Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 3 wheeler or not......?

Thanks Hannes,

Interesting perspective....

More exposure than a bike...wow. I must be getting softer in my old age as I find the 4/4 exposed with the roof off, and very noisy with it on.

Agree re a long test drive but I suspect finding a dealer, especially a local one, prepared to let me have a car for that long might be very difficult.

You have to rent one! they give ya money back if you buy one

I must confess that my touring bike was a Honda Goldwing so exposure to the elements was relatively small compared to standard bikes.

Just to put things into perspective: I did some 10.000km a year on the bike and drove 5000km last year with the M3W.

You have to go for it. It will either change your life forever more or you have the life force of a soul sucking demon...

Sorry. I miss mine terribly. She is in lockup as the Winter here is cold, harsh, and the roads, salt bearing. I must wait until Spring.

You may have noticed that I embellish the seasons in capital letters. Around here they deserve it!

Hannes has a point. The M3W is no bike, and never will be. Unique it may be, but you get the worst of both worlds with one in that you can't filter, you have to sit in traffic and park with the cars 99% of the time.

Having had one, it was great. For me as a motorcyclist I wanted a side by side tourer rather than a front & rear. We had a couple of years of fun, but the drawbacks of it when on holiday weren't immediately obvious but travelling to somewhere was fine. You'd kit up, pack and stack and arrive in style. The issues were when you were just going somewhere for a bite to eat.

Kitting up to drive a few miles to grab some food was a chore. Coming out of a cafe or restaurant and doing the whole thing again with potentially soaking gear was depressing after a while.

Last January my eldest and I went down to Bicester and it poured. We were sopping when we arrived and had to walk around in wet kit before putting the wet stuff on again to come home, with the hot bath etc afterwards. For me it was the final straw.

With a four wheeler, you have choices. You can choose whether to run roof down or not, you can choose whether to have heat or not. With the M3W I couldn't.

None of this is the fault of the car, it was my usage expectations that changed.

Only you will know whether or not to swap, no-one can make that decision for you. Just buy one for what it is, and not what you wish it to be.

It really IS a toy, but for me, I use the big GS for that. The bike covers ground in such a way that it's by far the most comfortable of anything I currently own, but it's the Mondeo of the bike world and people just walk past as if it's invisible..!!

Bear in mind also that the large engined 4/4 you have is quite a sought after beastie, so you would lose far less swapping to an M3W than the other way around..

Happy New Year, chum & good luck!

I'm with you Steve! Above an extract of your posting which is key to my relationship with the M3W

Oakmere at Northwich have one you can rent.

It's well documented on here that the early M3Ws were under developed but from 2014 most of the major issues were sorted. Pre 2014's can be upgraded (Comfort steering, urban cooling, Centre compensator, NVH kit and improved mounting of the rectifier). This has hit the resale values but hopefully the depreciation has bottomed out now. To put it into context, my late 2013 was bought for £32k and is now valued at around £26k. So in round terms 20% depreciation over 3 years and 13,000 miles which is pretty good compared to the vast majority of vehicles. Of course, this only has any relevance if you ever sell it which I'm not about to do anytime soon.

For me, the M3W is an amazing piece of kit which never fails to put a smile on my face. It attracts an enoumous amount of positive attention from passers by and other road users and just makes you feel good - what more could you want?

What's this - a rational question regarding an irrational purchase decision?

Have to say I never contemplated a M4W but fell for the M3W when they came out. For 2-up touring the M4W might be easier / more comfortable, but you could say the same about touring in a Caterham.

You could also say that about a Prius. The M4W may be like a wife whereas the M3W is a hot new girlfriend.