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

After all, the question is what one wants to do with the car in the real world. Even my small light 4/4 is too long although the engine still has enough power with 140 HP. But e.g. for hairpin bends in the Alps the first gear is obviously too short, but the second gear is always an idea too long, so i have to make use of the first gear after braking down if i do not want to torture the engine.
Back to the new Plus Four.
I have to try the new Plus Four myself. In theory I would say, it is boring to drive on B roads always in second gear.
But if the new Plus Four is designed to be so long, I might still like to shift gears. I know some modern gasoline turbo engines that are no fun revs up there, they have a clogged sound and they get tougher and tougher. Many have a sweetspot around 3000 to 4500 rpm. Maybe I will shift gears as early as I do with diesel.

This is where the auto - would be the better option?
3rd gear on the auto is very similar in terms of revs and mph to 2nd in the manual box.

Changing down a gear on the motorway @ 70mph - to overtake seamlessly is nonsensical (interestingly with my Roadster - you certain don't have to do that) and being in 4th or 5th "just in case" also defeats the objective?

I like the "involvement" a manual gearbox gives to the Morgan driving experience, however, with modern engines (turbo boosted in particular) the auto gearbox - may be the better solution? They work better together?

Auto - you would also have somewhere to put your left foot

The problem is that (a) I have no clue at all what the bottom is or how to spot it, and (b) no clue at all as to what to buy if I were to.

These days I am so risk averse I've got out of anything even remotely volatile apart from some Prudential shares that I've been sat on for 30 years.

Totally agree Mark, and yes the high gearing in sixth on my car and ironically ridiculously low first seems to be just a Mustang engined Roadster issue.

I suppose it must also depend on what one feels the 'objective' is? The way I see it, a manual gearbox is a torque selection device, allowing you to choose the appropriate amount of torque available for the situation in which one is driving. Thus each gear should have (in theory) a set of circumstances for which it is best suited, and if those circumstances change then the gear selection should also change to suit those new circumstances. Hence to go from low-revs cruising to moderate revs acceleration one would expect to change gear, and the more acceleration/revs one wanted the bigger the change - so 6 to 4 when one wants a big burst on the motorway for example seems entirely right and proper to me. My see my 4/4's 5 speeds as:

1. Pulling away
2. Trickling through town
3. Max acceleration, B road fun, A road overtaking
4. Moderate acceleration, A road cruising, Motorway overtaking
5. Motorways and dual carriageway steady state, general bimbling

I'd quite like a 6th gear to drop the revs down another 500rpm or so at 70mph, but I'm used to it now after 20 years

My old man could never get his head around this concept, his thinking was that the gearbox existed solely to allow him to progress until he got into top gear, at which point he expected to leave it there without ever changing gear again until he came to a stop.

But you're absolutely right, it could well be that the automatic version is better suited to many people's driving styles and would give a much better driving experience. And as for the 'ugly' auto selector? I'd just put a tweed sock over it if it really bothered me that much :-)

Tim, I can hear my Dad (no longer with us) saying the same thing "get into "top gear" and keep it there!

Neither do most fund managers to be fair which is why they can't beat the index!

Cheaper to buy a copy of the FT - pin it to the wall at the share pages and then hire a monkey to throw darts at it.

Anyway - back to gear ratios!

Reading this just makes me realise what an absolute joy it is to own a car that will take off from standstill in 4th gear and just keep on delivering power all the way through, not a recommended practise before the clutch police arrive..

I'm really done with revving frantic things..

Mee maw, mee maw, mee maw... Clutch police here.... OH.. it`s a +8, apologies sir, my younger self did not know any better...(-:

I hope that's just a ticket but no points Occifer - I haven't had any of those since 1986 dear boy..