Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 3W as Daily Driver: New owners' opinions, please!

Always get a kick out of asking a question on this site and immediately getting bashed for asking.

How long does a car have to be out before it can experience a problem? Some folks seem to think they have to have 1000 miles before they are permitted to experience a problem.

We have already heard one response that the bevel box is extremely noisy. We have been told it will quiet down after 1000 miles, but no one we know of has driven enough miles to be sure of that. That is a concern to me.

My question is has anyone else heard of any other problems with the car? I would like to know from owners if they have experienced problems, if so what are they, and have they been resolved.

If this is an open forum there should be the freedom to discuss this. Instead of being jumped for asking.

In regard to the Malvern Roadster, when I asked about that, there was swift denial and bashing for bringing that up. Later it was confirmed that such a project was underway between the factory and a group in the Southern US.

I mentioned a couple of issues I had heard, and two of them have been confirmed in this thread, unpleasantly noisy bevel box, observed by someone who had just driven one at the factory, and Mike Duncans car back at the works for charging problems. Facts

I wondered how long it would take you to come out with the name calling, so predictable.

Lance, Im not sure why you feel like people are getting bashed for asking questions as I find this forum to be extremely docile compared to almost any other forum that I have been on. I feel like people are just doing their best to answer the question at hand (both owners and non owners alike) with the limited amount of road time that these cars have seen.

Stevens initial question was to ask owners what their thoughts on the longterm reliability of this vehicle and as many have stated on this forum already, no car has gone far enough to make a judgement call like this.

Chances are that we wont know for 5 years or so exactly how reliable this vehicle becomes over time. This is the problem about being an early adopter of anything. The product could come out and be amazing and reliable or it could come out and flop in your face in half a year.

If ultimately your worry is about reliability and are unwilling to purchase until reliability has been proven, sit back for a couple of years and watch the forum and see what sort of issues come up. As nothing negative has hit this forum from recent owners, I would presume that "so far, so good".

One thing that is a tad of a worry, and one I recognise from Apple forums(yeah, I used to be a Mac user), is the "dermot happens, deal with it", and "yeah, it may have faults, but it's a Mac, work around it". Needless to say, I grew tired of the constant workarounds and shortcomings, and I really don't like apologetics. If there's a problem, there's a problem. Water in the lights? Sure I can fix it, and if it's a vintage car, no problem. On a new car? Rust on key parts within six months? No, neither of those are good enough.

Before anyone says anything, no, I have not heard of water in the lights of the 3W, nor have I heard of rust problems on (customer) 3Ws.

However, problems with chargers/alternators, a whine we don't know whether or not will actually disappear, and so forth, is real life problems, even if the more fanatic amongst us will downplay it, and argue that it's all down to being "hand built".

But really, poor, rusting bolts and poor installation/fitment is something I'd expect from a mass produced product and not from something that was hand built. For this reason, I'm glad I wasn't buying cars from the UK in the seventies and early eighties (luckily, I was too young to drive and never had any money, lol).

But, yeah, for some problems, it's definately worth the wait to see if the 1000 miles will make a difference (the whine), but for others, it's definately apologetics to suggest so (charger, for instance).

Just to (gently) set the record straight, my initial post, and the point of the thread, had nothing to do with reliability whatsoever. My interest was limited to whether those who had taken delivery could conceive of using the 3W as a daily driver, based on vehicle type/design/features.

Only when questioned in a follow-up post, I explained that I had cancelled my order, due to several factors, reliability being just one of them, but was still very interested and hopeful about the 3W and reinstating my order.

Hopefully, all topics and concerns are open for discussion. Let's take the high road and reset the upset-o-meter for the good of the cause. We share a common interest, after all, and can keep the fray to a minimum here, I expect.

I really hadn't posted my comment about Mike Duncan's car going back because of charging problems to support the agreement that there are a lot of reliability problems! As far as I know, it's a one off. What I had meant to say was that these things can happen and I don't find it a big issue!

I have not taken ownership of mine yet, but (as stated), being an open top vehicle gives it about the same daily convenience that a motorcycle would offer. Seeing as you are in sunny San Diego this may seem like a better daily driver vehicle for you, than say for me in cold and snowy 4 months a year Michigan.

Morgan and the guys in Malvern know how to make things that go; things that are still attractive to us consumers after 100+ years, with very little deviation from the original formula. The places they are shopping out parts and tech to are all well known and proven. Seeing as how this vehicle has come so far in such a short time frame, and with such a high interest globally, this program looks ready to succeed. I guess this was all I needed to justify my order, placed before seeing one in person.

You consider yourself "bashed" based on my comment? If that is the case, I don't view further discussion wise because it would appear you believe any form of disagreement, with your opinion, as a bashing. As a side note, I'm glad people are able to voice varied opinions on TM without either getting banned, receiving petulant emails from the site admin or any other variant of coercion in an attempt to batter everyone into following the party line.

As for your Roadster thread, it started like this:

Lance: "Any comment on the fact that Morgan is planning on bringing the roadster into the US sans engine and transmission. Engine and transmission will be installed there and the car marketed as the "Malvern Roadster" ??? Sort of like the Caterham, or some of the other kit cars."

The thread that followed had varied opinions; however, what was interesting to note was just like this thread, you immediately enter the fray with a negative subtext: "sort of like a Caterham, or some of the other kit cars."

Your opinion is as valid is the next but what I am failing to understand is why you try to act hard done by when anyone contests your point of view, especially when you voice such pointed ones yourself?

In the case of the Roadster, I said nothing had been decided and it was currently under consultation. It looks as though I was correct despite the calls of 'it is a done deal'.

Enjoy your time on TM but don't expect everyone to agree with you.

Steve,

To me the 3 wheeler will never be an everyday car. I live in blighty and yesterday it was snowing, and today we have sunshine. The car might cope but I don't think I would. Now in sunny california it might be a different story.

Now if we have the summer we've been promised I'll split my time between the 3 wheeler, my aero and the company Prius. I has a few customers who are into cars, but unfortunately more who won't appreciate my motoring quirks.

On the issue of reliability yes I've had issues with my aero but the factory sorted these out, I've had issues with lots of cars I've had owned over the years including vauxhalls, BMW's, Mercedes, VW's. Within our business we have a fleet of 25 vehicles all moved on before they are 3 years old. The worst problem we've had is with a failed steering rack on a light commercial which went catastrophically before 500 miles had been completed, writing off the vehicle.

I say this because generally people only comment on of other vehicle forums because they have experienced these problems first hand, not second hand which seems to be the constant case with Morgan. My wife will confirm the fact that I'm clear with all the car dealers that I encounter that I will be a pain in the backside if they treat me with contempt and try to fob me off with bulls**t. I've experienced this with Mercedes, VW and most notably with Audi, and I certainly won't recount that conversation on an open forum. But I will say I haven't encountered those problems with the Morgan dealers I have dealt with and certainly not the factory.

That's why I'm happy to be an early adopter.

Steven, Morgans by their very nature are always going to have 'issues', even after a model has been in production for reasonable length of time, just as one problems is fixed another rears its ugly head, one man's idea of inexcusable poor build quality or suspect reliability is another man's idea of an interesting challenge to be overcome. If you are going to sit back and wait for the perfected product you will need the patience of Job- and at the very moment you judge the car is OK to buy you find the window of opportunity has closed due to life catching up with you in the form of prpblems with family/health/work/cash etc. Which is just a long winded way of saying if you want a m3w and can afford one go for it, you'll probably love it warts and all but if it's a disaster take a (hopefully small) hit, sell it and write it off to experience