2014 Morgan 3 Wheeler Review

"carwitter" (carwitter) 04/05/2014 at 11:12 • Filed to: Morgan, 3 Wheeler, Trike

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Morgan first built a 3 wheeled car back in 1909, in fact it was their very first car. In 2011 they decided to revisit the 3 wheeler once more, based on the classic shape of the 1937 Super Aero, but with more modern underpinnings.

Power is provided by a 1976cc S&S 2 cylinder motorbike engine, this outputs 80 BHP and 140 Nm of torque through the belt driven rear wheel. The whole car only weighs 525 kg, meaning 0-60 is a spritely 6.0 seconds!

Starting at £31,140 our test model had a few extras added on, making the total price £34,970.

With 3 wheels this little Mog looks nothing like anything else on the road! A steel tubular chassis makes up the backbone of the car, around that a wooden Ash frame is placed. On top of that the aluminium panels are attached.

The first thing you notice from the front is that large chrome V engine, new for 2014 is the addition of a fan fitted behind those big pistons.

Even though the 3 wheeler is air-cooled not much air finds its way behind the V, so this new addition helps to cool the engine when stationary in traffic. It’s known as the Urban Cooling Pack.

Wide set front wheels give the 3 Wheeler a mean low look, headlights sprout from its front and chrome mirrors shoot out from the bodywork.

Low slung sides give you easy ingress, and just below where you would step are large heat shields to stop you burning yourself on the hot exhausts that are strapped to the sides.

Rounded roll hooks are there to help you in case the worst should ever happen, and behind them you find a boot big enough to fit the tonneau cover and a couple of small bags.

It’s just timeless, straight out of the 30’s and into the modern day. It gets looks everywhere!

When you first fire up the 3 wheeler you know this isn’t your everyday car. It takes a second or two to turn over and kick in, once it does you get a nice lumpy burble that only a two cylinder can provide.

The Morgan shakes and comes alive when it’s on tick over, the vibration runs through the seat and up into your bones making you feel at one with the little Mog.

Push the clutch and slot the Mazda MX5 sourced gearbox into first and the shaking calms drastically. Power delivery is linear as the torque is smoothed out thanks to a driveshaft damper.

Planting your foot to the floor pushes you forward with great pace, in fact you can very easily spin the rear wheel with the right power from a standstill.

We even had it wheel spin in second, proving that 80 BHP is ample enough in this lightweight machine.

It has plenty of go to it at any speed, coupled with a delightful exhaust note that pushes you to change down and rev harder whenever you can.

Corner grip is great through the rather skinny tyres, although you have to watch the understeer as it can sometimes push wide on tighter corners due to the weight of that engine up front.

Also the turning circle is quite wide due to the limited turn angle of those front wheels, on sharper turns you have to have two attempts.

But because you are in a Morgan everyone is patient and gives you a smile…at least they did in Malvern!

There’s no ABS or ESP in the three wheeler, it’s a real back to basics driving experience. You have to plan you braking, stab too hard for too long and you’ll lock up…be too soft and you’ll just keep on rolling along!

Like the turning circle it’s something you master quickly.

Ride is surprisingly supple, the front wheels aren’t often troubled over bumps but the rear is noticeably harder. So avoid those larger potholes.

After clambering in and settling down into the driver’s seat your eyes fall upon two large dials with square surrounds.

On the left is the speed and on the right sitting behind the indicator stalk are the revs, this dial is partly obscured by the large upright steering wheel…this isn’t adjustable meaning the traditional 10 to 2 position is out of the window, you have to use a more vintage 20 past 8 stance.

You find the fuel as a digital percentage indicator built into the rev counter, the odometer is again digital and found in the speedo.

To start the Morgan there is a push switch in the middle, its found beneath a fighter pilot style toggle cover – very cool!

Just below the dials are a row of toggle switches, these work the lights and the horn. Made from aluminium they have a nice feel to them and finish the retro look.

For 2014 the pedals are adjustable to help fit any sized owner, as the seats are fixed in position.

The cockpit is cosy but comfy enough, the seats are superbly padded, the car we tested had the heated option too which is a must at £175! You’ll also find a 12 volt socket which is handy.

Because the 3 Wheeler is hand built you can practically customise every part of it.

Painted cowling, polished roll hoops, painted wheels, the colour of the leather, stick on graphics it can all be customised in the smallest detail; meaning your moggy will be a one off!

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Never have I driven such a raw visceral car, it harks back to the start of motoring.

Driving it amongst the Malvern hill’s made me feel like Toad from Wind In The Willows, his love affair with motor car was from a bygone era and you can see why he was so in love!

It shakes, its loud, it has no driver support systems, your face gets beaten by the wind, it can be cold when the sun's not out, but you can forgive it all of that…because the whole time you are driving you have THE biggest smile on your face!

Its engaging, you have to work with it, you have to learn how to drive it, it makes you feel skilful and accomplished.

If I had the money I would buy one in a heartbeat. I’d go to see it being built, and it would be my Sunday driver.

I can’t think of anything better than getting up early each Sunday and going for an open topped pootle – it would certainly make you feel alive!

Carwitter Summary:

Morgan 3 Wheeler – Loud, raw, unique, engaging, plenty of power, FUN!

Original Review and Further Images HERE

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Deputy Kovacs > carwitter 04/05/2014 at 11:22

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I'm in college now, and I have always thought about the cars I would have right out of school and how I could find garage space in a city, etc. I've always loved the Three Wheeler, but never thought I would own one, but the price would be just right. Keep my Landy RRSport for the daily stuff, and import a Three Wheeler.

I don't think I could be more British. At least my Barbour coat fits in with the cars.

carwitter > Deputy Kovacs 04/05/2014 at 11:24

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Oh you would be most at home in your Barbour...and a pair of goggles!

Deputy Kovacs > carwitter 04/05/2014 at 11:37

3

I'll look like this!

carwitter > Deputy Kovacs 04/05/2014 at 11:38

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There is only one person that ugly...

jariten1781 > carwitter 04/05/2014 at 11:38

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The question is...if you want a factory 'new old' car...do you get a Morgan 3 wheeler or a Caterham 7?

Sn210 > carwitter 04/05/2014 at 11:46

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A leather cap and driving gloves should also be required

sklooner > carwitter 04/05/2014 at 12:25

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where is the touchscreen and cupholders?

Old-Busted-Hotness > sklooner 04/05/2014 at 12:37

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Right next to the DVD player and airbags!

carwitter > Old-Busted-Hotness 04/05/2014 at 12:38

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Dammit we missed all of those!

stephenmcknight2011@hotmail.co.uk > carwitter 04/05/2014 at 12:44

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fun car indeed shame Charles Morgan not with the company anymore.

Doug Radcliffe > Deputy Kovacs 04/05/2014 at 12:51

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Did you just call a Range Rover Sport a Landy? You could not be less British.

Deputy Kovacs > Doug Radcliffe 04/05/2014 at 12:58

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Hardoooo

Maxaxle > carwitter 04/05/2014 at 13:03

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Wait, no radio?

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > carwitter 04/05/2014 at 13:05

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I get the nostalgia bit, and I love it... but one thing I would modernize... the drivetrain.

This car BEGS for a longer hood, to cover the top of a Triumph Rocket III engine. 2.3 Liter triple with integrated sequential gearbox, fuel-injected, and water-cooled.

Extend the shaft-drive, and put a reverse gear mechanism in-line, with a square-profile rear tire, since the Morgan doesn't lean into corners.

The engine already looks the part, with a minimal hot-rod style hood over the top, with exposed sides, and a custom radiator in a vertical grille in front of the engine, at the front of the suspension carrier, with the engine behind the forward-pushed front axle.

And finish it off with a triangular, vertical-edge fish-tail exhaust tip at the back of the car.

That would be a three-wheeled monster.

Doug Radcliffe > Deputy Kovacs 04/05/2014 at 13:09

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?

smokeycretin9 > carwitter 04/05/2014 at 13:13

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I lust after this little misfit, like a dog lusts after hot dogs at a bbq.

Der Sportwagoner > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. 04/05/2014 at 13:28

3

Nope. The V-Twin suits this car perfectly. Your vehicle would be fun, no doubt, but it wouldn't be anything close to a Morgan.

carwitter > stephenmcknight2011@hotmail.co.uk 04/05/2014 at 13:29

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It is :(

carwitter > jariten1781 04/05/2014 at 13:31

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You would have a bigger smile in the Morgan i reckon!

carwitter > Maxaxle 04/05/2014 at 13:32

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You wouldn't be able to hear it anyway!

Tritip > carwitter 04/05/2014 at 13:36

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The 3-wheeler was most likely revived because it was the only cheap way to import Morgans into the US as their exemption of following the DOT rules was expiring/expired about that time (and supposed yearly sales numbers put 25% of sales in the US.) 3-wheelers qualified under motorbikes.

Tritip > Deputy Kovacs 04/05/2014 at 13:39

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Three Wheelers are sold at Morgan dealerships in the US new. No need to "import" — unless you to refer to buying all foreign-made cars as importing.

stephenmcknight2011@hotmail.co.uk > carwitter 04/05/2014 at 14:15

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with time hopefully the rift will be healed.

ottodriver > carwitter 04/05/2014 at 14:30

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"Also the turning circle is quite wide do to the limited turn angle of those front wheels"

I'm guessing someone didn't "due" too well in English class.

3304HL > carwitter 04/05/2014 at 14:31

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And just think, it's only double the 2008 price of the Liberty Ace before they were bought out by Morgan....

Gmonster > carwitter 04/05/2014 at 14:41

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let's get real. This thing is fucking cool, and way ducking overpriced. Their margins must be huge.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. 04/05/2014 at 14:50

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you just described a Caterham.

Chris Furlough > carwitter 04/05/2014 at 14:51

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OH MAN! Those hood latch pins! They're the same ones used on the Atom, and GOD HELP YOU if you lose one. (Minimum order 100 at the one place I found them. 1000 at most of the others, and at over $1.50 each, that sucks!)

Chris Furlough > Deputy Kovacs 04/05/2014 at 14:52

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No, that look is reserved for Atom drivers. :-)

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Gmonster 04/05/2014 at 14:52

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If this was $20k j wouldn't hesitate to get it but usually $50 in the USA, yeah maybe after I win powerball

Slave2anMG > carwitter 04/05/2014 at 15:47

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I have driven a car that was a Morgan replica - Honda V twin out front, the sequential box from the motorcycle as well. It was an utter hoot. Loud, nimble, loud, fun, loud. It was loud. I loved it...

oncebittenkitten > carwitter 04/05/2014 at 16:57

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Such a very cool, if overpriced piece of British kit. The writing, sadly, was an under-edited piece of British shit. I stopped counting the grammatical and spelling mistakes, which ruined the experience. PLEASE have someone proofread before "publishing".

Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura > Der Sportwagoner 04/05/2014 at 17:44

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The thing is, while a V-twin would suit the image, it's only a 2L V-twin. I would be expecting some torque but after riding so many V2 bikes (Ducati, Suzuki, Harley)... Nothing, and I mean NOTHING comes close to having the torque band a 3 or 4 cylinder engine provides.

Also, the Rocket-3 engine looks old - something the Morgan needs!

SmoresTM Has No Chill (O==[][]==O) > Chris Furlough 04/05/2014 at 18:25

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Or go to an auto body shop that specializes in vintage cars and buy a couple off them. That's what the Caterham owner who has a couple cars at the shop at I work at does. The hood pins are pretty similar, if not the same. He buys them for $3 each, which is a little steep, but better than having to buy 100 at $1.50. Last time I got some for him, he told me that in the few months he had his Seven he had already lost more than a dozen...

MK6GTI-now with added Miata > Deputy Kovacs 04/05/2014 at 18:47

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Yep, nothing more British than Americans living in America and importing British cars while talking about how British they are for doing so. My favourites in London are the ones who hang out at the pub I go to and try really hard to sound like they're picking up an accent.

Deputy Kovacs > MK6GTI-now with added Miata 04/05/2014 at 19:16

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Or are you just sore that you're poor?

Don't just be an ass for no reason.

MK6GTI-now with added Miata > Deputy Kovacs 04/05/2014 at 19:54

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Poor? Who said I was poor? Confirmed my earlier suspicions about you being a pretentious ass who let his parents' money get to his head though.

Frenchlicker > MK6GTI-now with added Miata 04/05/2014 at 20:22

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Really you both are coming across as assholes.

You had fordboy357 at "meat tornado" > carwitter 04/05/2014 at 21:49

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I want to know how it goes from Miata transmission to a belt for the final drive.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas 04/06/2014 at 01:59

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Caterhams have automotive I4 engines, car gearboxes, and four wheels, not three wheels, three cylinders, or a sequential gearbox integrated into the engine's case.

carwitter > Slave2anMG 04/06/2014 at 03:56

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Sequential must have been a little different, what's nice about the Mog is its standard car gears.

carwitter > ottodriver 04/06/2014 at 04:00

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Apologies, typo missed - now corrected.

carwitter > oncebittenkitten 04/06/2014 at 04:07

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Care to elaborate? We found one spelling mistake that slipped through.

MK6GTI-now with added Miata > Frenchlicker 04/06/2014 at 06:08

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Fair enough

Chaos-cascade > carwitter 04/06/2014 at 08:16

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The Mog nickname has already been taken

tomgabriele > carwitter 04/06/2014 at 08:38

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There's still at least one un-capitalized-and-un-apostrophe'd "id" there...but I think we all can give some slack to an Oppo reader-writer

carwitter > tomgabriele 04/06/2014 at 09:29

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Sorted ;)

titsinmymitts > jariten1781 04/06/2014 at 10:05

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7. Always.

John Coctostan > 3304HL 04/06/2014 at 15:03

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I don't think the Liberty Ace was completely bespoke.

SP23 > carwitter 04/06/2014 at 17:16

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Dream car:

Elsewhere1010 > carwitter 04/06/2014 at 18:06

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Since the first moment I saw one online I've wanted one, and few weeks ago I spotted on in the wild here in SF, on South Van Ness heading north. British Racing Green, b&w checks on the bonnet, and the driver was a beautiful young redheaded woman wearing a red leather driving coat, a gold wool tam and a gold silk scarf. Never before and never again will car, driver and environment team up together to make a more beautiful picture...

But as an old fart with little hair but great spirit, I would do my best.

GBond > jariten1781 04/07/2014 at 00:00

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Where I live a 7, the basic 3 cylinder model. Mostly because the roads are bad and full of potholes. I do love the Morgan but it would be just too hard to use and the rear wheel would always end up hitting a hole avoided by the fronts.

Luckily I don't have to make that decision since me and my father are restoring a +4, best of both worlds!

AbeVigodasSon > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas 04/07/2014 at 11:43

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My thoughts exactly. I'd buy one today if I could get one for $20-$25K. Oh well, I guess that could be said about a lot of cool things.

Rick Brasche > carwitter 04/08/2014 at 18:01

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just waay to expensive for what it is, and what's in it. Ive seen complete custom builds from the ground up sell for less, and people paying someone else to build them one coming in under that price range. Production should be cheaper than a custom one off.

Rick Brasche > MK6GTI-now with added Miata 04/08/2014 at 18:02

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as bad as British people coming to America and complaining that America is not British enough.

Still butthurt over that tea thing? Or is it seeing India's economy flourishing after y'all got the boot that makes so many of you so cranky?

MK6GTI-now with added Miata > Rick Brasche 04/08/2014 at 19:25

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Plot twist: I'm an American living in London.

Nate B > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. 04/28/2014 at 02:16

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You would absolutely kill the nostalgia by changing the engine on the Morgan. It would also handle like crap. Rocket III engines are heavy. The radiator would cover up all the awesomeness. A longer nose would make it hideous. This is great the way it is.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > Nate B 04/28/2014 at 11:55

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Of course it wouldn't be original. It would be UPDATED.

I guess a hot rod with a top-side hood with open sides, a vertical grille, and the suspension IN FRONT of the engine, rather than behind the engine, would be anti-nostalgic... Think of that, scaled down, wrapped around a Rocket III triple, on the front of a morgan-style three-wheeler. No it would not be hyper-accurate to a 90-100 year old design... it would be better, and still look old-school.

And having an iron V-Twin (if it is a modern aluminum V-twin... that isn't so nostalgic...) in front of the front suspension, and a Miata-sourced (not nostalgic) synchromesh gearbox behind that V-twin, is still QUITE front-heavy.

BTW... a Rocket III engine has an integral sequential gearbox, in the side of the engine case, with a shaft drive output. Do you honestly think that is heavier than a V-twin on the front of a Miata gearbox? It is sure as hell longer as an assembly than the Rocket III's block. The Miata automotive style gearbox with the V-twin is still longer even if a reverse gear module had to be added to the Rocket IIIs' shaft-drive output.

And a Rocket III engine makes a lot more power as a fuel-injected modern engine with still old-school looks, than a joint-carbureted pushrod V-twin that are usuaully intended to be mostly effective at making a potato sound out of gasoline, more than actual power from it.

Nate B > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. 04/29/2014 at 02:18

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Then nobody would really buy it. It would be just another hot rod. Not as much uniqueness. It wouldn't be an update. Morgan found a niche' and they're having success with it. There are plenty of other bikes and cars you could buy that have more power or fuel economy for the money than the Morgan, but who gives a flying shit. It's unique. People will remember it. This is a problem that many auto manufacturers face. (cough cough GM cough Toyota) They don't know how to be unique. They don't know how to make people do a double-take and say "What the hell was that? I want one!" This is what Morgan's goal is, and they're succeeding.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > Nate B 04/29/2014 at 11:33

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First, I never said it would be branded as a Morgan, but as an adaptation of the theme they established. An alternative similar vehicle. Some build these cars with Moto Guzzi V-twins that are built to be oriented that direction. They could be built with BMW, URAL, Chang Jiang flat twins, or a Honda flat four or flat 6, or their liquid-cooled flying-V engines.

They could be built with Motus' new small-block derived pushrod V-four, or any number of engines.

Imagine one built with a Hartley H1 V8 built from two Hyabusa cylinder blocks on a common crankshaft.

I wouldn't put it past possibility to use an air-cooled Honda CBX, or even a BMW K1600 modern liquid-cooled transverse inline-6... considering that a cycle car doesn't lean, so engine width is less of a touch-down concern.

I never said that Morgan shouldn't build them the way they do... it isn't a new niche, it is a re-boot of their original cycle car, a design that is a century old.

There is a lot more available since then, and the Morgan design isn't necessarily more ideal than other interpretations of that theme.

Morgan itself just recently started officially re-builing these cars, this format was being built as an un-official replica cycle car, by companies like Ace and Triking cycle cars and probably others, with various engines and adaptations.

And no other traditional automotive hot rods, like pre-war Fords, are that compact, or three-wheeled, or powered by a motorcycle engine.

Expand your envelope a little bit, and understand the possibilities of the variants and adaptations of this general 3-wheel cycle car premise can have.

Morgan's interpretation may be the original, but that doesn't mean it is they ONLY way possible, or even the best that is now possible, a century later.