Talk Morgan Forums Community Welcome Forum A future 4/4 owner from Australia.....

G’day from Australia…..I signed up to Talk Morgan a couple of months ago and thought it was about time I introduced myself. My wife and I have a Morgan 4/4 on order for delivery in 2012 - we will have an extended wait for our new arrival because we have asked for our car build to coincide with a holiday to England and Europe next year so we can take a look at the 4/4 being built at Malvern. We are very excited and I have been reading with interest many of the Talk Morgan forum topics as we will be very new to the Morgan brand.

Why did we decide to buy a Morgan?……well given the limited availability in Australia, and relatively high prices, we have admired the cars from afar, however after a visit to the factory in 2005 our interest was sparked a little more…..and this grew even further with a second factory visit in 2009 while in the UK on another holiday, and we were hooked after hiring a 4/4 Sport and taking it for a drive in the Malvern Hills and beyond. During this drive we saw other Morgans and the drivers always gave us a wave, and while stopped for a sandwich a gentleman in a Porsche 911 parked near the 4/4 and began examining it up close…..he then spoke to us at great length and with enthusiasm about his own past Morgan ownership experiences. What a great day we had.

Talk Morgan topics of interest recently have been the discussions about build quality and stories of problems with cars, in particular comments from Australian owners who have recently bought new cars. It would be great if any users of this site would be willing to share any useful advice for a future owner like myself – in particular what I should be looking out for when we inspect our new 4/4 before taking delivery. I have a good eye for detail and intend to go over the car carefully before we drive away because we live a considerable distance from the Australian distributor (700+km) and the nearest authorised service agent (300+km). It is rare for any new car to be perfect (we purchased a new BMW last year and the ownership experience to date has been far from trouble free) but I want to keep a positive and open mind about our future Morgan ownership…..so any positive stories and advice would be great too……With thanks and bye for now, Mr M

Welcome

I'm sure there will be many popping by to advise as requested.

My only advice, that I think you already know nothing is perfect in this world, so enjoy your Morgan knowing there is nothing else quite like it

Hi M and welcome.

I think there are two important points to make.

Firstly, this site isn't fair representation of overall Morgan ownership because not all Morgan owners are members and even then, not all members post (many choose to just read). Therefore, the comments posted tend to fall into 3 camps: I have a problem and can anyone help, I love my car and, lastly, general chat. The complaints are a small percentage of the topics on the site and an even smaller percentage of owners experiences (if you consider the non-Internet owners).

Point two, Morgans, as you know, are hand built. The reason the first service is so important is because despite the build being carefully monitored and to documented standards, the cars do loosen up with miles and thus need a post break-in service. Many people comment on how their car feels like new after this and in reality, it is because the mechanic will go through the car and ensure it is back to factory standard; after this, the cars are very easy to live with and in most cases problem free.

I hope that helps. In my case, I've had niggles with new cars but never anything that has not been able to be resolved by a good mechanic.

I think Simon has covered that!

Welcome Mr M And enjoy that new car

Do let us know when youa re going to be visiting next year - I'm sure a few will gather round for a meeting if you so wish! In fact, it may even be one of our number that conducts you on another factory tour!

hi Mr M

where ever you are in australia join MOCA the morgan owners of australia based in sydney. a friendly bunch of morgan people
with vast knowledge of morgans.

if you are in queensland join MOQ.. morgan owners of queenland...what ever you are told just enjoy your MOG as australia is a BIG country and we need more morgan owners

best wishes

From my own experience build quality isn't great - it's never going to be up to Toyota standards on a hand built car.

But there is so much expertise out in the ether such that any problem can be resolved, and again from my own experience, once fixed they stay fixed. So if you do get any issues, don't despair, get it fixed and never, ever accept "they all do that sir". Very soon you will have a fully sorted Mog and any issues that you may have had will simply be a memory as you enjoy the wonderful car and the even better community.

Perfect advice from all the above the most poignant being the last sentence from the last post above this one (Brian V)

Hope it helps

Ditto. The thing to do is to enjoy it.

Keep grinning

Actually it is important to remember that they are very simple cars - most work on them can be done by any competent mechanic or indeed by yourself if you have a reasonable level of DIY skill (much more common in Antipodeans than Brits in my experience!). The only computer diagnostics are accessed via a standard Ford OBDII port, any garage can do this, it's nothing like the complexity of a modern BMW such as your other car. For some of the other things that need "adjustment" like body fittings, trim, etc they are very much in the classic car tradition and any classic car specialist would feel right at home. Also the matierals used are pretty much corrosion-free (though perhaps you should watch out for termites?).

My only concern might be overheating in very hot conditions, and sunburn.

Nigel

have your dealer sorted out all the common known "troubles"

in the south of France,
there is a non-official dealer who only let you pick up
your new morgan after he works on it for 2days
he asks arround 700euro for delivery-works