Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Aero 8, 2012< Plus 8, SuperSports, Coupe & Aeromax S4 Electronic

I own an Aero 8 S4 since 6 month and I damn the day I have signed the contract.
Actually I want to buy a used one, the two tone blue S3 from Brian but I was a little bit slow and another one bought the car. A used one therefore because the first owner has all the problems solved and that would be a wise decision but Julian from SGT offered me a new one from his showroom and the two tone black and velvet green seduced me and I imported the car to Germany.
Since my short ownership of 6 month, the Aero was 2 month in a garage, two times on a trailer and today it was the third time with an electronic breakdown and the car was put on a trailer again to the Morgan Dealer.
The first time I got a new blackbox and the second time the accelerator pedal and the throttlepoti was changed. Today I drove with 160 km/h on the autobahn and suddenly the car reacted not any longer to the accelerator pedal.

Has anyone here similar electronic problems and an idea to solve them?
That is of course only the mainproblem, there are a lot of minor electronic problems too.

Edi

Sorry to hear that Edi. My S1 has little gremlins too, but no electronic problems (yet). However, for a new car as yours, such problems are not acceptable. What does the dealer tells you?

Edi, I'm very sorry to hear of your experience.

As Spudgun has asked, have you spoken with Julian and explained the problems you are having?

I have recently posted problems with my S4 - no lights,indicators or wipers - probably due to water damage to the black box.
I am still waiting to hear more details.
What chassis number are you?

Hi Simon and Spudgun,

I had a lot of contacts with Julian and he is always very kindly. He is very sorry about that and he wants every time speak with Mark Baldwin but nothing of importance happened. I got in touch with Mark Baldwin 3 times via mail but I got no answer.
But I want to be fair, Julian is in GB far away and what can he do at a distance?

Really help I got from the Morgan-Dealer Gregor Flaving and Peter Beckert. They handle me like their own customer but unfortunately the fault comes again and again and I have reached the point of no confidence in the car.

I will await the next days and listen what Flaving means and after that I will decide what happens with the Aero. I will further report.

Edi

The produktion number is 703, first registered in march 09
Edi

Good luck Edi, hope they find the fault quickly. It's no fun driving a car you can't trust.

Everyone, This is a very sensitive question and I realise it may consign me to hell ( or worse)

As part of my consultancy I do a lot of European motoring and this should, if anything, increase this year. I dont use my current Morgan ( a 4/4) because it is just not 'long-legged' enough to be comfortable on long Mway/Nroad/Peage trips.

I've been giving some serious thought to changing my pattern of using my 'everyday' car, and getting a bigger-engined, more mid range torque sports/GT car for these journeys. This would very much be turning the clock back because I used to use my old Porsche for these trips.

Like, I guess, most Morgan owners I am very taken with the looks and charisma of the Aero8 but have always been more than a little wary of what might loosely termed the detail and build quality. For this reason, I have never bought one.

What I don't need - and cannot have, is a car which is going to give me recurring or constant problems with things such as electrics

The recent numerous posts seem to confirm my concerns.

I would welcome any comments and views - either way.

Regards

It is a fair question to ask and one I pondered prior to purchase of my first Aero 8.

For reference and to kick off the conversation: -

I just did 1,000 miles in the Aeromax, in Europe, without any issues at all.

When I met up with Aeroman, he was on the last leg of his European jaunt. I am not sure how many miles he did but it was probably at least 3,000. As far as I am aware, he did not have any problems.

Last year, to St. Tropez from the UK (and back), there were 5 Aero 8s in the group I drove with. We had one issue on the entire trip - mr_tony had a problem with his power steering (which if I recall correctly resolved itself?) on his S2. This trip was close to 2,000 miles (and the cars were a mix of S1, S2 and S3).

In my opinion, the Aero 8/Aeromax is very reliable; however, you do need to get past the initial 'shake-down' issues which may be present in a new-build Morgan. Once they are resolved, they seem to be relatively bullet proof (certainly no worse than many modern mainstream cars).

There are some people on the site who have done a lot of miles in their Aeros (Aeroman, Boshly and Shooter spring to mind). If I am not mistaken, Shooter drove his daily for 12+ months (and in all the weather the UK could throw at it).

As with many handmade items, there can be human error in the initial build; however, as said above, the break-in service is used to resolve a lot of these (if not all).

If I was to ask myself the question you posed to yourself - could I use the Aero 8 daily? My response would be no. While the reliability wouldn't be a concern (because as above, I believe they are reliable once you sort out any new-build issues), taking the shine off a special car would.

My Morgan is too special for me to want to hammer long distances in. I look at the condition of my current daily driver and even though I take good care of it, it shows the scars (rock chips, scratches, age) of many many motorway miles. I can accept that on something that has the appeal of 'white goods' but on my Morgan, I'd find it difficult to accept.

Just my 2-pence.

Simon,
Thanks. best two pence-worth I've heard in a long time and certainly goes a long way to resolving issues for me.

I can particularly relate to the daily driver point- I have the same problem myself and it was- and always is- a factor in my choice of everday car.

I guess that what lies at the bottom of this for me is that it presents a chance to do some rather nice continental driving in a special car AND GET PAID FOR IT!

I'll cogitate some more in the light of what you've said

Regards