Early 4.30 am start heading for Malvern, roof down quite a balmy 18c at the coast, great watching the sunrise just over hour later, but the temps were dropping further south i went. the car was just cruising along taking 70/80 mph in its stride, with ease down the M6,, dealt with the rush hour congestion crawling thru traffic onto the M5 and sitting in the Experience Centre by 7.45am, having achieved 45 mpg.........I could just as easily turned the car around and headed straight back, it was such a comfortable easy and not the least bit tiring journey..

Mark had seen me drive in, so met up for a chat about the things I wanted servicing etc, I asked about the benefits of the nitron suspension. So with Mark driving my car putting it to a good road test (and he did), he was very surprised by the quality of how my car drove compared with similar aged cars, where they have had problems with suspension and handbrakes.. etc.............So to get a comparison with a nitron suspension car he arranged 2 test drives, a 26 Plus Four and of course the Supersport 400 that features in this month’s Miscellany., both a good 30 minutes blast around the local countryside.

The 26 Plus Four hadn't had the suspension fettled by the Service Department and set up exactly the way they would. The car at the rear certainly rode a little higher, skipped a few times on the dry tarmac, which surprised me with traction control fitted and wasn't that much better than my current setup without traction control down the same roads so at this time we both agreed not a priority for my car.

Now the Supersport 400, great being offered the chance to drive one, I found the interior underwhelming, but I like my polished wood, the steering wheel felt too thick, the gear lever was the magic by comparison for me......they need to make that available to all CX cars if possible, it just felt right. Having Mark with me was interesting, started the 400 up and where I was expecting a silky smooth growly potent engine, all I could hear were the injectors tapping away........not at all what I expected. I could hear every suspension movement echoed within the cabin applified by the hard top, it was mechanically quite noisy but not in a way I found pleasant, It would benefit from some cabin noise insulation. The wrong type of noises for my particular taste, entered the cabin and it seemed to lack the silky growl I was expecting, it was very raw, which might prove tiring on a longer journey. If you are looking for a very raw experience , a car with great handling properties, this is the car for you. It certainly motors, handles and brakes well, a pleasure to drive, but just a bit underwhelming compared with other straight 6 engines I've driven over the years.Whilst I wish Morgan every success with the 400, my money is staying in the bank.

Had a great morning and it turned out very unexpectedly interesting and put quite a few things about my own car into prospective, in a very positive way..