How to change everything without changing a thing Morgan is writing a new chapter in the history of its best-selling Plus Four whilst at the same time drawing on DNA that dates back to the 1930s. A work of art.
Just like the Jaguar E-Type, the VW Beetle or the Citroën 2CV, the Morgan Plus Four is truly unique. With its old-fashioned grille, its silhouette dating back to the interwar period, its round chrome-ringed headlights and its spoked wheels, it really is unlike any other car in production anywhere in the world today. That certainly doesn’t mean that the Morgan is set in its ways, though. Far from it, in fact. As well as a new name, which is now spelled out in full (Plus 4 becoming Plus Four), 97% of the components on the 2020 version are, in fact, new.
The Plus Four sits on the aluminium platform first introduced on the Plus Six, its 6-cylinder-engined big sister, in 2019. More rigid than the steel ladder chassis it replaces but surprisingly light at only 197kg, this platform, Morgan claims, transforms the car's handling and road-holding abilities, making it a very worthy competitor to its modern rivals (its power-to-weight ratio is even better than that of the recent Alpine A110!). That said, purists can rest assured that its low driving position will be familiar to anyone who has ever driven a Morgan, past or present. After all, why change a winning formula?
Cultivating traditional values
With regard to the engine, Morgan’s love affair with BMW continues with the installation of the 2.0L TwinPower turbocharged 4-cylinder engine, reaching up to 255bhp here, beneath the car’s long bonnet. Weighing in at just 1009kg, it takes a mere 4.8 seconds for the 8-speed automatic version (5.2 seconds for the 6-speed manual version) to go from 0-62mph (0-100km/h), with a top speed of 149mph (240km/h).
Scratch beneath the contemporary sporty surface, however, and you’ll find that Morgan's traditional values have, of course, been carefully maintained. Each car is built by hand at the Malvern (Worcestershire) factory using tried and tested methods, including an ash frame, hand-beaten aluminium panels and a hand-trimmed artisan leather interior. Human craftsmanship is certainly king where Morgan is concerned. That said, the Plus Four is fully equipped as standard with automatic LED front and rear lighting, remote central locking, ABS, power steering and optional air-conditioning or Bluetooth audio. It's hard to talk about price, since each car is, by nature, unique, depending on the buyer’s desired spec. The basic version of the Plus Four starts at £52,495 (€79,380) with a manual gearbox and £54,162 (€81,780) with an automatic.
And as is always the case with #SoBARNES, here’s that little extra touch that will allow you to really impress at dinner parties: the new aluminium platform is known as the CX because it was introduced in 2019, which marked Morgan's 110th year in business (think Roman numerals!).
Infos : Morgan-motor.com
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