Are you suffering from luxury sports car fatigue? Do you find yourself unenthused by the likes of the McLaren Artura and giving up on keeping track of all eleventeen billion variants of Porsche 911? Do you find yourself pining for something a little more soulful with more of a human touch? Good news, the sort of car you’re looking for has arrived. This is the Morgan Supersport 400, and it’s shaping up to be an absolute weapon.
If you’re familiar with Morgan, you’ll know that the Malvern-based marque is renowned and revered for building sports cars the old-fashioned way. Small-batch, by hand, with great care. While the days of ladder frames are gone, aluminum panels are still beaten by master craftspeople, and Morgan’s actually skipped steel monocoques in favor of bonded aluminum chassis construction. Given how light and stiff the latest architecture promises to be, it was only a matter of time before Morgan turned up the wick on its hottest model.
Like the regular Morgan Supersport, the 400 makes use of BMW’s excellent three-liter turbocharged B58 straight-six. It’s a smooth, torquey motor with plenty of juice still to squeeze beyond its baseline rating of 335 horsepower. As you’ve probably guessed, the “400” in the name of this model signifies the 402 horsepower Morgan’s squeezed out of this sweet engine while still remaining emissions compliant. There’s something pleasing about slightly overdelivering.
While the only gearbox on offer is a ZF 8HP eight-speed automatic, it’s important to keep in mind that the Morgan Supersport 400 weighs just 2,579 pounds. That’s properly light for anything with a long straight-six up front, and the combination of the power, weight, and gearbox result in a claimed zero-to-62 mph time of 3.6 seconds. Spicy stuff.
Of course, more power requires more control, so adjustable Nitron dampers come standard on every Supersport 400. If you aren’t familiar with Nitron, you’re going to want them on your project car after this. It’s one of Britain’s leading motorsports damper manufacturers that also happens to develop, tune and manufacture taut yet compliant setups for road cars. Fully serviceable with huge attention paid to corrosion resistance, they’re exactly the sort of dampers you’d want on a 402-horsepower sports car. Revised suspension geometry complements the dampers, you can option a limited-slip differential, and the whole thing rolls on Michelin Pilot Sport 5 tires.
Of equal importance, the Morgan Supersport 400 just looks so cool. The five-spoke wheels are restomod-perfect, the Caerbont dials seem rather purposeful, and I love the rectangular accents on the valences. Morgan’s also tweaked the venting and the lower bodywork, and it all just works together.
Of course, the Morgan Supersport 400 doesn’t come cheap. It’s priced from £112,965, which is about $152,600 at current conversion rates. At the same time, it isn’t bad value when compared to a Porsche 911 Carrera S, and it’s certainly more of a conversation-starter than your typical entry-level supercars. If you live in a market that’s getting it and want one, best get your orders in soon. Production kicks off in May, which means some lucky owners might be able to take delivery before summer.
Top graphic image: Morgan
Not for me, which is OK because I’m not about to drop $150K on a car anyway. I’m not as thrilled with how it looks as some, and even ‘cheap’ used Morgans which I think can be had in the $40-50K range aren’t that appealing. I’d like to go for a ride/drive in one, but I’m pretty confident that doing so isn’t going to make me want to own one.
I’ll never understand Morgans or people who like them. I appreciate that they’re hand-built, but they are so ugly. I don’t think I’d take one even if it were offered for free.