Super Time in the new Morgan Three-Wheeler

16

Mark Smyth

We live in an increasingly smart world, one full of smart watches, smart televisions and increasingly, smart cars, including Smart cars. Here at Car and Classic we like things that are a bit more analogue; our idea of smart is the buttons on a Becker radio in a W124 Mercedes-Benz.

An ‘original’ 2012 Three Wheeler

It’s no surprise then that we love the fact that Morgan still exists and while some tech is creeping in to the cars that come out of the famous Malvern factory, tradition and heritage remain the key hallmarks. Nothing says Morgan heritage more than the three-wheeler that started it all for the company back in 1909. In this modern world, is there still a place for it?

Of course there is and after getting our first look at what is now called the Super 3 back in February, we’ve now driven it. So don your Biggles glasses, chocks away and strap yourself in as we take to the skies, or rather the roads of Worcestershire.

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Price from £41,995, the car we drove is still a prototype vehicle, one of the first that they have manufactured in a very nice shade of Porsche Olive Green, although the configurator calls it something slightly less Porschey, simply a “Special Metallic Colour”. The design team also added a few extra decals like danger triangles, jet fuel only, secure prior to flight and a set of very interesting stickers on the driver’s side bargeboard reflecting the number of bombs dropped and how many trucks and tractors have been taken out. There’s also a little nod to one of the design teams’ love of the Reliant Robin with the number of those that fell victim, although the only one we passed was parked in a supermarket car park. Funnily enough there are no stars next to the Formula One car so that’s a target yet to be acquired.

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On the road, it takes a little bit of getting used to in terms of placement as the front axle seems very wide or certainly feels it from the low-slung driving position and you have to get used to where that left wheel is. That’s not helped by your field of vision being slightly distorted by the very small fly screens (Morgan doesn’t call them wind deflectors) on top of the cowling, which means you often find that you’re lifting your head up to be able to look over. Morgan engineers say they are still working on this.

The driving position is very easy to adjust though, with a nice thick and weighty steering wheel, which feels great in your hands. There’s a simple t-bar to adjust the placement of the pedals that slide forwards or backwards to help achieve that ideal driving position and of course your arm sits very nicely on the padded rest which is clipped into the bodywork.

There’s a lovely piece of wood for the dashboard and in the middle of it are proper fighter jet style, digital instruments, an element of tech that rather than detracting from the analogue nature of the Super 3, actually works really well. There’s simple tech for navigation too in the form of a tiny Beeline pod that clips onto the top of the steering column. It’ll be familiar to motorbike riders and uses a simple direction arrow and it counts down to when you abruptly need to turn left or right. It did take some getting used to.

Figure out how to release the handbrake lever – there’s a trick to it – and slot the Mazda MX-5 sourced five-speed manual gearbox into first and you’re off, peering over the top of those fly screens with initial caution. The V-twin motorcycle engine has gone, replaced by a 1.5-litre Ford motor that develops 118bhp and 110 Ib ft of torque. It feels like it has a proper sweet spot in third gear, which was perfect on narrow A and B-roads. It really comes on song around 4,800-5,000 rpm where instead of feeling like you’re in something vintage, your grin starts to widen and you begin to experience the sports car nature of the Super 3.

The car we drove was fitted with a factory developed optional exhaust system which gives it a great throaty sports car sound. It’s nicely tuned, not over the top and Golf GTi-ish, but apparently it does slightly exceed standard noise limits and so officially it can’t be fitted to the car ex-factory. Instead it’s listed as an aftermarket part. It’s not the only extra you’ll want either, because it’s worth adding the Tail Tidy which pulls in the stalks for the rear lights.

You do have to be conscious on B-roads of the fact that it is a three-wheeler though, because every time you run over that dirty part in the middle of the lane the back wheel can twitch a little bit, even more so if a horse has left a package in the middle of the road for you to skid about on.

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Those specially made Avon Speedmaster tyres do feel the bumps though and they aren’t fan of cat’s eyes in the road, not to mention speed humps, bit being able to lean out and watch the suspension components at work is addictive.

There’s also no escaping the wind in your hair that you get from driving the Super 3, but who cares that you really feel the elements, it’s unbelievably fun, all of the time. It’s very easy to drive and very comfortable and after a few miles of driving it we felt like we were relaxing on a nice summer’s day. Admittedly it wasn’t, in fact it was rather grey and a bit drizzly at times, but we just didn’t care.

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As you’re flying along, you get lots of attention from fellow motorists and people walking down the road. Some gave a wave or a thumbs up and when you pull into a car park people come and talk to you, it’s a very social thing this Super 3.

When we spoke to designer Jon Wells back in February, he described the Super 3 as the antidote to much of what is happening in the automotive world. Now we’ve driven it we totally agree. There is some tech, but it’s been discreetly used in a way that works brilliantly and the use of the Beeline navigation pod enhances that feeling of being in something that can’t really be described as a car.

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The Super 3 is as analogue as it can be but without compromising on some of the creature comforts, it even has heated seats and a USB port. Despite having a boot under that boat tail and blades on the side that you can attach luggage panniers too, it’s not the most practical thing, but how much practicality do you really need. You can drive to the office on a nice day, head off on a road trip adventure on the weekend and Wells even straps his wake board to the side blades.

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Morgan could have called it a day with the Three-Wheeler but we’re so glad they didn’t. The Super 3 is so very different to everything else on the road. It not only delivers a great driving experience, it makes everywhere you go an experience. It’s fabulous, it’s fun, it’s enormously rewarding to drive and that makes it seem rather smart to us.

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