Two Plus 8 drivers review the new Morgan V6 Roadster

September, 2004 

Lorne Goldman,  of http://www.emog.com/, the internet newsgroup for Morgan owners across the world, arranged a  review of the new Roadster with the Factory  for publication in GoMoG 's Morgan Wire. A day in September was found when the Factory demonstrator was free for Chris Acklam and Paul Burry to have a test drive and report back just how it compared to the Plus 8.

Chris drives and races a Class B Morgan Plus 8. This is his third Morgan and is a 1986 car with a 255bhp 3.9 litre engine from John Eales; it has a roll bar, a Borg Warner T5 gearbox, Koni shocks, a panhard rod and 16” alloy wheels  with Yokohama A032R tyres. Otherwise it’s on the original chassis and has covered 55,000 miles in his 10 years of ownership. The car is set up and maintained by Brands Hatch Morgans and has raced in the MMC Challenge race series, among others, for the last 10 years. 

Paul’s first taste of Morgan ownership was a 4/4 4 seater in 1992. Having rebuilt the crossflow engine to fast road spec. He then discovered the sport of Sprinting and Hillclimbing. The search for power took hold and in 1994 the car was traded in for a +8. This is his current 1981 car which has undergone considerable change in his possession, from an absolutely standard 3.5 carb car on lever arm shock absorbers into a well sorted 3.9 fuel injected car. Paul and his wife Liz sprinted and hillclimbed the car and in 1999 Paul started competing in the MMC Challenge race series. In the early ownership days the car was covering 10-12,000 miles a year. It now has a John Eales 225 bhp 3.9 litre engine and is similarly set up to Chris’ car except that running in Class C it must run standard brakes (drums at rear) and standard wheels which are shod with 55 profile Yokohama 032R tyres. Paul does a lot of his own routine maintenance but relies on Brian Gateson at Techniques for the difficult bits. Liz also has a 1985 Fiat 2 litre engined +4, a lovely little car which has gradually been sorted over the years and which is in regular use.


“It should have been a great day. It had everything going for it – a warm sunny day, a drive to the Morgan factory in Chris’ Plus 8 and then a test drive in the factory’s new V6 Roadster.”
The day started well on the drive to the Works. Just a minor blip when Chris hit the rush-hour traffic on the M25, which resulted in 25 minutes of the frustrating motorway concertina effect. However the Plus 8 copes well with this now and the temperature was kept in check by the large fan (installed two or three years ago now). He eventually picked up Paul, standing at the side of the road in full Morgan travelling gear of anorak, fleece, etc. – something he was to regret later when the day warmed up quickly. 

On to the M4,  up the dual carriageway past Swindon, Cirencester and onto the M5, M50 and then through the winding lanes south of the Malvern hills and finally turning in to Pickersleigh Road and the line of unpretenious homes leading to the Morgan factory. 

Off to Reception, only to find that it has moved from the front of house position round to a smart new building where the maintenance shop used to be. Full of merchandise on display, the room was teeming with coachloads of Americans and Scandinavians – a stop at the MMC is definitely part of the tourist trail now. 

Mark Ledington welcomed us and dashed off to find the Roadster demonstrator, which had very clearly seen some heavy use in the previous days. Filling it up with petrol, he handed us the keys and left us to enjoy ourselves. 

First impressions
The car (VX04 JUE) has light grey metallic paint and maroon leather interior, hood and side screens. It also came with the optional 7x16 polished stainless wire wheels, which were introduced on the 35th Anniversary +8’s, but are considered by some to offer an inferior ride to the traditional alloys (also available in 15")  . The wheels were shod in Yokohama A539s. 

In terms of appearance the car is very similar to a +8, which is not surprising as the chassis is basically +8, as are the rear wings. The front wings are new, as the crosshead used is a narrower 4/4 unit designed to give a crisper steering turn in, and as a consequence the headlamps are moved wider out on the wings as on the 4/4. 

The bonnet is similar to the +8 but with the side louvres turned inwards to assist with engine cooling and now the engine air intake is under the left hand louvres.

The car has the latest overriders rather than bumpers and a permanently in place quick-fit Factory hood as standard. This also has the facility of a lift up rear section for shopping/stowage activated by a handle on the side panel behind the driver. Having struggled over the years when the torrent becomes too much, this feature has got to be a very positive move forwards. 
 
Although +8 based, the chassis has been modified around the rear spring hangers in order to meet the new European side impact safety standards and the doors also contain side impact bars as previously fitted on the North American (NAS spec) cars only. This does mean that there is no room for the traditional door storage pockets although an elasticated door pocket is available as an optional extra (not fitted on the demonstrator). We felt that they could also have attached some door pulls as, with the side screens in place and a flat door, there is not a lot to get hold of to close the door.

Driving the car
There are 2 types of seats available, the fixed back bucket or a new reclining seat - the demonstrator was fitted with the latter. We instantly noticed the seats felt hard and rather overpadded making us feel we were sitting very high in the car. The backrest gave plenty of lateral support but we found that they became uncomfortable quite quickly. In discussion later with those at the Factory, we learned that Morgan had put a new foam in these seats and had accepted the manufacturer’s claims as to the degree of settling that should be experienced. Sadly, this proved not to be the case and the Factory advised us that it is their intention in the future to pump in more air so the foam becomes more compliant and comfortable. 

The engine is clearly a gem, starting up, pulling away and idling cleanly. We did feel a little softness or lag on the throttle take up but this may just have been getting used to the feel of the car. 

The clutch was rather more industrial with a sharp action that made it difficult to pull away or change gears smoothly until you got used to it. 

The engine just keeps on revving and coupled with a smooth gearbox with well spaced ratios and Morgan-designed remote gear shift made for very rapid progress. The interesting point is that the engine will pull cleanly in any gear from 1000 revs and probably less, so, although the torque figures are lower than the +8, the difference on the road is far less apparent than expected. From this point it revs freely right through the range. You can take it up to 4000 revs as a rapid but civilized mode of transport but take it beyond this and the car really takes off. This was very impressive and certainly this would be a safe car for overtaking. We tested out some of the intermediate acceleration figures ourselves with a hand-held stopwatch with the following results: 

30-50mph: 
3rd 3.55secs 
4th 4.66 secs 

50-70mph 
3rd 3.28 secs 
4th 4.44 secs 
5th 5.47 secs 

The brakes were firm and progressive, pulling up straight and giving confidence. 

Despite the very hot day, and some time spent in queues behind tractors and the citizens of Ledbury who seem to travel at no more than 30 mph, there was no suggestion of overheating or of heat soak into the passenger compartment. And when riding as a passenger we felt that there seemed to be less wind noise and back draught than in the older Plus 8s – possibly because the windscreen is raked more (introduced on LM62 cars) or because the new car has side screens that come back further to the rear. For whatever reason though, it made for a quieter and more pleasant ride and would be nice for touring. 

But, and it was a big BUT, all was not good. The engine, gearbox and brakes were doing the right thing but we were struggling with the basic feel of the car. Maybe the car had succumbed to repeated journalistic bashing or constant Factory development pressure but the handling was clearly not right. 

Over the smallest irregularities in the road, and even cats’ eyes, the steering wheel would snatch in your hands and scuttle shake set in. There seemed to be little compliance in the suspension and progress over bumps was uncomfortable. If you lifted off the throttle in a corner the car had a tendency to lurch into a tighter line. It felt as though the tyres were all at 50 psi, which they were not. 

The ride was so bad that it was clear something was fundamentally wrong with that particular car and it would have been a great shame had a journalist been given it in that state. Having said that, for all intents and purposes WE were the unlucky journalists for that day as the Factory supplied this car for this review. 

To add to our concern, upon our return to the Factory, we learned that the car not been been tried before it was given to us and there was sad surprise at our reaction. Yet others there, who had  tried the car recently, shared our view that something serious was amiss. 

It seems so odd that a car should be offered for a public analysis if it hasn’t been assessed as a perfect example of the type. 

Conclusion
So our conclusion ? Well, it had been a long day getting to and from the factory and we were rather jaded by the end of it, both by the travelling and because we felt that we couldn’t fairly assess the model based on the Factory demonstrator we were given. We both liked the engine and gearbox, the weight distribution and the detailing of the car but strongly disliked the suspension, clutch and seats. 

How does it compare against the Plus 8? Well, that’s a difficult one. First, which Plus 8 as they all had different characteristics. Taken generally the Roadster engine and gearbox compare very favourably to the V8 and the Rover gearbox. The creature comforts are better and the finish is good but it’s no longer a cheap sports car. When the Plus 8 began its reign in 1968 it cost £1155 - now the Roadster is £35,000 in basic form and is pitched against the Porsche Boxster S with other sports car coming in at half its price. 

For the Morgan aficionado it stacks up well and the performance is good, both for touring and ‘for sporty drive’ (as my Yokohamas say on the rims). But the suspension must be sorted and the seats need to be improved if customers are going to be happy with this car straight out of the box. Of course, it is a tradition for Morgan owners to customize their cars, so we can expect a huge discussion about the benefits of different exhausts, ECUs, tyres, etc, but it should be possible for the basic car to be sufficiently good for the owner not to feel he has to spend more to make it into the car of his (or her) dreams. 


A comparison – Paul on Chris' Plus 8
I was fortunate to be able to drive Chris’ car for a good stretch of the return journey. Although it is used for racing, the suspension is not too stiff and gives an unexpectedly compliant ride on the road, in many respects better than the Roadster that we had just tried. As you might expect, in any gear the power just surges in when you want it accompanied by that wonderful V8 growl from the exhausts. With roll bars in place the chassis is a little stiffer and a well set up front suspension gives that comforting firm self centering action to the steering with the car going just where you point it. It is interesting that both the Morgans I would normally drive, my Class ‘C’ race car and my wife’s +4 have been set up to give a similar more weighted driving feel to them, which is probably why I found the Roadster steering a little too light at times. (That’s always the danger, having driven Chris’ car I now want to move up the race car from Class ‘C’ to Class ‘B’ ! )

Further driving impressions – Paul Burry tries the Richard Thorne Classic Cars demonstrator.
As highlighted in the main body of the report, we had read what we could about the characteristics of the new Roadster before our test (‘balance and poise’) and were therefore surprised at the over lively front end and unpleasant feel of the Factory demonstrator. We could not believe that this represented the true nature of a car in which Morgan are placing their future.

I was fortunate therefore to speak with Richard Thorne and when I recounted our experience, he was very surprised at my comments and eager that I should try his demonstrator for comparison.

Richard’s car, an attractive Jaguar gunmetal grey with black upholstery and hood, differs from the factory car as it has the standard (+8) alloy wheels in place of the polished wires. Otherwise it is the same, including a sports exhaust and a wood rim steering wheel (again, a bit thin for my sweaty palms and I hadn’t got my string back gloves with me !)

Driving this car gave me a far better idea of the car’s potential. I still felt that I was sitting ‘on’ rather than ‘in’ the car but, as previously stated, we were advised that this is being remedied. This car also lacked the elasticated door pockets and had no door pull as such. The big plus of the model, the engine and drive train were as good as I remembered and the clutch although still heavy, was less fierce than the factory car.

It was the driving characteristics that were considerably improved. Gone was the steering wheel snatching scuttle shake of the factory machine. You still have the characteristic Morgan road feedback through the sliding pillar front suspension but the steering was light and precise and the turn in and balance streets ahead of any other standard traditional Morgan I have driven. It was self evident that there was some basic front end problem (and perhpas back as well) on the Works car but I believe that this was also amplified by the new wire wheels which are not only heavier than the alloys giving more ‘sprung’ weight but also have different inset and offset than previous wires which in my opinion gave the front end that over tyred feeling which tended to load up the steering on tight bends. At a saving of £2000 I would personally stick with the alloys.

Although still a very firm ride there seemed to be a little more rear compliance in the Thorne car, although still at its best on smoother roads it could at least cope with cats eyes and the odd misaligned drain cover without major drama. At the Works, it had been mentioned to us that the production cars have nylon suspension bushes whereas some of the early development cars used the old bronze type and this may well account for it (although one would have to ask, why have a Factory demonstrator with old technology ?)

Perhaps with the racer in me coming out, I still felt that I was getting a little more feedback through my hands rather than the ‘seat of my pants’. I’m sure that this is a characteristic of a modern Morgan with light rack and pinion steering set up to drive comfortably on the road (and to be fair I have not driven a new +8 for some time so have no direct comparison.) I personally prefer a slightly heavier self centering steering which is relaxed at high speed but probably requires a bit more effort in a corner. With this in mind it will be very interesting to see what the Lightweight race version feels like. With the inherent weight distribution and balance of this car being so good not to mention the superb engine and gearbox, it seems to be an ideal platform to develop.

I enjoyed driving this machine a lot more than the Factory car and felt that I had a chance of sensing the real potential. I have to despair that we were encouraged to drive a car in Malvern that didn’t do justice to the marque.

A big thank you to Richard Thorne Classic Cars for giving me and the Roadster a second chance.

N.B. After the posting of this Review, we were contacted by Mr. Mark Aston, a director of the Morgan Motor Company. Apparently they had found that the kingpin assembly (pin and retaining bolt) and one of the wheels on their demo Roadster were bent. It is thought that one of the drivers who had had the cars in the days before us had hit something with it or gone over a kerb at some speed.