Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) MG TC ?

No, thats old fashioned. These days it has to be auto with flappy paddles and a built in throttle blip. Its a bit like ABS - the purists turn their noses up but the vehicle always stops quicker with abs than without. And the Porker I tried with the DSG box was superb at gear changes, way better / faster / smoother than I could ever manage.

Which takes us back again to the smaller engined version of the new Aero 8 which the market seems to want but Morgan seems to be ignoring in favour of building a muscle car.

Does the market want a smaller engined version of the Aero? Apart from a couple of people on here...where are the rest?

UK Market? No
Other European markets? Yes
Are they big enough to make it a viable project for MMC? I doubt it.

The biggest market currently by far for the Aero-chassisied car is Germany and those guys want V8's. They never liked the Roadster as much as the old Plus 8 as they did not like a V6, even if it gave the same or better performance than the Rover V8.

Unfortunately Italy is not a big market for Aero's, UK is the second largest market and as Peter has said a separate smaller-engined model with all the homologation and development costs involved does not really fly. Sorry Peter!

I would rather see an upgraded trad - between the Plus 4 and Roadster. At the moment I have no reason to change cars because the current Plus 4 isn't significantly better than the previous one.

It is not just Italy. There are quite a few other countries where big, powerful engines are actively discouraged by government regulations, taxes, insurance etc.

I can't help feeling it is a little bit like saying "If you need to ask how much it is you can't afford it." I also feel it is a bit of "We don't make it because there is no demand. There is no demand because we don't make it".

Homologation of variants costs much less than a new homologation. If it were not the case I wonder if the new Plus 8 would ever had been made.

Maybe, but different engines change the paradigm. The Plus 8 is mechanically identical to the Aero 8's, that's why the model was easy to make and sell. It's also the process that we used for SP1 which is a revised Roadster...

I'm not absolutely sure that you can stop a car more quickly on gravel with abs. I tend to think letting the gravel build up slows you down. Also, on wet leaves...does abs really help? I've had some heart attack moments with abs on leaves......
Nick

I agree Nick, on certain surfaces I would rather have full control over the brakes.