Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) HOT TOPIC - End of traditional Morgans

I thought that was the M3W line

No, they're given to customers who dissemble them by driving them around.......

And then they come back in and have a new frame fitted & then they …..

John,

If you have a moment could you describe the car, particularly in terms of road use?

I'm not, my daily driver is an i3 and it's superbly developed driveline could be tweaked to fit the next generation Mog

I also wish MMC would bring back & develop the Eva GT with a BMW straight six

It amuses me that I have two quick cars, the Plus 8 and a BMW M140.

The plus 8 delivers about 367 bhp, the M140 is 340ps.
Both use about the same amount of fuel, circa 25mpg, to give the same amount of fun...

The Plus 8 dumps CO2 at 256gm/kg and costs £550.00 a year to tax.
The M140 dumps CO2 at 163gm/km and costs £140.00 a year to tax.

The next Aero Morgan is likely to have a CO2 emission rate in the region of 160 to 180gm/km and if they go the hybrid route, half that.

But they will all struggle to better than 30mpg if driven "vigorously". So what is happening to the CO2?

Burning 1 L of gasoline produces approximately 2.3 kg of CO2 and releases 9.7kwh of energy: that is chemistry/thermodynamics. Therefore the measurement basis from which the CO2 emissions are calculated have been "gamed" by the various authorities and the results are of no environmental value. They only serve to allow an arbitrary tax rate to be applied.

Morgan has to play the game and offer cars that appear to emit lower levels of CO2 in the test cycle, even though the figures will have no correlation with the real world.

Quite so, but one of Morgan's few advantages in the modern world is that by signing up for a package supply of engines from the big companies, it does not take the rap for any cheating of that sort.

And anyway, since the VW scandal, all the major manufacturers are being much more careful.

It is obvious to any but the truly stupid that two cars burning the same amount of petrol must produce the same amount of CO2 - as you say, it's basic chemistry. The current taxation system is just the 21st Century equivalent of the old RAC Horsepower system from the early 20th.

Clearly the scientifically 'correct' answer would be to remove all VED tax and instead load it onto fuel tax, so that the more fuel you burn (and therefore the more CO2 you produce) the more you pay. Fair and equitable, and encourages the uptake of small fuel-efficient cars which is what is needed. An average car doing an average of say 40mpg for an average 10k miles a year would pay around £140 in VED and would burn around 1200l of fuel so a fuel duty rise of around 9 or 10p a litre would more than cover it and would also save all the costs of collecting VED in the first place. (Note for EV owners - you already pay a carbon levy in your electricity bill, so you you are already 'doing your bit' in this regard)

But will the politicians do such an obvious and sensible thing? Of course not. Why not? Because it is an equitable system, and they want to be seen to 'come down hard' on gas-guzzlers, so they want a geared system that penalises appearance rather than actual impact.

The idea that Mr Average who spends hundreds of hours a year stuck in traffic jams in his Ford Focus would end up paying more in tax than a V8 owner who uses their car for a few thousand miles of weekend fun is anathema to them.

The present system of VED, from 2017, comes down hard on those buying cars costing more than £40k. So all Morgans except (for the moment) the M3W.

Perhaps a Morgan with this performance the BMW I8....