Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 Buying a 2012, should I be worried?

Hello All.
After admiring from after for many years I decided to buy a M3W. I think Ive found a great car with only 3000 miles, full history and new centra drive. However I've read a lot about the chassis issues in this year. I'm wondering how many 2012 cars are still out there on their original chassis with no issue and whether it's essential to get it changed. And finally, should I walk away and look for a later car.
M3W owners input would be greatly appreciated.

As I understand it, the 2012 chassis was a different grade of steel and either no or a straight bolt in cross member. Sometime in 2013 the chassis steel grade was changed and small triangular fillets were welded into the upper inner front corners and a straight bolt in cross brace. In both cases the cross brace was either updated by a bolt in triangular cross brace or welded in as a, I am going to call it a recall but think it was more of an advisory or part of a service, letters were sent out for this to owners. The latest chassis has the same steel grade as the later 2013 but with welded in cross brace already in place and the rectifier mount moved. I am not sure on the number of failures but Morgan so far have been pretty good at rectifying those with chassis cracks by all accounts, I am also not sure if the potential problem has gone away or just fewer found in the later cars.

I owned a 2012 M3W that had the cross brace and the fillets but the chassis still cracked. The factory did replace the chassis FOC. I would say buyer beware unless it has been owned by someone who has gone through the car doing the huge amount of upgrades /improvements that are needed to make it safe and reliable , there were so many things wrong with the early cars not just the chassis !

Have a look at the 2019 car on the for sale page, seems good value

Thanks for the reply. I wonder how many of the 2012 batch did crack. If it was only 10% then not so bad but if its over 50% than its an issue for me. If mine turns out to have not developed any cracking yet I suppose I could look at overplaying and gusseting the problem areas.

I understand that MMC are still able to replace the chassis on 2012 cars but charge a contribution of the order of £12k plus the cost of any replacement of any items damaged during removal and reinstallation.

M3WServices and Phil Bleazey have methods for repairing chassis at much lower cost if it does crack.

I believe a chassis replacement is only for the upper stress crack issue seen prior to the triangular bracing (or possibly after depending on miles or stresses before the brace was fitted ie the crack may have started before the brace fitted but not complete). The lower upright crack (which I also believe can still occur on later cars) can be dealt with by a reinforced bracket and possibly still FOC
A 2012 car (without the fillets and later grade of steel) is possibly more likely to suffer from what I have read but maybe check when in the cars history and mileage the brace was fitted and gauge from there, you never know it may already have a later chassis fitted

If you haven't already then you should read the Buyers Guide in the M3W-Owners Resource post at the top of the Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 page.

Well nobody is saying “avoid at all costs!”

The answer to the question you pose in the topic tile is probably......yes.
If you go in to the purchase with your eyes open, fully aware of the potential 'issues' and the costs involved in rectifying them, you'll be ok.
If you can get the car for a bargain price to offset the cost of any potential major work, even better......!
All Morgans require at least a bit of owner participation, M3W's, historically, have required some....intervention...!
I've had a lot of Morgans with 4 wheels, I'd love a 3 wheeler, I keep looking at them, but keep chickening out of buying one.
Perhaps if I wait another year or two there won't be any left that haven't been fully developed.....🙃

"Buying a 2012, should I be worried?"
In my opinion, yes you should. To me, the reality is that the chassis that you want is the 2014 build (and onwards) chassis that has the welded in triangulation behind the engine. As has been pointed out by others, even these chassis may crack elsewhere (and be repairable) but now that the factory will not do a free of charge chassis change it gets very expensive to do the swap yourself or even to get the more limited repairs done where feasible. My view is that the 2012 chassis if actually driven is very likely to fail.
I do have some history here having had a 2012 M3W from new and have had the 2012 chassis, the 2013 with the additional small gusset plates and perhaps a different specification of steel tube and then two 2014 style chassis, one of which was doing fine till I hit black ice last year (and the side of a small mountain) which led to me having my current 2014 style chassis though I can't really blame the chassis design for that one!. The current purchase price of a replacement chassis is kind of painful and the number of hours to do the swap is not insignificant.