Morgan Super 3 review

Today that £65 would have a value of about £5400, yet this car, vastly more sophisticated, costs £48,000. It’s also got a Ford engine, which is another piece of history repeating itself. In 1935, HFS fitted a Ford four-cylinder to his range of three-wheelers and a year later released the 4/4, the first Morgan four-wheeler. The writing was on the wall and while the F-series three-wheelers were more practical, reliable, comfortable and better to drive than the models that preceded it, by 1952, the Morgan three-wheeler was dead.

‘Never go back,’ said Charles Morgan, HFS’s grandson, who until 2013 was on the board of his family’s company. But he did: to celebrate the company’s 2009 centenary, Morgan prepared its retro 3 Wheeler largely based on the pattern of Pete Larsen’s Liberty Ace for which it had bought a licence. This was a tubular steel framed Morgan Aero tribute with an S&S V-twin engine up front. I had a small part in the introduction of Larsen and Morgan for which I’m quite proud, especially since, in the decade following its 2011 introduction, the 3 Wheeler went on to become the best-selling single model in Morgan’s history.

Turn the key of the new Super 3 (it’s under the steering column), lift the centre switch cover and press the button starter. Ford’s water-cooled Dragon unit, a 1.5-litre 118bhp/110lb ft triple whirrs into electronically controlled life. It’s mounted in line with the crucial vibration-reducing front mounting hidden behind that weird scarab-like front, and is mated to what amounts to manual gearbox perfection, Mazda’s MX-5 five-speed, as used on the outgoing 3 Wheeler. Also unchanged is the basic belt-drive/bevel-box rear end of the 3 Wheeler, albeit with a few modifications here and there.

What’s really changed, however, is the appearance of this car. Jonathan Wells, Morgan’s design head and his department have transformed the coachwork, with a striking and singular style, which hides the engine behind a grille and a cast aluminium engine bearer. At 3581mm long and 1850mm wide, this 635kg (dry) trike has immense strength, from the extensive anti-thrum and strengthening swaging on the inner side panels, to the belted and braced front end where even the headlamp brackets have a structural role.

There’s an ugly black plastic cover in the grille covering an unused boss on the Ford engine, which needs to be transparent with the then-visible boss carrying a swirling design to add movement and life to the front end. I’d also ditch the battleship-grey coachwork of the test car and plump instead for the warm lawn-mower green option with yellow Perspex aero screens, which looks sensational.

The monocoque construction means the cockpit is roomy and wide, though you need your outside elbow to stick out of the car, which means a jacket is required whatever the weather. There’s a pseudo-military feel to the interior, not just those World War Two Jerrican-style cross braces on the inner panels, but also the grey anodised-aluminium digital centre displays, and the big pole switches for various functions including a heater, which must be a three-wheeler first, the really effective heated seats and the lovely base-spec motorcycle-vinyl upholstery, which is tough and comfortable as well as being good to look at and easy to clean.

There’s even a sat-nav, though it’s a simple Beeline motorcycle unit, which sits above the steering-wheel binnacle giving turn-by-turn instructions. I’ve got one and it’s pretty good, though if you don’t program it properly, it’ll insist you go into the front garden of a complete stranger before it deigns to cough up the next set of instructions…

The pedals and the steering adjust horizontally (and vertically in the case of the steering wheel), but there are also a variety of sizes, dishes and styles for the Mota Lita steering wheel to suit pretty much all tastes and frames. To be honest, this is probably the most accommodating three-wheeler I’ve sat in, though the seating position feels too high and I’d prefer it a couple of inches lower. Morgan says it might be able to find a bit more depth but the requirements of visibility and H-points means it has to be like that for production cars. Needless to say, there is no hood, though there’s an effective tonneau and lots of lovely Morgan-branded clothing, at a price…

Slot first on that wonderful Mazda gearbox and bring up the light and short-travel clutch marvelling at the wonderful balance and placing of the pedals, where it’s just the matter of a slight movement to get on the brakes, double declutch or pile on the power. Out on the roads of Malvern, the Super 3’s Superformed aluminium construction feels modern and solid, a bit like a Lotus Elise with a wheel missing. The enclosed 20-inch front wheels ride the bumps (even the sharp-edged ones) with a supple authority of soundly designed suspension doing its job rather than being forced through the tight spots. It all speaks of rigidity and modernity; less artisanal endeavour, more production repeatability.

As we’ve explained in a recent article, the isosceles-triangle footprint of a three-wheeler means there’s no roll stiffness at one end of the car, which in turn gives the tyres an awesome amount to do, especially if you want to retain some ride quality, which Morgan has. In this case, it has chosen Avons all round, 130/90 R20s at the front on sensationally good-looking front wheels, which look suspiciously like those on a Rolls-Royce – ‘A Rolls-Royce on Morgan wheels,’ grins Toby Blythe, Morgan’s marketing manager. At the rear the 185/55 R15 Avon is an all-weather tyre, which provided the best combination of grip and side-wall stiffness. Even that tyre, which on a three-wheeler usually clouts everything the fronts miss, rides the black-top well, which speaks of good suspension and damping rates as well as a decent tyre choice.

Unassisted rack-and-pinion steering is sourced from a PSA product with absurdly long tie rods. Turn the wheel and the steering feels slightly too slow and requires a fair bit of wheel twirling, but it is well weighted and positive in feel. And around town, the Ford lump might not sound wonderful, but the fueling is fantastic, you can trickle along at barely above idle speed and then floor the throttle and wait as the engine hauls itself up the rev counter with barely a hiccup or hesitation. With a redline at about 6500rpm, the digital rev counter isn’t the most faithful friend. The display is almost hidden by the steering wheel and the digits flash up so fast that it’s hard to keep track until they turn red and you need to change gear. Transient values are better represented with a needle and a dial, though the Dragon engine does most of its best work in the mid-range.

Go faster and the Dragon starts to roar, or at least crackle and yowl. It might not have the immediately appealing voice of a V-twin, but it does have a character and the throttle progression is also quite wonderful.

Performance is modest with a top speed of 130mph and 0-62mph in seven seconds (making it less accelerative than the previous 3 Wheeler), so it’s brisk rather than blistering, but the way you can access that performance makes the Super 3 so wonderful. There will be those calling for a turbo to up the power significantly, but like those calling for the return of S Club 7, they’ll get over it – such a power increase would upset the delicate balance of the Super 3. The other thing is the bevel box, which under acceleration squawks like a budgie with its wing caught, grates like a rasp on the dog’s teeth and plangently moans like the forced confessions of a victim of Tomás de Torquemada. Would that box really take the extra power and, more importantly, torque?

At one point in the drive through Elgar country an old Porsche came up behind me looking to play. A quick twist of the ankle and a double declutch change down and the little Morgan howled up the road, through a series of open bends with the 911 left far behind. Of course, you don’t brake hard mid-corner with a car like this, but then you don’t do that in a 911, either. For the most part the Super 3’s front end will push wide and if you ease the throttle the rear will gently push wide, too, but it’s beautifully balanced and at no time felt as though it was going to swap ends through the turns. Along with Morgan’s current range of four-wheeled cars, the Super 3 has been through a comprehensive test and development program and it shows.

Power oversteer, naturally, is available at will, but what’s so pleasing is the way the Super 3 comes off the slide, which inspires great confidence. And perhaps the steering is about right when cracking on, as the one thing you don’t want is a darty-feeling three-wheeler, though you’re still steering hand-over-hand through a hairpin, so perhaps one tooth faster would be appropriate. Similarly, the disc brakes, which have a long-travel pedal that feels too soft at first, but in fact suits the pedal placing and aids double declutching, which is an important part of slowing the Super 3 without locking a wheel, though I’d perhaps have pads which give slightly more grab when they do eventually make contact.

Morgan is calling for owners to enjoy adventures in the new Super 3 and with those distinctive front side-blade panels loaded up with Malle luggage and a big motorcycle tail pack on the rear luggage rack, you could conceivably go away for a cosy but reasonably well-dressed holiday in this car. You might have to as apart from the sheer problem of getting away by plane these days, there’s also the fact that this quite basically equipped car cost £48,000, so you might have to pack a tent…

Other three-wheelers are available, such as the Triking, the Black Jack Zero, the Pembleton V-Sport and the Grinnell Scorpion amongst others from the UK and from the US, the Liberty Ace F6 and the Polaris Slingshot. While all offer a particular take on what Triking designer Tony Divey called the ‘instability of a three-wheeler’, I think Morgan has done it pretty well and managed a difficult second comeback for its three-wheeler with style, aplomb and considerable amounts of fun.

Morgan Super 3

Engine: 1497cc, 3-cyl
Transmission: 5-speed manual, RWD
Power: 118bhp @ 6500rpm
Torque: 110lb ft @ 4500rpm
Weight: 635kg (dry)

Power-to-weight ratio: 186bhp/tonne
0-62mph: 7.0 seconds
Top speed: 130mph
Price: £48,000