Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Aero 8, 2012< Plus 8, SuperSports, Coupe & Aeromax Twitchy Back End!!!!

I don't wear a skirt....

Not even at those odd parties I heard you attend

I was referring to lifting passers by skirt just for the thrill, not your skirt

Re the sidepipes.

Really loud and can set up a cruising resonance that can be tiring. Love them. Total audio holigan. Bigger issue is that they come out directly where you step when enter/exiting the car and they get hot. A couple of pairs of shoes and ankles have been damaged due to them over time !

The 4000~ rpm point where the variocam stuff kicks in the more aggressive profile can be quite fun in the wet. You can feel the additional surge which can break traction.

Comparing the "you asked for it" that the S2 Manual gives me to my previous AMG E63 is chalk and cheese. It had 575nhp but was often slower due to the electric-nanny taking my foot off the accelerator ! When you turned the nanny off the E63 was almost unmanageable due to the turbo induced surge. The power curve of the naturally aspirated V8 in the aero seems so rewarding.

As Peter comments the 4.8 auto in sports mode or manually shifted can give just as much fun when pushed. I nearly always drive it in manual mode to enjoy the higher rev performance.

Ref driver training, give hiring your own instructor and venue a go. A group of us, 8 I think, hired Alconbury and An instructor for about £100 each. The instructor was in fact 3, and we were all mikrophoned up as they kept jumping in with us, and the run way was zoned up into practise area, paddock and 2 practise areas.

We were working on weight transfer and cornering, so essentially a slalom of differing corners and hairpins/straights. I learnt to drift a very high grip car on slicks and the confidence it gave me to control a car was easily worth 5 times the cost.

Boom-ish!

I'll set them up, you knock them out of the park

I can relate to your comment about a naturally aspirated engine. Mind you a supercharged one as in the big Jag F feels no different. Its the turbo lag and surge that is the issue.

Out of curiosity, any idea what mpg you get out of the 4.8 ? The same sized 490 bhp engine in the Ferrari averages 16mpg but it is heavier than an Aero.

With my 4.8 with the auto box I tended to get 26mpg tank to tank. With the 4.4 manual it was around 24mpg.

Both dropped to circa 13-14 mpg on the track days.

I haven't ever measured the 4.6 in the GTN.

The 3 litre Ferrari V8 seems to be 16mpg tank to tank.

Over the years I have had many turbo cars and the surge/lag is one aspect but in modern turbo cars (AMGE63 for example) the management makes it feel like the power is consistent all the way up the rev range. This makes it feel like a tidal wave which is initially very impressive. They have almost managed to engineer out lag. The new VAG group electric turbo pre-boost will probably totally eliminate it. http://wardsauto.com/engines/electric-turbo-48v-electrics-onboard-new-audi-sq7

It is excellent for overtaking with less risk. But it takes the fun out of driving a little. When I am driving the Series2 the power increases clearly as the revs rise. The acceleration becomes more urgent as red line is approached (and the side exhaust bark is also wonderful). The change in cam profiles can be felt around 4000rpm as it goes harder for the redline.

I think it is this attribute I enjoy. The increasing urgency the harder you push it. You have to work a little harder to enjoy it. Add the manual gearbox and you need to get it all sync'd up to enjoy the seemless run at the horizon. I guess this relates to the other threads around "what defines a sports car". The S2 has the 4.4L with single VANOS (Inlet I think?) so it does have the power bump.

The 4.8 has double VANOS so the inlet and exhaust cam profiles both change as the revs rise leading to a more aggressive change in character. It is also smoother in change over I think, I guess it is all perception. Smooth and grunty up to the change and then committed to whacking the redline afterwards. However the auto box takes the effort out of it, even if you use manual control so it feels more like a GT. You still feel involved but you don't need to work quite so hard for it.

If there was anything that made us keep the Series 2 once we bought the Coupe it was this. The cars are so different in experience and public reaction given how closely they are related. We figure they are holding their value and so are no worse than putting the money in a savings account (full apology for man-maths being used) at 1%.

I have deliberately avoided checking out the mpg on the Coupe as I tend to drive it in a manner that will never be economical. Mostly to enjoy the nut-job madness of the side pipes. I am going to guess greater than 20-24mpg.

The thunder from the sidepipes on both cars makes the death of those irreplaceable carbon resources worth every penny. Big Smiles.

Went up to LHR to collect a colleague...delightful blond about 30ish from France....so good for one's ego....

Anyway, the drive up and return, including about 60 miles on the M3 Average Speed Check zone, gave me an average of 30.5, mostly in sport mode.

This is a record, 25 is my working average. I've no explanation, the only factor that impacted both trips was the weather, it was warm. Pervrersley the water temperature didn't rise above 90, when in the cold it is often at 105.....!!

So, for what it is the mpg is remarkably good.