You can start a day in so many ways. Doing it behind the wheel of a Morgan with a manual gearbox and without traction control is the ultimate one to reawaken emotions long numbed by the contemporary automotive panorama. The Plus Four is the connection point of two worlds, a portal to a driving experience you won’t forget. And it’s fast too. Now, do I have your attention?
Words Alessandro Marrone / Photos Daniél Rikkard
It’s a morning like any other. There is no particular note in the agenda, no light bulb that turns on the precise moment in which the alarm interrupts those strange dreams that peep out in the last hours of sleep. After getting out of bed it is time for the daily ritual that marks the true beginning of a new day: coffee. I notice that the jar of capsules is empty and it seems my traditional dose of caffeine really needs a refuel at the grocery. Never mind, this time I’ll have to settle for the moka, but with amazement mixed with annoyance I realize that I don’t even have that at the moment. The only solution seems to be the bar, which however is still inexplicably closed. Maybe it will be the weekly rest day, or who knows what else. The point is, I absolutely need my start-of-the-day coffee.
I open the garage door and she is there waiting, with those big round eyes of hers that look like those of a puppy ready to chase the frisbee until sunset. My visibly sleepy and still dazed face hints at a smile: it’s 5:45 and I need a coffee. I get on board, insert the key and the Morgan comes to life. This is the Plus Four, the version equipped with a 2-liter BMW 4-cylinder turbocharged that delivers 258 horsepower while weighing just 1 ton (1,150 to be precise). On this model we do not yet have traction control and the fact of having a 6-speed manual gearbox and the much desired third pedal make the driving experience the ideal alternative to a double coffee, which together with the roads I will travel on shortly will be the best way to chase the dawn in search of caffeine.
Morgan is still the same at the end of the day. Decades have passed and very little has changed, at least on an aesthetic point of view, where every centimeter is faithfully retraced on an aluminum frame topped with wooden profiles – the only traces left with the new generations – ensuring a driving experience of times gone by precisely because of the relationship it is able to establish between the driver and the road, making the car itself the ultimate instrument of connection with the asphalt. The lack of traction control is then that added value that takes me back to those times when you could drive in two diametrically opposed ways, one of which implied a minimum of mastery of steering wheel and pedals, especially when the long nose of the Morgan decides to aim towards the inside of the bend. But the Plus Four is also an excellent travel companion, surprisingly comfortable on medium distances, where you appreciate how the small seats with adjustable lumbar area using a special air pump are able to avoid requiring extra stops during the journey. The same goes for the canvas roof, which closes rather well, isolating from rain and air, even at consistent speeds. What is certain is that the acoustic isolation cannot be that of a limo, but after all we are sitting close to the ground and we are not in a Morgan for anything other than the purest driving pleasure.
I believe that focusing discussions relating to a Morgan on issues such as comfort and practicality is fundamentally useless. You don’t get this car for those reasons, but to experience once again what it means to feel alive at the wheel. The Plus Four has absolutely nothing to complain about, given that you can feel all the 258 horsepower. The torque enjoys 350 Nm which come into play at just 1,000 rpm, leaving the rear wheels struggling to find grip – if you want it – and granting yet another smile on the face of those who grip the steering, one of the few reminders of modernity present in the passenger compartment. There is only the bare essentials, such as a small digital display with the main information and the possibility of connecting your smartphone. Everything else is what really matters in a car for drivers, just like the manual gear lever, exposed there in the middle of the seats as if to emphasize its presence, today more than ever, remembering that being the master of gear changes it’s still something capable of making us feel a shiver down our spine.
The differences with the Plus Six are not only on an aesthetic level, but are perceived on a dynamic side from the very first meters. Here you literally feel part of the car, every movement is as if it were interconnected between the chassis and the bottom of the driver. The absence of driving aids makes the increase in pace directly proportional to the attention that must be paid when entering curves. In that moment you feel how the car body comes into the game and how the mechanical parts transmit every change on the asphalt with an utmost sincerity. I hold on to the steering and realize that the classic winning relationship between weight (reduced) and power (consistent) is the key to definitively opening the doors to driving involvement. The next moment the Morgan calms down, without ever having to play with electronic management or settings of who knows what kind. I just have to lighten the pressure on the throttle and at that point I can also loosen my hands’ grip on the steering. In that instant the Plus Four transforms into the iconic English roadster that marked an era, in the most exciting way to travel from point A to point B.
It’s not just the precision that makes the driving experience so rewarding, but the way in which the car allows you to tune into its behaviors which quickly become familiar and predictable. It is at that point that you dare the most, letting the rear slide with more freedom and engaging the next gear sooner than you had done up to that point, because it is not the speed that counts, but the way in which you cover kilometers forgetting everything and everyone, also because there is nothing to distract you here and nothing of what you have in sight is aimed at anything other than driving. You want numbers, I know. We cannot help but read those figures that help us realize whether these can be emotions for everyone, or just for romantic dreamers. Here are your numbers: from 0 to 100 kph the manual Plus Four takes just 5.2 seconds. Five point two seconds of fiddling with the gearbox and clutch, making sure the rear wheels don’t waste too much time spinning. Five dirty seconds of pure adrenaline, with the hiss of the turbo that accompanies towards a climb that can reach 240 per hour.
The Plus Four is pure simplicity. Simplicity that does not mean obviousness. Everything you find here has a very specific purpose: to make driving a moment of relax and satisfaction, all seasoned with a generous sprinkling of chilli pepper. In short, the Morgan is a car for a Sunday stroll, for a stroll with your beloved one next to you. You won’t be able to carry a lot of luggage since the luggage compartment is very small and located right where you fold the roof. But rest assured that you will take home many wonderful emotions, mostly triggered by that long and slender bonnet which opens the way towards new roads and new adventures. With a lower price than the Plus Six and equally exciting performance, the Plus Four is more unique than rare, also because thanks to its driving setting and its iconic aesthetics it has no rivals beyond the threshold of its own home.
Forget about 360° coexistence, unless you have a lifestyle and commitments acceptable with those qualities that in the real world – at least in the majority of cases – cannot accommodate daily life made up of city traffic jams and the most disparate and sometimes unpredictable needs. But as a toy the Morgan is no longer just the refined and relaxed alternative to the more classic sports car. In fact, it combines serious performance which with the manual transmission does not leave BMW fingerprints distorting its character, the quintessence of a driving experience that comes from afar and which precisely because it is so foreign to how we understand driving in 99.9% of cases today, it takes on an even more special flavor. God knows how many hours have passed since I left home looking for caffeine and I literally forgot about the coffee mission. I fold down the roof and remove the doors for a photo, noticing that in the small trunk there is my backpack with the thermal water bottle and yesterday’s coffee. The fact is that I no longer need it, because this morning there was no better alarm clock than a car that still knows what it takes to excite and awaken all five senses.
Thanks to Romeo Ferraris, official Morgan Motor Company dealer for Italy, who provided us the Plus Four, with which we also had the opportunity to take part in the 2023 edition of the Classic Run, the perfect bridge between past and present automotive.
MORGAN PLUS FOUR
Engine 4 Cylinder Turbo, 1.998cc Power 258 hp @ 5.500-6.000 rpm Torque 350 Nm @ 1.000-.5000 rpm
Traction Rear Wheel Drive Transmission 6-Speed Manual Gearbox Weight 1.150 kg
0-100 kph 5,2 sec Top Speed 240 kph Price €94.000 (as tested)