Morgan Plus 8 (Foto Ufficiali)

[Touareg 2.5]

autocar.co.uk - es.autoblog

After an absence of almost a decade, the Morgan Plus 8 will reappear as a new and fully-fledged model at the 2012 Geneva motor show.

Two versions of the new ‘classic’ Morgan will be on display on Morgan’s Geneva stand: the production version, powered by BMW’s 4.8-litre normally aspirated V8, and an all-electric alternative christened ‘Plus-e’.

The production Plus 8 slots back into Malvern Link’s showroom range underneath Morgan’s all-aluminium ‘Aero’-series flagship cars, and above the six-cylinder Morgan Roadster. Like the more expensive Aero cars, it uses a bonded and riveted aluminium chassis, rather than the galvanized steel ladder chassis of Morgan’s Roadster and Plus 4. Slightly smaller proportions allow for a lesser kerbweight than an Aero Supersports, though – just 1100kg without fluids.

Morgan describes the new Plus 8 as its ‘most comfortable classic model’. It comes as standard with air conditioning, a leather upholstered cockpit, a high quality audio system and a double-lined convertible roof. The car’s V8 engine, available from the factory with as much as 390bhp, can also be teamed with an optional six-speed torque converter automatic transmission. Both manual and auto versions of the car hit 62mph in just 4.5sec; the automatic is marginally the more frugal, returning 26mpg on the combined cycle.

The ‘Plus-e’ electric sports car is a prototype, says Morgan chief designer Matt Humphries; “we’re developing the idea for production as soon as possible,” he goes on. Specifics on the car – power output, battery type, performance statistics and target price, for example – remain unconfirmed. “But it’s a working car with a usable range,” Humphries says. “You just charge it up and go for a blast.”

Also at Geneva, Morgan will be showing a closed cockpit version of the Aero Supersports called the Aero Coupe, as well as a revised version of its six-cylinder Roadster powered by Ford’s 3.7-litre, 260bhp Mustang V6

Modificato 6 Febbraio 2012 da Touareg 2.5

[superkappa125]

Plus 8, Touà, non 8 Plus!

Terribili quei cerchi... Immagino, però, che per tenere a bada 390cv i raggi non fossero sufficienti.

Tra l'altro mi sa che questa è l'unica Morgan "Classic" a fare a meno dello chassis parzialmente in legno.

Modificato 6 Febbraio 2012 da superkappa125

[TonyH]

Terribili quei cerchi... Immagino, però, che per tenere a bada 390cv, i raggi non fossero sufficienti.

[justjames]

Mi unisco allo smanettone qui sopra:pippa:

[jeby]

1100 kg a secco e 390 CV... esticazzi!!!!!!!

[poliziottesco]

L'ho vista per starda, ho rischiato do cozzare contro l'auto che mi precedeva (grande stupidata, mai farsi distrarre...) tanto ha attratto l'attenzione nel blend di forma classiche e passaruota monstre....purtroppo mai provata, una roba cosi' e' per il sottoscritto l'auto giocattolo ideale, anche se mi accontenterei della roadster.

due note da pistonhead pubblicate qualche tempo fa

PH FLEET: MORGAN PLUS 8

The all-new Morgan Plus 8 debuts officially at Geneva but Harris has already got one for an express PH fleet tenure

I have never before run a car that doesn't officially exist, but that is what I am now doing. At the Geneva Motorshow, Morgan will unveil the new Plus 8, but the people of the West Country and South Wales are invited to an exclusive preview on their highways and byways over the next few weeks as I attempt to use one as everyday transport.

The Plus 8 is effectively an Aero 8 chassis, the one that also underpins the gorgeous Aeromax and the Supersports, with classic Morgan Plus 8 styling.

Morgan 'interesting' in conditions like thisNow I'm a Morgan fan, I make no secret of it and I even liked the original boss-eyed Aero 8 because it presented such a contrary view of what a sports-car should be. It burbled and shimmied about the place in a way that left it open to ridicule when tested against conventional sports cars of the time, but as is always the case with these cottage industry machines, that just didn't matter. I can remember writing the original Autocar road test and being berated by colleagues for being too kind.

Best of both

This new car takes the aluminium underpinnings of the Aero platform, the later 4.8-litre BMW V8 and bolts on a new body. I don't think I'm being unkind in suggesting that this car presents a face, a set of proportions and a general style that many people would have preferred to that first Aero 8. It takes the petite charm of the original Plus 8, which died in 2003, and adds a heap of track width and general menace. It looks five times tougher in the raw. I love it.

The perfect blend of Aero 8 and classic Morgan?It is also startlingly fast. The body is 150kg lighter than an Aero's, making it less than 1,100kg, and the BMW 4.8-litre V8, late of the X5, has 367hp. You don't need an abacus to work out that leaves the new Plus 8 with the potential to smash its upright screen through the air with some force. Driving it home from the factory on greasy roads, it was spooling-up in third gear. It's actually a Morgan hot-rod.

Talking of the factory if you don't want to drop a load of money on a car that still uses wood to support its bodywork do not under any circumstances visit Malvern Link. The place is completely compelling, in its own peculiar way just as atmospheric and enthralling as those better known pilgrimage sites in Maranello and Zuffenhausen. I'm not sure there are many other production lines that can genuinely call themselves 'gravity-fed'.

Wider, meaner and ruder than any classic MorganPH development drive

Morgan will be asking £80,000 for the Plus 8 - that's strong money and I won't suggest that in pure objective terms it deserves the same page space as a new 911. But I will suggest that anyone who wants to approach this car in such bleak, unemotional terms probably doesn't get it anyway.

I've just driven home in it, roof down, in glorious sunshine and five degrees ambient temperature. The exhaust noise is addictive, the cabin is tight and, for a prototype, carefully finished - of course a GT3 would have dusted it, but for sense of occasion and making other people smile, I'm not sure many cars could have matched it.

Not bad for a prototypeWith no traction control and 334hp per tonne on greasy roads, it keeps you honest, but it cruises at the legal limit without too much fuss. The hood is a predictably crude set of poppers and clips designed to prise away finger nails, but it keeps the outside from being inside and doesn't flap about too much at normal speeds. An SLK, it is not.

But with that exhaust noise and the sunlight twinking on the three weeny wipers and the heater warming your kneecaps, you just don't care. This might just be the coolest car in the UK, and I'm loving it.

[JackSEWing]

strabella

peccato per i cerchi, ci volevano i raggi ma mi sa che la putenza era troppa

[ilmirko]

Immagino siano sicurissimi quei ganci di ferro per le cinture di sicurezza vicino la capoccia, in caso di incidente... Una capocciata all'indietro e ti ammazzi... imho

[TonyH]

Considerato che ha telaio in legno su un progetto originario degli anni '50 quei ganci sono forse l'ultimo dei problemi in fatto di sicurezza:lol:

[TurboGimmo]

Immagino siano sicurissimi quei ganci di ferro per le cinture di sicurezza vicino la capoccia, in caso di incidente... Una capocciata all'indietro e ti ammazzi... imho