Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Plus Four, Supersport & Plus Six (CX & CXV Generation Vehicles) Collected my Plus Four today

Good choice of alternative brand being a Mercedes Convertible, they are without question the best mass produced convertibles in the world. I know I've had more than my fair share. Where I do differ IMHO don't buy a manual Mercedes (other than eg a Pagoda) as Mercedes manual boxes are crap, they are designed for auto's and it suits the nature of their engines etc.

Dave, I thought to sell my Trad a few years back, as I had developed a stiff knee, I also kept it MOT`d etc, but rarely used it, ever busy on home improvement..sigh!

A fcouple of years back I took to walking briskly for a tad over 1/2 an hour most mornings, to the extent my stiff knee loosened off considerably, and my general health also improved to the extent that this year I have made more use of my Morgan than I have done for many a year...I have no intention of swapping it for any digitally dependant Morgan.. Though having typed that and feeling most fortunate to be able to do so.

I think Morgan have done well to keep pace with the times, all be it a few steps behind as they have ever been, and thus serving their ageing followers likely alteration in physical conditions, by incorporating a limited degree of modern day expectations to also cover that which the younger set might think may well be enough to balance their personal ideals in choosing an interesting machine with vintage appearance... Worked for me in the mid 90`s so hope it works for others in the mid 2020`s

John, as I have typed previously my good lady`s then 4 year old SLK ever suffered water ingress causing interior misting in colder weather, Mercedes fitted new rubbers to seal the leaking folding roof and after two attempts and failing to sort it out, it was traded in for new Evoque which my good lady enjoyed greatly until after circa 6 years it started having sensor issues all be it with perhaps only 30k on the clock when it was then traded for a Tesla...

As ever, each to their own..(-:

If MMC had chosen to continue a limited production of Trads, I must admit that I may have been tempted as a last chance saloon buy, but not the GDI, a reworked Duratec or some engine favoured by Caterham. So a simple 4 cylinder agile Trad with around 200bhp. Such a shame that this was never floated, and I suppose it's not realistic financially.

Simply because watching your own car being assembled is a money can't buy one off experience.

Luddite,

I didn't say Mercedes were perfect cars, especially those with folding metal roofs which place greater reliance on the rubber seals to a much greater extent than their mohair folding hoods, which are just a single piece of material across the entire roof, rather than a series of folding separate roof sections.

I can understand the simplicity of non analogue cars seems very desirable, But unfortunately Morgan like other manufacturers have to meet increasingly stricter and more demanding safety and emission standards that old fashioned points carburetor's and non catalyst exhaust would most likely not meet in today's world. I expect in the fullness of time, once 2030 and ICE new cars sales are completely banned in the UK, its only a matter of time before many older cars won't be able to enter cities. congested areas etc.or financial penalised for doing so......so the clock is definitely ticking for the demise of many ICE cars..

My first Morgan was a 4/4 CVH carbs, points and non catalyst exhaust great simplicity, but also quite polluting in today's world Whilst I thought it was my best trad for other reasons eg lighter controls, steering and generous ground clearance, I wouldn't run one these days, the world and I have moved on. Not always for the better but the world has moved on. I remember my TR7's which were quite advanced for their day required a service every 3 months with the resultant servicing costs, now cars have low service requirements and lower resultant costs in comparison. Same for MPG I was lucky to get 22 to 24 mpg out of the TR7,, whereas now cars are achieving double even treble that kind of MPG, all helping reduce demand for fuel and producing lower car emissions especially in conurbations to make our towns and cities more pleasant places to live.

Upto recently our motorways were fully illuminated at night, making headlights almost superfluous, that's not the case today, most of our motorways are now unlit, requiring excellent headlights. Something a trad doesn't have but a CX does.. The world has moved on, Morgan wouldn't exist today if it didn't modernise it's cars and tried to still produce my non analogue 4/4 CVH car..

For me, the whole point of owning a Morgan (trad) is the analogue, retro, vintage, rattley, shaking, leaky, creaky, imperfect, impractical, quirky....FUN..... nature of the car.🥳
There are loads of cars that are waaaaaay better in every way than a Morgan, depending on your requirements and your definition of 'better'...

There is plenty of choice in the pre owned world for anyone to find their ideal Morgan at the moment, I don't really see that changing anytime soon either.....

I was fortune, like Dave to watch my car being built....... that's why I had to buy it back when I got the opportunity.....👴🏻🥳😆

🇬🇧🇬🇧

Thank goodness variety is the spice of life...........for me, the sharing of the journey is more important than the means of conveyance.

Whilst Sue enjoyed being a passenger in the trads, she couldn't drive our later trads, but can the CX and for me that's all part of the journey. and makes it more inclusive.and more special..

That was the arp4

Beautiful sunny but bitterly cold day, jumped in the Morgan and went a couple of miles to the lake to meet up with friends for our usual Thursday morning walk. As the Morgan is now my daily driver, it was my first time to assess how well it would meet the challenge.

Well, the highly polished dash and wooden steering wheel option makes the car feel very sumptuous and welcoming every time I get in. The auto is a breeze to drive, the power steering has a nicely weighted feel and with the better visibility out of the cabin ( no hood flaps restricting visibility) a boon at junctions etc.

The heater takes its time to warm up, but hopefully that will change when Morgan do the ECU firmware update on the 2nd during the service. Being on my own this morning, I don't usually carry a phone so no music, not too unusual as in the trad unless Sue left the remote control somewhere close, I had no music anyway. But need to sort something out. Is there any blue tooth device I can leave in the car you can link to the stereo setup, so I can play recorded music on some form of storage medium.without a phone?

Whilst I had other things to do today, on the way back home I found reasons to take detours and go down poorly surfaced roads etc to try the suspension compliance out, and I was pleasantly surprised, it was more compliant and less harsh than Sue's SLK AMG setup which can be quite harsh on broken surfaces. You are still aware of the surface, but there's no back breaking jarring I used to get in the trads.

So before I knew it a couple of hours flew by and I enjoyed the drive out..

Dave, wasn't the 2011/12 Plus 4 Super Sport just such a car.........the best handling of my trads was my 2012 Plus 4 sport, no spare wheel or carrier, the rear deck was one piece,with wider tyres, all of which I believe help produce a nicely balanced car.

Brilliant 😎🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🙏❤️