Time to break out the monocles and the tweed flat-caps, because Morgan has a new car to show off and it's the all-new Plus Four. Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that this looks like every other Morgan made since the 1940s, so how can it be new? Well, while the Plus Four (and that's Four written out, not Plus 4 as was the old model) does indeed look as if you'll find one B. Wooster's name on the logbook, underneath Morgan says that it's 97 per cent new. In fact, the Plus Four uses Morgan's cutting-edge 'CX' bonded aluminium chassis, first developed for the Plus 8 and which has been used recently by the BMW-engined Plus Six. That chassis is built to aerospace standards, and no - we don't mean Spitfires. It's far more rigid than the old steel ladder chassis, and yet weighs just 97kg, so the whole car is really, really light - just 1,009kg dry. Essentially, from a structural point of view, this is a Plus Six, but around 78mm narrower overall, and with different front wings. Morgan says that the packaging advantages of the CX platform means that there's more space for people and luggage in the cabin area, and that the Plus Four is much more useable as a day-to-day car now. Alongside modern alloy wheels, the Plus Four will also be offered with 15-inch chrome wire wheels. As with the Plus Six, the Plus Four comes with a BMW engine (BMW has apparently long been enamoured with the quality of Morgan's engineering) and this time it's the four-cylinder turbo 2.0-litre unit from the BMW 330i. In the Morgan, it produces 255hp and 400Nm of torque (that's for the automatic version; with the manual gearbox that torque output is limited to 350Nm). That's good enough to push the Plus Four to 62mph in just 5.2 seconds. Morgan has remapped the engine's management system for what it calls 'optimum driveability and response in the Plus Four'. There's even a Sport button, located on the dash, that sharpens up the throttle response. Power and torque levels have increased by 65 per cent compared with the old Ford-engined Morgan Plus 4, but the new Plus Four has better economy - Morgan quotes 40mpg and a reduction in CO2 to just 159g/km for the automatic variant. That's a 30 per cent cut in emissions. Mind you, even with lower emissions, it won't be cheap. The list price for the UK market is a chunky £62,995; pricey, but probably worth it.
Neil Briscoe - 4 Mar 2020