Morgan Plus Four: a great leap forward
Morgan stops resisting current millennium, puts tech to excellent use
Morgan Plus 4, Land Rover Defender – septuagenarian British icons the pair of them, both previously based on ladder chassis that turned speedos into Richter scales, and both thoroughly reinvented with aluminium chassis, independent suspension and an inflation-busting price increase (up from £48k to £62,995 for the Mog). The difference is you can barely tell the Morgan’s 97 per cent new.
Look closely and there’s more curvature in the Morgan’s vented bonnet and there’s another 20mm in the wheelbase, among other visible changes. But even parked side-by-side it’s like looking for tiny quirks to differentiate identical twins. To help, the new one’s a Plus Four, not 4.
Hidden from view is the stronger, more space-ecient CX-generation bonded aluminium chassis, first seen on the larger Plus Six last year, replacing the old steel chassis. There’s still an ash frame on top of the chassis, but there are now double wishbones all round, and the old Ford engine is swapped for a 2.0-litre BMW turbo four, which ups power to 255bhp and 295lb ft (a huge bound from 154bhp/148lb ft), is kinder to the planet and is bolted into a car that at 1013kg dry is only 80kg heavier than before.
Forget the olde worlde looks, this is new Golf GTI performance in a car hundreds of kilos lighter. The Plus Four whooshes forward with a squeeze of the perky throttle, feeling juicy in the midrange and energetic when you wring it out. Because there’s less metal and soundproofing than a 1-series (and an optional sports exhaust on our car), the mechanical chatter of this engine sings louder, with burbly bass, deep turbocharger exhalations and pops on the overrun.
You play those tunes more easily with the manual, and its snicky precision and well-spaced pedals make it a delight, but only the obvious BMW shifter detracts from the excellent eightspeed paddleshift auto (priced at £64,500). The chassis makes an even bigger bound than the powertrain, and though it can bobble at low speeds and thunk over transverse ridges, it feels so much more calm and cohesive, even when
you’re just pootling. Climbing up to the Malvern Hills above Morgan HQ, I initially crave tighter dynamics: the electric steering twists the long nose rapidly into corners, but without sucient on-centre definition to feel out grip, and the rear end seems to lag a fraction behind, as though more rear roll stiffness would’ve helped. But Morgans are still essentially touring cars, and you can work the modest limits hard. There’s no stability control but everything happens predictably, with no nasty snaps.
First verdict
Classic looks disguise comprehensive engineering makeover and dramatically improved dynamics
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The new chassis feels so much more calm and cohesive, even when you’re just pootling along