NEW TECH BUT STILL A VINTAGE

THERE used to be a seven-year waiting list for a new Morgan sports car.

This gave you plenty of time to (a) try to find the money and (b) pluck up the courage to tell the other half about what you’d done.

Now the wait is less than a year so you have to be more careful, especially if you visit the Morgan factory in Malvern. It’s an amazing place, full of craftsmen bashing metal and shaping wood.

And they really are making a car to your specification, with virtually any colour possible.

This Morgan Plus Six is easy to fall in love with. It’s a completely new car.

It looks exactly how a Morgan should, but underneath its flowing lines is a new aluminium chassis twice as stiff as the Aero series undercarriage.

Don’t worry, the car still features an ash frame, lovingly carved by Morgan’s master craftsmen.

Under the long bonnet sits a BMW engine. Codenamed B58, this is the three-litre, straight-six turbocharged model used in the new BMW Z4 roadster and the Toyota Supra.

It’s the first time a turbocharged engine has been fitted in a Morgan. The power output is 335bhp, which in a vehicle that weighs only 1,075kg dry makes for very strong performance.

The Plus Six is not the sort of car you’re going to thrash around flat out, but it will do 0-62mph in 4.2sec and go to a top speed of 166mph.

However, you need to watch out because the speedometer and rev counter are in the centre of the dashboard and the former instrument is farthest away.

And there is something missing in the Plus Six that the sort of person who’d buy a Morgan might want – and that’s a clutch pedal. The car only comes with BMW’s eight-speed automatic gearbox but it works perfectly.

A sports exhaust is available fitted as an aftermarket part. Our car has one and would be too quiet without it. But the best thing about this is the way it drives. Morgans have traditionally had such a bad ride over bumps that osteopaths would post advertisements in owners’ club magazines. The Plus Six is a massive improvement in this respect. The Roadster and its old-fashioned siblings were hard to handle on rough roads and would bob about under heavy braking.

The Plus Six is fitted with modern electric power steering but it hasn’t robbed the car of a rather classic feel. That’s important because a Morgan doesn’t need to be a sharphandling sports car that can outrun a Porsche.

The appeal of a Morgan, and especially this one, is that it gives the classic experience but with modern manners and reliability.

You might recognise the column stalks from your family Peugeot, not that it matters. There’s more legroom in this longest-ever Morgan and the steering wheel adjusts for height and reach so it’s easier to get comfortable in.

In a world in which so many cars look the same, and even more have unrealistic and unusable performance, a Morgan makes more sense now than it ever did. And the Plus Six is a spectacularly good Morgan.

Sure, £89,995 is a lot of money but Morgans don’t depreciate much. They look old when they’re new so don’t age.

SEEMS a bit crackers to be talking about an event that’s happening next summer, but super early bird tickets are now on sale for the Silverstone Classic historic racing festival, taking place from July 31 to August 2. Buy before the end of the year and you’ll get an adult admission ticket for

£35 or a 3-day weekend ticket for £99 – saving

25% on both.