Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Plus Four, Supersport & Plus Six (CX & CXV Generation Vehicles) The Plus Six 'bugs me'

Chris, GREAT that your son is gainfully employed, kids have a hard time getting jobs these days. It seems practical skills may be a bit a rarity in youngsters these days....?

Given the history of Lotus after they got rid of the 7 I'd rather Morgan kept the trads and farmed out the modern stuff.

The Jury's out on the Plus 6 as far as I'm concerned. I agree that MMC must evolve but I also remember when Porsche tried to replace the ageing but iconic 911 with the 928 in the late 1970's.

The 928 won 'European car or the year' but it was a departure from principles that had made Porsche and the 911 great. In the end the 928, though technically superior and far more modern was shunned because the Porsche customers wanted a traditional 'flawed' 911 which had character and traditional rear engine format and the base price of the 928 was also much higher than the 911.

Would I buy a Plus 6? No I don't think so. If I had the £90K that the first editions are priced at, Id think I would keep my traditonal 4/4 and buy one of the Plus 6's competitors. A test drive in a Plus 6 could change that though!

Thanks, yes it is great he has a job and also great he can put something useful on his resume if he wants a change of career.

I was talking to him about the new Morgan and the engine being shared with the Supra and BMW. He showed me a photo of the engine in the Supra covered in stacks of pipes and said they were talking about it at work. It is a pretty complicated engine and Toyota are doing special training programs to certify mechanics to service it, without the training you are not allowed to work on the car. However his employer has said that they don't expect to sell any so are not planning on sending any of the staff on the training programs. Pity as it would be good for him to have some qualifications in a specialist skill. I wonder if Morgan dealers are doing some similar training?




If I had a 4/4 and a spare 90K pounds I was allowed to spend I would keep the 4/4 and buy a MGB Abingdon edition from Frontline. It has the right gearbox

I think it is normal to have dealers engineers trained on specific elements across all brands. When I had the CL600 there were less engineers trained on the V12 so I had to make certain my servicing was on a specific day. Ditto a friend with an M5 V10, he had to use specific dealers exactly as you describe.
Having said that the same is sort of true even within Morgan, not all parties have the depth of skills in Aero's from my experience. This is not going to improve so from our point of view staff retention in the resellers and at the factory is going to be a big part of the logevity of these cars (plus the more complex/rare parts availability. I can almost see a time (20 years from now) when a few end up going a bit Mad Max with LS7 and other parts being transplanted due to lack of spares!

I still think they will outlast most other cars of this era.

I personally don't think the BMW 3.0 engine is anymore specialist than the BMW 4.4 for example?

Also if you have the Rover 3.9 or 3.5 V8 the chances of getting it serviced - or re-build (more like now due to age?) "correctly" could be harder than someone looking after the PlusSix engine, as most service engineers disappeared years ago?

Mark

I'd be happy, but I'd be surprised if "everyone" was!

Thanks Rob!
Think the Porsche example is a good one.
The story is just not complete. By the time there was a second try named Panamera.
That is pretty much the culture of the 928 and it sells good just as the SUVs do.
Porsche has changed dramatically. And surprisingly the company is better off than anytime before...

Not sure about it bugging me BUT I got the chance to drive one today. My expectations were high and I fully expected to be blown away by it.

It is of course fast - I mean really very fast. Its steering is lovely and it soaks up bumps really well. It felt wide on the road - but i'm used to a 4/4 so I guess that's to be expected.
What I really didn't expect were the creaks and rattles from the dash/doors or body. Not that much better than my fettled 4/4 in fact. Seeing as its "all new" I felt that was disappointing. If I was spending £80K i'd not be content with that and I can only wonder what additional miles/use will do to it. I hope this aspect will be sorted on later production examples - I fear the new target customers who are spending at least Porsche or Jaguar money will also not be accepting of this traditional Morgan characteristic.

The auto box works a treat and its very smooth - oh and so powerful. I noticed the passenger leg room was less ( shorter) than my 4/4 - actually good if your passenger is short - not sure about 6 footers. It had the sportier exhaust fitted but I found it sounded very ordinary.

It wasn't a very involving car to drive - not soulless exactly, but I felt something was missing. Its of course dynamically superior and in a different league to my 4/4 - but I was happy to be driving my car home.

Would I buy one if I had the money? Before today I'd have said yes. Now after sampling it I'm not so sure...……….So its a maybe.

I will also gladly test drive a Plus 6 in spring. I think an hour or two may not be enough time to get used to the car. On the one hand I mean that you get to know the car better after three days of driving. And also that the emotional connection could only develop over time.
When I had the AMG GTC for a weekend, it only had to be day 2 when the emotions grew and the car communicated its subtle differences to me.