbergring?” ...
Just kidding, if you have little time for a lap round Nürburgring you will be damned fast.

If you really would like to visit Nürburgring i.e. when a nice event is going around there, it's worth to have some nice days over here driving in this area (on roads, not Ring) together with Caroline and Tarka. We could meet at the Ring and I show you some nice country roads.

Same design as the Max, beyond me too and quite usless as a Glove box

Yes, and too small for the service folder to fit in without poking out through the open section at the back. A glove box that is open at the back as well as the front - surely a unique piece of Morgan design.

I suspect it is unique not only in the annals of Morgan design, but within the industry.

I'm going to solve this one, even if it is a piece of netting glued over the opening from the outside!

Actually I shall see if I can craft a piece of aluminium to fit in place, held by a "L" shaped bracket at the bottom bolted to the floor of the glove box.

Access is possible, it "only" means laying down head first into the foot-well to measure up, check the fit and then install.

Such repeated contortions, these days, mean taking ibuprofen for a couple of days after the event
Age shall not weary him, it just makes him ache!!

Tarka had a nice frame less interior mirror, so I guess that MMC had already dumped the dipping one. Not sure where it came from, it isn't a Librands one.

I swapped the neat Librands frame-less ones on Aldermog with the grotty OEM ones on Tarka... Hope the new owner doesn't mind!