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Car and Driver
21-05-2025
- Automotive
- Car and Driver
Driven: Morgan Supersport Is a Bold Leap Forward
Morgan is a company where change is gradual. In the brand's 116-year history, its cars have enjoyed an impressively consistent look and feel. Where many of its competitors ballooned into mass-production automakers, Morgan remained a small outfit producing hand-finished sports cars. Its long-running Plus Four still looks the same as it did in the 1960s, and its frames are still constructed from ash wood, in the same way they have been for decades. The brand's new flagship Supersport changes things though. A revised update on classic Morgan design combines with an all-new chassis, a trusty BMW-sourced turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six, and subtly integrated technology. In Morgan terms, it is a complete overhaul of the brand's vision, dragging it kicking and screaming into the 21st century. View Exterior Photos Morgan As the replacement for Morgan's previous flagship, the Plus Six, the Supersport's bloodline is a storied one. The Plus Six was in production from 2019 to this year, and itself was the successor to the Plus 8. One of Morgan's longest running and most lauded models, the Plus 8 was a V-8-powered muscle sports car, produced initially from 1968 to 2004 and then again from 2012 to 2018. The Plus 8 originally made use of a Land Rover 3.5-liter V-8 and, upon the car's second run, switched to the BMW 4.8-liter V-8 in 2012. That British-German partnership continues to this day. The Supersport gets motivation from BMW's silky inline-six. It's the same engine the Plus Six used, and it's a variation of inline-six utilized in BMW's own Z4 M40i, as well as the Toyota Supra and Ineos Grenadier. It's good for 335 horsepower, helping propel the Supersport to 62 mph in a claimed 3.9 seconds. The B58 bolts to the near-ubiquitous ZF eight-speed automatic transmission, which can glide efficiently through the gears all the way up to 166 mph. It is not stats or headline figures that Morgan trades off, though; the goal here is fun and driver engagement. View Exterior Photos Morgan It's a common misconception that Morgan uses wood in its chassis. Wood does still play a part in the Supersport's underpinnings, as the frame is made from ash wood that's hand-planed in Morgan's own factory. But the Supersport's CXV bonded aluminum chassis is its most modern yet. It's said to weigh 225 pounds, including the front and rear subframes; Morgan reckons the chassis increases overall torsional rigidity by 10 percent, which is boosted a further 10 percent when the optional hardtop is installed. There's also a revised steering setup. The steering ratio is sped up by 13 percent, which should make smaller inputs more pronounced. The car's most impressive figure, though, is its overall weight. Morgan claims the Supersport comes in 2579 pounds. Compare this with a Porsche 718 Spyder RS at 3167 pounds, and you'll understand part of the reason why the Supersport is so attractive. View Interior Photos Morgan The Supersport's style is another major reason why it's such a compelling car. It's a stunning piece of design, perfectly nodding to Morgan's past with its long, sweeping fenders and dramatic grille and circular headlights. But it modernizes the whole package with a cleaner flair that is at once retro and contemporary. The traditional hood louvers have been deleted, with a vent instead incorporated into the nose. The fenders have new, flatter angles to them, while the signature rear end tapers elegantly, concealing a rear trunk (the Supersport is the first new Morgan to have one in over a decade). Open it and you'll see a section of the frame's lacquered ash. A small detail we love is the company's in-house "HFS" font used for the raised Morgan lettering, which tapers down with the slope of the rear end. The Supersport's interior is equally considered, with cleverly integrated tech. It is the first Morgan to feature hands-free calling, while the center console has a handy storage tray for a phone, which can be inductively charged while you use it for navigation. There is no large touchscreen display here; it is still a Morgan, after all. Instead, you get analog dials and a small digital speedometer, which is easy to read and takes nothing away from the driving experience. View Exterior Photos Morgan While the overall look is more contemporary, the car is still coachbuilt. Many of the panels, including the hood and fenders, are hand-beaten to shape by skilled workers in Morgan's factory, while the ash wood frame is carved, planed, and assembled under the same roof. The center console can be optioned with a number of finishes from ash to walnut and birch wood, all made in-house. The only downside with the interior is the BMW gear selector and paddle shifters. They feel cheap and look out of place in the otherwise bespoke-feeling cockpit, but they're necessary to operate the BMW powertrain. This doesn't matter when you're on the move. Morgan spent a lot of money ensuring this is the most dynamically capable car it has ever produced, and it doesn't disappoint. You quickly adjust to the unorthodox driving position, which has you sitting back behind the long hood looking out over those dramatic fenders and through the flat, short windshield. Around town, it is comfortable and easy to drive. Keep the transmission in automatic mode and it's happy in traffic—while the transmission can jump around between gears when stopping and starting, it does the job well. Our example is fitted with optional Nitron 24-position manually adjustable dampers. Set to 15 clicks off the harshest setting, the Nitrons are firm but absorb the U.K.'s notoriously pothole-ridden streets well. View Exterior Photos Morgan Get up to speed on the back roads and the Supersport comes alive. The steering is quick with an intuitive, natural feel that is a joy when navigating long bends and tighter hairpins alike. The braking is involving, requiring more pressure than many synthetic-feeling sports cars. Acceleration out of corners is perhaps the most surprising part of the Supersport. It is a seriously quick car, with plenty of torque and a great sound from Munich's inline-six. You'll dispose of second and third gears quickly, with Sport mode providing impressive throttle response and quicker shifts. It isn't as potent a Porsche 911, but it can be pushed nearer to its limit on the street. This, of course, makes it more fun. The Supersport still demands plenty from the driver, involving you in the process and exposing you to the elements while you're at it. It is a simpler machine than many of its contemporaries, boasting just enough modern tech and practicality to make it usable. But like Morgans before it, it is more exciting and dramatic than the average machine, feeling special from the moment you open the tiny doors. In that sense, the Supersport hasn't exactly rewritten Morgan's playbook. Rather, it has subtly shifted the goalposts, bringing things forward without losing its time-honored identity in the process. Because of this, it might be the best British sports car on sale today. View Exterior Photos Morgan Specifications Specifications 2025 Morgan Supersport Vehicle Type: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 2-passenger, 2-door convertible PRICE (C/D EST) Base: $113,000 ENGINE turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 24-valve inline-6, aluminum block and head, direct fuel injection Displacement: 183 in3, 2998 cm3 Power: 335 hp @ 6500 rpm Torque: 369 lb-ft @ 1250 rpm TRANSMISSION 8-speed automatic DIMENSIONS Wheelbase: 99.2 in Length: 161.8 in Width: 71.1 in Height: 50.8 in Curb Weight (C/D est): 2750 lb PERFORMANCE (C/D EST) 60 mph: 3.5 sec 100 mph: 9.0 sec 1/4-Mile: 12.0 sec Top Speed: 166 mph
Telegraph
18-05-2025
- Automotive
- Telegraph
Morgan Supersport review: the quintessential British sports car brought bang up to date
Resembling a traditional Morgan which has driven through a rhododendron bush and had every single piece of exterior trim torn off, the new Supersport replaces the Plus Six and, at the same time, a step into the big time for the firm nestled into the eastern side of the Malvern Hills. We've seen six-figure Morgans before, but not production models and that's exactly what this £102,000 two-seater is. The seminal Porsche 911 has been mentioned as a rival, a conceit which Toby Blythe, Morgan's marketing supremo, quickly disabuses. 'We have quite a lot of customers who have owned, or would like to own, a Porsche 911,' he says. 'The word competition is a bit difficult when it comes to Morgan, but perhaps it's the price point which is most important.' Insiders say, however, that the seminal 911 was very much a benchmark in the development of this car, which is going to bring its own set of issues… I look around the interior and wonder precisely how many Porsche owners would put up with clattery windscreen wipers, creaking trim or sliding Plexiglass side windows so stiff they hurt your fingers to open. Later, a draught from a door seal rapidly numbs my thigh. Door and bonnet catches, while far better than the stubby levers of old, have to be pushed with the force of an anteater ramming its snout into an ant's nest, the doors open to reveal an alarming amount of loose wiring and the driving position… More of that later. The wood The Supersport started as an update of the Plus Six, but became so profoundly different that it had to be crash-tested as a new car. The aluminium-bonded platform is now called CXV Generation. The new car's name, incidentally, comes from a Morgan three-wheeler launched in 1927. And the traditional wood, I hear you cry? Well yes, there's still wood, sustainably-sourced ash which provides the framing for the hand-shaped aluminium bodywork which, being 60 per cent recycled, makes this Morgan a sustainable car. It weighs only 1,175kg with as near a 50/50 per cent weight distribution as makes no difference. The drivetrain The B58 BMW engine continues an association first begun in 2000 with the Aero 8. It's a single twin-scroll turbocharged, all-aluminium, overhead-camshaft straight-six-cylinder unit with a racing-type closed-deck construction, a steel crankshaft and forged con-rods. Electronic fuel injection is direct into the cylinders and the valve timing and lift are electronically adjustable. With low-down torque more notable than its outright power, such an engine in this lightweight car provides superlative performance without stressing every rivet. The top speed is 166mph, 0-62mph arrives in 3.9sec and the WLTP fuel consumption is 37mpg, although an above-40mpg cruise is easily attainable. It's mated to an eight-speed torque-converter automatic gearbox from specialist ZF driving the rear wheels. A mechanical limited-slip differential is a £2,340 option. Perhaps it's the absence of items such as conventional bumpers and bonnet louvres, but the Supersport looks larger than it is. It's 4,110mm long, 1,805mm wide, 1,290mm high and has a 2,520mm wheelbase. The wheels are 18-inch items with an option of going up to 19 inches and the tyres are the latest Michelin Pilot Sport items. Inside job Inside it's snug and narrow. The heated seats, while beautifully upholstered and comfortable, which is a Morgan strength, are mounted too high, partly because of sight lines for the driver required to meet European Type Approval regulations. Potential owners should consider approaching a good upholsterer to remove some of the stuffing. The facia is of-the-moment retro, but quite lovely, with a return to traditional-looking instruments with radial graphics. And what superficially seems a very simple dash has hidden depths, with double-function buttons for the heater and a Bluetooth connection and hands-free wireless charging mounting for your telephone so you can use your own sat nav and select your music playlists through the Sennheiser stereo upgrade at a mere £3,600. There's traction control in several stages and various sports modes for the engine and gearbox. All the same, this is far from the kind of electronics-with-everything luxury typified by Porsche, BMW, Audi or Mercedes. You are contingent with most of the contents of the interior (including your passenger), you still have to adjust the door mirrors by hand and I had to change into my narrowest size 12 shoes in order to operate the confined pedals. There's even a glovebox, although I doubt you'd find a pair of gloves other than those belonging to Audrey Hepburn small enough to fit, along with a couple of phone-charging USB sockets. There are no door bins, but there's large amount of space behind the two seats even if it's a pain to access. Oh, and a wood-trimmed opening to the boot, which will accept the side screens should you decide to remove them, which is a vastly easier process than on previous Morgans. You can order the car with either a soft top or hard top, or opt for both. The hard top can be removed although it requires expertise, spanners and about 10 minutes. The soft-top is quick but fiddly to fold, then sits on the rear scuttle like a pram hood. The hard-top costs £4,194 and if you opt for both it's another £6,200. When Mazda offered a removable hard-top on the MX-5 you could buy a special wheeled frame so it could be safely stored – Morgan does no such thing… On the road The engine starts with a refreshing growl, but there's a sort of upper-register clicking which could be the fuel injectors or could be the camshaft mechanism. The gearbox also feels a bit abrupt and raw at low speeds, but the sense of occasion is palpable. You stare down the long bonnet with the headlamp pods and nostrils framing the view. The steering wheel (which adjusts for height) feels lovely and the instruments smoothly ascend their registers. Malvern inhabitants give a thumbs up, they know exactly what this car is and how important it is for Morgan's future. Take it as read that this is an improvement on the previous Plus Six and night-and-day compared with the old Plus Eight but the ride, while softer, is also borderline harsh and busy at low speeds. There's also an ominous clank at the rear which was later diagnosed as a misaligned optional Nitron damper mount that comes with the £3,000 handling pack. Potholes shudder through the chassis, but you quickly learn to weave your way through town. The steering is smooth but there's a lot of tyre on the rims and you don't get much in the way of feedback. It all starts to make sense when you accelerate on quiet rural roads. That engine absolutely galvanises this 1.17-tonne car and you barely need to extend it out of its middle range to find yourself hurtling down the road. Boy is it fast, but there's no drama and the controls are confidence-inspiring. As corners appear, you instinctively know how much to turn, brake and accelerate, the Supersport simply follows instructions with a modicum of information to the wheel rim. This ease of driving simply didn't happen with the old separate-chassis cars, which were either in the air or crashing over bumps. It's not perfect, there is a bit of chassis movement and the steering just off the dead centre sometimes isn't very informative. The ZF gearbox seeks to change up far too easily and refuses to change down until you've floored the accelerator pedal and are at risk of cremating the tyres, although the small fixed-position steering column paddles offer manual control. But for the most part the dynamics work beautifully. And while you have to salute Morgan's chassis calibration team, you can't help thinking that much of this is due to a relative lack of weight. With up to half a tonne less than some rivals, the entire chassis and drivetrain can shine; gears change with an easy nonchalance, the steering has a more linear progression, the body can roll a little into turns and the brakes are not only powerful, but have a good feel and a progressive action. The Telegraph verdict I've got to admit this is the best Morgan I've ever driven and that's from a long list of lovely although highly idiosyncratic cars. I love Morgans, but I'm in a small class of drivers. If you are used to these extraordinarily British creations, the Supersport is a revelation. To have come up with something so fast and capable, so enjoyable and useable, well, hats off. Yet I can't help thinking that the ideal Morgan combination of size, appearance and engine power is probably the current Plus Four, which costs from only £67,250. But the Supersport has another job to do and there's the rub. For those who haven't driven a Morgan before, I can imagine a showroom full of slack-jawed City banker types as the salesman demonstrates the manual hood and the acrylic side windows… Has Morgan done enough to allow prospective to forgive and forget previous foibles? Frankly I haven't a clue, but I'm very glad it has made such a sterling attempt. The facts On test: Morgan Supersport Body style: two-door convertible sports car On sale: now How much? from £102,000 OTR, £126,211 as tested How fast? top speed 166mph, 0-62mph in 3.9sec How economical? 36.8mpg (WLTP Combined) Engine and gearbox: BMW B58 3.0-litre straight-six-cylinder turbocharged petrol, eight-speed automatic gearbox, rear-wheel drive Maximum power/torque: 335bhp @ 6,500rpm/369lb ft @ 1,250rpm CO2 emissions: 175g/km VED: £2,190 first year, £620 next five years, then £195 Warranty: three years/36,000 miles extendable to four years and 48,000 miles The rivals Aston Martin Vantage Roadster, from £175,000 Fast? You've got it. Handsome? Check. Expensive? Of course. Thanks to a mighty twin-turbocharged Mercedes-AMG V8 engine, this is a fine way of letting your hair fly free. Much sharper than the Morgan though, which makes it trickier to drive anywhere near the limit. Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet, from £113,700 Where it starts in open-air 911 motoring, the base cabrio has a 394bhp, 3.0-litre flat-six engine providing a top speed of 181mph and 0-62mph in 4.3sec. Lovely and beautifully built, but a bit of a cliché – it also weighs 1.6 tonnes.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
New Morgan Supersport Is A Sweet Modern Take On Classic Style
British sports car maker Morgan made a name for itself building retro-inspired models with wooden frames and style straight from the 1960s, but its latest flagship, the Supersport, drags the brand kicking and screaming into the 21st century. It brings new looks, new tech and even a dash of carbon fiber to the historic brand. But don't worry, at its heart, the car is still distinctly Morgan, with an ash wood frame that the brand says is around 10 percent stiffer than the Plus Six, which the Supersport replaces at the top of Morgan's lineup. Read more: You've Probably Never Heard Of The Coolest Canadian Car Ever Built The wooden frame forms the basis of the car, and new aluminum bodywork is strapped to its exterior. The bodywork looks great, and is unmistakably Morgan. It's got the same bulbous front end and long, swooping side skirts, but everything is renewed with a modern, minimalist flair. I really dig it, especially the rear end which now houses an actual functioning trunk! Other modern flourishes on the new car include LED headlamps up front and a removable roof constructed from carbon composites, and there's even wireless phone charging in the center console. Morgan, what happened to you? At this point, you might expect me to drop the bombshell that this all-new, all-modern Morgan is the company's first electric vehicle. Well, it isn't. Instead, the Supersport retains the gas power of old with a BMW-sourced inline-six sitting at its heart. The turbocharged motor produces 330 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque, which is enough to get this lightweight sports car from 0 to 62 mph in 3.9 seconds and on to a top speed of 166 mph. Power is routed to the wheels via an eight-speed ZF automatic gearbox, with no option for a manual, and a new steering system is said to offer "enhanced feedback and response," Morgan adds. There's also a new suspension system with front and rear anti-roll bars to improve handling. As well as making a lovely-looking Morgan, these updates have all been made with the aim of making the Supersport a Morgan that you could actually live with. It's for this reason that the trunk space was added and a new audio system installed that Morgan says can hear your screams over the rushing wind. All this practicality will set you back around £85,000, which is equivalent to about $110,000 at today's rate. Sadly, while the Plus Four made a triumphant return to the U.S. last year, Car And Driver reports that Morgan doesn't plan to bring the Supersport Stateside at the moment. So, if you need another reason to leave the country after everything that's going on right now, this could be the excuse that finally pushes you over the edge. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox... Read the original article on Jalopnik.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Morgan Supersport Revealed as the Most Practical Morgan Yet
Morgan has revealed its newest flagship model, called the Supersport, which comes with interchangeable hard and soft tops—oh, and a trunk! The Supersport rides on a reengineered version of Morgan's aluminum platform and houses a BMW-sourced straight-six under the hood. The new model will be the quickest Morgan yet, with the company estimating a 3.9-second rip from zero to 62 mph. Morgan has revealed the Supersport, the British automaker's newest flagship and the replacement for the now-retired Plus Six. Unsurprisingly for a brand known for dragging its feet, the Supersport looks exactly how you'd expect a Morgan to look. Perhaps surprisingly, given that reputation, the Supersport receives several changes that make it more livable every day. For starters, the Supersport can be had with interchangeable roofs. There's a soft top for when the forecast looks promising and a more practical carbon-fiber hard top for when things look more, um, British. There's also a trunk, which is notable given that it's the first Morgan with a luggage compartment you can access from outside the car. The Supersport rides on a revised version of Morgan's CX aluminum platform. The automaker says the updated chassis offers 10 percent more torsional rigidity than the old version. Opting for the carbon roof makes it another 10 percent stiffer. As in the outgoing Plus Six, the BMW-sourced turbocharged straight-six makes a healthy 335 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque. Morgan says the Supersport is the quickest car it has ever built and estimates a zero-to-62-mph time of 3.9 seconds and a top speed of 166 mph. Despite some added mass, the Supersport is claimed to be easier to drive than prior Morgans. The company says the new model's ride is softer and more compliant in its standard setup, and a reworked underbody is said to reduce lift by 20 percent. Unfortunately, we're unlikely to get the chance to buy the Supersport here in the United States, as Morgan CEO Matt Hole told Road & Track that there are no plans to bring the model stateside. That's a shame, as the company is in the process of bringing the Plus Four back to the U.S., and at £85,000 in the UK—or roughly $110,000 at current exchange rates—the Supersport looks like an enticing option. You Might Also Like Car and Driver's 10 Best Cars through the Decades How to Buy or Lease a New Car Lightning Lap Legends: Chevrolet Camaro vs. Ford Mustang!
