Talk Morgan Forums Community Welcome Forum New member and prospective owner

Hello . I have just registered on the forum and I'm looking for some wisdom from those of you experienced with both Morgans and Caterhams please.
Having owned three Caterham Sevens over the last ten years I'm contemplating changing to a Morgan. To be very honest I never thought I would consider a Morgan having always leaned towards Lotus but having test driven two yesterday (a Roadster and a Plus 4) I found them very appealing for road use and was impressed with the attention to detail and their character. The car would be used for mostly weekend short drives, the occasional touring holiday and for my wife and I to both drive. I also do a few (far too few!) trackdays.

I currently drive a Caterham CSR 260 Superlight and have been most attracted by the prospect of a Roadster. The power delivery seems closest to what I currently experience (2.3l, 260bhp Cosworth Duratec) and the ride seemed good for the road but still firm enough for pressing on / track, although I did find the steering a fair bit slower and the breaks less immediate than I'm used to.

I would really welcome views on what to expect if I do change, particularly from those who have made such a move before me. Any advice very welcome.

Paul

1560 tracks his Roadster a lot and there are quite a few ex Lotus owners on the site, so someone should be able to reflect on your questions with authority.

All I will say is welcome to Talk Morgan. It is a brilliant site and full of great people and information.

Dear Apothecary,
Welcome aboard! Just out of curiosity, myself never having owned a Lotus is there any truth in the rumour that Lotus stands for Loads Of Trouble Usually Serious???? I drive a roadster and love it dearly, however the only advice I would give you, should you buy one, is make sure you concerntrate on the immediate road surface ahead because the engine sump is VERY VERY low, and you wouldnt want any nasty suprises ---would he Frank 4+4?

All the best for now ---David of SW19

Thanks for the welcome Trent & David.

David, I think Lotus earned that reputation because Colin Chapman went for performance rather than reliability

Having said that, other than a HG failure on an earlier Rover K Series engined car mine have always been reliable and easily worked on. Current car has been particularly great in that respect.

I noticed the low sump on the Roadster that I tried -its a fair bit lower than on the 2L cars isn't it. However, I'm used to low sumps (even on a dry sumped car) and watching the road ahead carefully (cats eyes, speed humps and pot holes especially )

Have you thought of changing the sump to a smaller profile one (I understand they swap out) but not sure of the impact on oil pickup / surge issues?

Do you have wire wheels or alloys David? Is there much difference in unsprung weight?

I also noticed a tendency to understeer. Is that a case of TADTS and something to learn to accommodate or might that have been a set up issue on the car I drove?

Paul

Welcome

I'll start off as I have some relatively similar experience (in this case relative meaning near but not similar )

I had a Westfield Megabird before my Aero. Whilst Im sure BEC's are not nec akin to all Lotuses (Loti??) there are similarities.

Westfield was a blast, but that's it! I could expect nothing more. My Aerois an acceptable mix (to me) of GT, sports car and occasional (expensive) trackday toy. By expensive I only mean if I damage it, as wear to consumables is pretty reasonable due to relative light weight.

Not sure if that helps?

To further confuse, I do have an early order for a new lightweight BEC which will be a toy and cracking trackday car also. Tyre wear should be good as it will only be wearing (in both senses) only three tyres

Hi Apothecary,

I sold my Caterham and Cerbie to part fund my +8.

However My Seven was nowhere near as esoteric as yours being am '84 supersprint, and my first new car.

As you may guess the Caterham outperforms the Mog in all areas, and being smaller (less of an issue if yours is an SV perhaps) can be driven a bit harder around tiny country roads.

That however is only the start of the story.

The Mog and the 7 were both used as commuter cars for a number of years. In the 7 it was a faff, in the Mog it is almost as easy as a tin top.

The 7 and the Mog had both been used for touring, the luggage carrying capability of the Mog is quite surprising whereas in the 7 my wife refused to go again after a week with the luggage on her lap. (Although I see that there are now some clever luggage options for the 7).

Averaging 30mph safely around our narrow lanes is more fun than the 7 was averaging 40mph.

Neon light equipped Nova drivers don't want to race you off every traffic light (Thus making them fair game to be shocked as to how quick modern Mogs are).

The Morgan community have a wider range of interests than the 7 community, but there is still plenty of emphasis and information on performance, racing and track days.

From your projected usage, you should get a lot of fun from the Mog. If I had the space / money I would have kept the 7 as well.

(As for wire v. alloys the argument for and against will be endless - and always controversial)

Brian

Jersey

Alloys will be slightly better on the road because of the weight saving, and narrower track. But I don't really want a mistress in sensible shoes (if that makes sense). In terms of understeer I haven't noticed that but my Roadster has AVO's, and the front feels well planted on the road.
The Roadster sump issue is more than just being low on the offside edge. The mulfab sump mods levels it off so that it's the same clearance as the gearbox crossmember and bellhousing. Although it is very tempting to find a dry sump solution, the protruding bellhousing and crossmember have the potential to do just as much damage as Frank suffered with his sump on the gatepost. Plus the fact that the leading edge of the bellhousing is at 90degrees to the oncoming obstruction, so is unlikely to ride over it. So it's a matter of watch the road. I keep two spare sumps now for emergencies.

Do you have wire wheels or alloys David?

Paul I have super clean and bright stainless steel wires, perhaps this is not the place to admit it,----BUT, they along with the wide butch Yokohamas are really what drew me to the car along with the red interior leather and the ivory coloured dash instruments of course!!.

Regards David of SW19

The clue is in my Avatar David

DaveW your too enigmatic by half!!!!

Regards David of SW19