In an age of ballooning curb weights and increasing isolation, it’s not surprising that restomods are booming. Old cars offer a certain carte blanche over new cars, but they come with their own limitations. Plus, it’s expensive to seriously improve all platforms in small batches, which explains why cars like Alfaholics GTVs and Singer-modified Porsche 911s cost proper supercar money. So what about something that just costs high-end sports car money but melds the best of classic style and modern substance? Welcome to the Morgan Supersport, the latest and greatest from Malvern.
Under the winged hood of the Supersport, you’ll find BMW’s B58 three-liter turbocharged inline-six in a 335-horsepower state of tune. Sure, that may be less power than what a Toyota GR Supra makes, but the Supersport only weighs 2,579 pounds. With the quick shifts of a ZF eight-speed automatic gearbox on tap, Morgan claims zero-to-62 mph in just 3.9 seconds. Top speed? A reasonably brisk 166 mph.
So how does Morgan do more with less? Well, the Supersport rides on a bonded aluminum architecture called CXV, beefed up over the CX chassis underneath the Plus Four with greater torsional rigidity through strategic reinforcement. The available detachable hardtop is made from carbon fiber, the wheels are Morgan’s own lightweight designs, the cup holder is a metal hoop between the passenger’s legs, and the speaker boxes for the Sennheiser audio system are pockets of the actual chassis itself. In short, Morgan kept the weight down by being clever, and a pleasant side effect is a combined fuel economy rating of 7.7 liters-per-100 km or 30.5 MPG on the European cycle.
Beyond BMW power and an aluminum chassis, the Supersport sits on double wishbone suspension at all four corners, and you can spec seriously high-end 24-way adjustable Nitron dampers if you like. At this sort of price bracket, that’s the sort of option box worth ticking, as is the one for the available limited-slip differential. At the same time, the steering comes in at a tidy 2.4 turns lock-to-lock, and this whole package sits on the latest Michelin Pilot Sport 5 tires.
It all sounds a bit high-tech for Morgan, but rest assured, tradition still plays a big hand. The bodywork’s simultaneously new and familiar, a classic silhouette with a wide lower grille, functional heat extractors in the hood and cowl, flush shut lines, and a carefully shaped underbody. Morgan touts a 20 percent reduction in lift over previous six-cylinder models, and given the brand’s old-school mentality, that ought to make a difference.
Speaking of old-school, if you find yourself weirdly attached to Morgan for its anachronistic tendencies, fret not. The Supersport is still built by hand the old-fashioned way. Morgan claims that more than 9,360 minutes, or 156 hours go into each car it produces, 26 hours more than it takes Bentley to assemble a Bentayga SUV. It’s a process steeped in tradition, with the framework for the aluminum body still made of wood. Pop the trunk and you can even get a glimpse of the sort of ash Morgan’s been using for more than a century.
Of course, all this craftsmanship doesn’t come cheap. The Morgan Supersport starts at £102,000, or about $131,815 at current conversion rates. That sort of money buys a lot of different cars. The sumptuous and dramatic Lexus LC 500, the feathery Lotus Emira, the wailing Porsche 718 Cayman GTS 4.0, or even the hybrid Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray. However, none of those cars are like a Morgan. Nothing today is. If you want the best of old-school British sports car style with seriously modern construction, the Morgan Supersport is it.
Top graphic image: Morgan Motor Company
Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member.
-
You Can Get A New Morgan Plus Four In America Again After A 20 Year Absence
-
The Delightfully Charming Morgan Super 3 Three-Wheeler Is Now On Sale In America
-
Regulations Made The US Version Of The New Morgan Super 3 Have A Spider Face
-
The Charmingly Simple Yet Surprisingly Modern Morgan Plus Four Is Coming To America In 2023
-
The Morgan Plus 4 ‘Spiaggina’ Has A Wacky Roof And Is The Perfect Beach Car For Mr. Toad
Please send tips about cool car things to tips@theautopian.com. You could even win a prize!
Why no manual? Is that BMW six not available with one in any BMW?
Great color that pale sliver pink though. 🙂
Back in the very early 70’s, I could have won Mick Jagger’s Plus 4. San Francisco rock-and-roll powerhouse, KFRC 610AM, got its hands on the car and held a contest where you only had to send in a post card with where the prize was going to be delivered, and they would whisk you there and hand you the keys. I mentioned it to my metal shop buddy, Mace German, and said the answer was obvious… The London Bridge in Lake Havasu, AZ. He advised me to send in an entry. I didn’t. A month later, someone submitted the correct answer.
I wouldn’t have been able to drive it home. I didn’t even have a learner’s permit then.
London Bridge (Lake Havasu City) – Wikipedia
KFRC (610 AM) – Wikipedia
I had a couple of patentable ideas back then about in-car audio. Automatic volume adjustments. One was just a crude “ramp it up” mechanism tied to the speedometer. The other was more elaborate… a kind of Bose solution using microphones in the cabin to analyze the overall sound, minus the desired audio signal, and adjusting volume and counter-phasing the undesired noise accordingly. I was too young, timid and technologically challenged to pull that off by myself, but now noise-cancelling technology is a thing.
Big thing. I could have been rich. Maybe.
It’s wild how a company has made a name for itself making cars with really ugly headlights for decades but continues to be successful.
But enough about Porsche, really don’t like the Morgan’s front-end either.
The front end looks nervous. Terrified, even.
Well, if I were to ever win the lottery, I wouldn’t broadcast it, but there would be signs
A Swiss residency permit and a villa in St Gallen would be the main ones, but this Morgan would come in close after
Why in St Gallen, of all places?
Easy over the border access to Liechtenstein
It also looks like you could have a aerodynamic TUG if you drive it backwards (see cover photo from another automotive site and imagine it driving from right to left) https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a64051277/morgan-supersport-is-the-future-seen-from-the-past/
I’m sure a Morgan pulling up to an event would turn more heads than that new Jag.
Save the manuals!
(OK, grain if salt because I’m not rich enough to even consider buying one and it’s all in the realm of IMO, but) Why though? For the money you could get a car that looks good, not just old. People restomod classics because they want to update an iconic design for contemporary use. These are just… old timey but brand new, and that’s not the same.
Morgan has never been the objectively best car for the money, but you cannot beat the style and class they put off. Absolutely incredible.
Weird as they are, I like how they modernize this archaic style. I’d buy an LC500 as auto-only, but this car needs a manual. Not that it matters as it isn’t coming to the US and I can’t afford it, anyway.
God damn that’s a looker.
Why do they need to keep cutting down all of these precious aluminum trees? Those things take forever to grow.
So no wood in the frame?
Because like Kenny Rogers Roasters, it was the wood that made it good.
It still has wood in the frame. See the video from Johny Smith on Youtube on the Supersport from today.
Do Morgan sports cars have a wooden chassis?
So, not in the chassis, but still in the body frame. That is what I meant, sorry if I wasn’t clear. You can actually see the wood in Johny Smith’s video at 13:00 (https://youtu.be/fG6KU981THo?feature=shared&t=785)
I watched a few videos on this just this morning, and it looks lovely. But a BMW engine and no manual means I will still be chasing a Caterham: that and the massive price difference.
Agreed. They even kept that stupid ZF shifter. It looks very out of place.
Personally, I’d go with the Plus Four. Still over 250 hp, and an available manual. I doubt I’d buy one here, but if we relocate to the UK when we retire, a Plus Four will be my toy, while my wife has the practical car, probably a Mini Cooper or a new Renault R5. Alternatively if I want something I can daily drive, I’d take an Alpine A110 GT.
The Alpine would be lovely. I have a soft spot for any French car.
Not sure about those headlights. I feel like they would’ve been more appropriate if they were outboard more.
They’re not quirky enough. The ones on the Aero 8 are awesomely Morgan.
No manual? No care.
Damn their hideous car ruining shifter! Thank you BMW for selling your engines and transmissions (ZF) to the likes of Morgan and Ineos…but I sure wish you had a better looking shifter to go with it.