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A classic car that meets current requirements: The Morgan Plus Four - still built on an ash wood frame.
Photo: Morgan
The first impression:
from yesterday - no, from the day before yesterday!
In terms of appearance, the British have changed almost nothing in the past 90 years.
If it weren't for LEDs shining in the frogs' eyes on the fenders, the Roadster could hardly be distinguished from the previous model.
The manufacturer says:
It seems a bit strange when Morgan boss Steve Morris says: "We mustn't close ourselves to the future either." He also seems less euphoric than his colleagues at Aston Martin or McLaren.
Because tomorrow is far more risky for Morgan - no other car manufacturer is so stuck in the past as the small series manufacturer from Malvern Link, southwest of Birmingham, which does not even build a thousand cars a year.
While other brands go retro, Morgan's outward appearance has changed little in 111 years.
The cars are still built on ash wood frames, the metal sheets are cast by hand, and the shapes for them often date from the 1930s.
It feels like oldtimers, but actually new cars, built in 2021.
In the company's brick halls there is a smell of wood shavings and wood glue.
No computer or robot can be seen in production.
The customers are just as yesterday as Morgan's cars.
"For many, the fourth wheel on the car is already too modern, but we've had it since 1936," says Morris of the year in which the three-wheeler, which has been built since 1909, was given a model with a fourth wheel (hence the name plus ).
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The traditional course has its problems, however.
Registration authorities require ABS and gasoline particle filters.
New customers like the old-fashioned shape, but want something more modern in the car.
The cooperation partners from whom Morgan buys engines, transmissions or electronics also rely on progress.
And so Morris must think of tomorrow too.
"While we have changed as little as possible in the shape of the car, the platform is new, including the engines, transmission and cockpit," says Morris.
Morgan gets all of this from BMW.
This is intended to retain existing customers and avoid CO2 penalties.
We noticed that
there is suddenly a lot of high-tech in the new model.
A digital display is stuck behind the steering wheel, next to it are modern instruments and on the center tunnel there is an automatic selector lever instead of the gear knob.
The Morgan suddenly looks a bit like a BMW Z4 disguised for a classic car event.
In the gnarled original, every mile took courage and muscle.
The rather erratic car could hardly be stopped on the road, the wind whistled the driver even more wildly than today.
The new edition is a modern cruiser.
The suspension was tuned more relaxed, the gears change casually.
Also good: for the first time taller people are sitting reasonably comfortably, there is also room for a pillion passenger.
Driving in the Morgan is fun - even without the BMW engine switching to the sports program, which makes the background noise close to the limit of embarrassment.
It is enough to step a little more courageously on the pedal.
The driver sits very deep in the car and 258 hp and 400 Nm torque move a dry weight of just 1009 kilos.
Apart from an ABS, there is nothing that messes up the driver's craft.
With a tremor in the short tail, the Plus Four accelerates from 0 to 100 km / h in 4.8 seconds and flies over the side streets.
The steering is precise, the superstructure rigid, the body slim - this is how the ideal line meets even on the narrowest streets, especially as the line of sight goes unhindered over the free-standing headlights.
At full throttle, 240 km / h are possible, that's enough.
That's 50 km / h more than before, and it feels faster in a Morgan because the car is so small.
Compared with massive super sports cars, the Morgan Plus Four scores in several ways: It is rarer than most speedsters, less aggressive and therefore more personable and much cheaper.
You have to know that:
The Morgan Plus Four is hand-built in Malvern Link and is peppered with technology from the BMW Z4 and Toyota Supra.
Three dealers sell it in Germany.
The head office gives them a target price of EUR 74,600.
In contrast to what is usually the case with such exclusive cars, options and prices are limited: no matter how many crosses on the order form, a six-figure purchase price is hardly reached.
At first glance, the Plus Four looks like any other Morgan and is also built using a similar process.
But the car is a new development, say the British.
Just like the big brother Plus Six, it uses an aluminum platform on which the wooden frame is attached.
97 percent of the parts are new.
Although the car is faster and more powerful than before, the new technology pays off in terms of fuel consumption: it drops by 30 percent to seven liters.
Still quite a lot for such a lightweight, but very little for a roadster that runs like a supercar.
We will not forget that:
the moment when the sky closes.
While with the technical testator BMW Z4 you have a roof over your head at the push of a button after barely 20 seconds, in the Morgan the roof still has to be opened by hand.
Then the panes are inserted into the doors and screwed tight with a split pin.
The new Morgan is completely the same.
And when the rain runs in your collar, the old feeling of being a motorist who is fighting against temperature and technology is there again.
Icon: The mirror
