Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Plus Four, Supersport & Plus Six (CX & CXV Generation Vehicles) New 4cylinder car

I too love those alloys,in fact, the whole thing looks the biz.

Mark, it is in the photo gallery.

John, did you do a write up of your Plus Four experiences...I "missed it" - please advise - thanks Mark[/quote]

Mark, it is in the photo gallery.
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Perfect - thanks Heinz

According to KH salesman Dan, the Plus Four does not have anti-lock brakes despite press reports suggesting otherwise. He went on to say even the Plus Six only has it on the front brakes.

Good video from Henry and equally good report from PH, both acknowledging the exceptionally long gearing I found. 80 mph in second at the red line and 70 mph at only 1500rpm in sixth. I can't help thinking this is some sort of compromise that MMC have been obliged to accept. Much like the ridiculously low first gear on my Roadster, a spill over from its Mustang origins perhaps.

That's interesting about the brakes. The Plus Four owner's manual mentions (on page 5) - "ABS Standard".

Also, if you download a PDF summary after using the Configurator, ABS is listed under "Standard Features".

I'm a bit intrigued by the long gearing criticisms. It appears that the car is plenty quick enough with a very respectable 0-60 times, and it also seems that it has a very wide torque spread. So what's the deal with the gearing?

From the sound of it, if 2nd will take you up to 70mph or so, then for larking about 3rd gear would seem to be ideal, with 4th and 5th for bimbling and 6th for ultra laid back motorway touring.

Watching Henry Catchpole's video just made me want one even more. Unfortunately the Premium Bonds only managed to come up with £75 this month rather than £75k. Ah well...

Should have bought at the bottom Tim

The point on the gearing is exactly what Henry said. In 6th at 70 if you want to accelerate quickly you need to drop a gear so the turbo kicks in.
In reality you could drive round all day in second as that gear takes you easily up to 60 mph.

I suppose it depends on your driving style Tim. Certainly there are enough gears and a slick enough gearchange to promote fun driving on country roads. On motorways and dual carriageways though if just cruising at the legal limit in sixth you would be out of the torque band at 1500rpm and there simply wouldn't be enough available to overtake cleanly or compensate for a slight hill. Changing down one or likely two gears would obviously solve the problem but that defeats the point of the outstandingly high top gear ratio to allow the published low fuel consumption figures. Indeed one of the reviews does suggest that the sixth gearing is simply there to appease the EU, whereas to my mind a six speed box should provide six practical gears.

I'm well aware of this high gearing issue on my Roadster which also requires a change down from sixth to overtake cleanly on motorways despite having more available torque, particularly at the 2000rpm the legal limit represents. The Plus Four's sixth gear is nearly 30% higher still, has less torque and slightly higher weight!

Ah. I'm so used to the idea of dropping a cog or two to get quick acceleration that I have never seen this as a problem - it's as easy to be in too high a gear as it is to be in too low a gear. To me, Henry Catchpole's point reads like "If you're driving along in the wrong gear, you need to put it into the right gear to get it to do what you want".

I think if I was on a motorway in a situation where I might need a sudden burst of acceleration, to take advantage of gaps or get out of the way of something, I'd probably be in 4th or 5th anyway.