Morgan Supersport 400 review

Morgan gives its compelling Supersport a 20% power hike to make it bombastically fast

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This is the Morgan Supersport 400 and, as the name suggests, it has 400bhp (ish). That makes it the most powerful production Morgan ever and, at 344bhp per tonne, the one with the highest power-to-weight ratio.

On sale now from £135,558, it sits beside the regular Supersport in the range and isn’t production- capped, so if you’re into one of the 200-250 Supersports that Morgan will make each year, just pick your preferred option.

 

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DESIGN & STYLING

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The Supersport 400 is an evolution not a revolution of the base model, which is a car that we’ve been impressed by since it arrived a year ago, as the replacement for the Plus Six, with a 3.0-litre straight six from BMW making 335bhp.

Now that has been increased by 67bhp to 402bhp by moving to a slightly different derivative of the ‘B58’ engine. It can barely be financially worth BMW supplying engines to a company the size of Morgan but, as evidenced by its former relationship with Alpina, it’s a car maker that clearly likes to do enthusiast things for the greater good.

For this 400 variant of the Supersport, Morgan has moved from the ‘M1’ to the ‘01’ variant of the ‘B58’ engine – the same as used in the final edition ofthe Toyota GR Supra but with a specific tune that suits Morgan. BMW is happy to sign off Morgan doing its own thing provided that it uses its calibration partner, FEV.

Cooling has been improved to manage the extra power: a new front grille design lets 10% more air flow at the radiators. It has a freer-flowing exhaust too, with a motorsport-grade high-flow catalytic converter and middle muffler deletion.

BMW allows Morgan to have its own throttle tune, and the engine still drives through a ZF eight- speed automatic gearbox. However, there is a revolution here: the Supersport is the first car with this combination that doesn’t come with BMW’s widely recognised shift lever.

Instead there’s a optional bespoke unit designed and made from billet aluminium, which meets BMW’s durability and safety standards and finally looks in keeping with the Supersport’s interior. It can appear in the base Supersport too and is retrofittable to earlier cars.

INTERIOR

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That new gearlever lives within a cockpit to which you can introduce the (rather pleasing imo) option of Alcantara for the door tops, dash top and steering wheel rim. Otherwise it’s largely as you were in here: a two small seats and enough elbow room if you’re friends, with a bit of cubby space behind, a compact glovebox and a not-bad boot.

Fit and finish is simple and classy. There are some sensible ergonomic touches like bespoke buttons, multifunction rotary dials, a phone charging pad that places your phone high enough that you can safely read its map and BMW-sourced column stalks and paddles.

There isn’t the same level of robustness of feel of, say, a Porsche 911 to which the Supersport is similar in price, but that’s an inevitability of its low-volume, hand-built finish. If you really want precision and repeatable quality, they would have to bemade by the tens of thousands.

While Morgan would like the Supersport to be solid enough to move from the third or fourth car in somebody’s garage to the second, it remains a special car and it feels it. Besides, who else makes a car with these specifications and this layout?

The 1170kg Supersport lies in a land between true lightweight sportsters like Ariel Atoms and Caterham Sevens and major marques’ heavier roadsters.

It’s a unique experience in either base or 400 form. So you’re seated low and snugly, with an evocative view out past the three diddy windscreen wipers and across the shapely bonnet, wings and light surrounds. You’re situated well back in the car and visibility is good: the mirrors let you see the rear wings and that hardtop, which I have on today because of iffy weather, is very airy.

The driving position feels very straight and probably you will find your left leg rests naturally against the transmission tunnel. A right arm would rest on the door top if that were flatter, but it’s a laid-back, GT-ish driving position.

 

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

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In BMW fashion, you can pop the gearlever to the left to engage its Sport mode, then push and pull it to shift ratios, or use the column-mount paddles, which I wouldn’t mind if they were a bit longer.

From standstill, the Supersport 400 has quite a strong urge to creep forwards. I suppose this engine- and-gearbox combination is more used to a heavy car and more servo-assisted brake pedal – and maybe an auto-hold function.

In this lightweight Morgan it can feel like it’s straining at its leash. So you may as well let it have it.

Goodness me. The result of a 20% power increase is that a sports car that was already fast has become bruisingly quick. I suppose there is some turbo lag but, given there’s such little weight to shift around, you don’t notice much. Peak torque of 369lb ft is developed from 1250rpm anyway, so there’s considerable shove in any gear, at any time. And if you wind it up towards its 6000rpm peak, it’s crushingly fast.

In the angriest drivetrain/exhaust mode, the standard sports exhaust (a £3110 option on the regular Supersport) makes some satisfying gurgles and pops, too. (Morgan owners are more likely than tuned-BMW M240i enthusiasts to turn them off in town, I imagine.)

Officially the Supersport 400 wants 3.6sec to reach 62mph from rest and its top speed is 180mph. I don’t doubt the former and have limited urge to attempt the latter.

RIDE & HANDLING

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Tweaks to the dynamics are relatively slight. This car gets, as standard, the regular Supersport’ optional Nitron-damped Dynamic Handing Pack (£3110), albeit with damping turned up to five clicks below maximum stiffness, as opposed to 15 below.

Geometry tweaks see a little less front camber and increased rear toe-in to give the car some more precision and agility.

A limited-slip differential is optional (£2425), and I’d suggest you tick the box, given this car’s capacity to break traction.

For all our talk of the Supersport being the most refined and sophisticated Morgan ever, there is still an old-fashioned feel to it. Perhaps more so in the 400 than the standard car, given the damping stiffness. There’s some jiggle to the ride that I don’t remember, but if that does prove too much, you can just pop it on jacks and click the dampers softer. I think well-surfaced B-roads or sweeping A-roads are where the Supersport 400 is at its best.

The steering is medium-light weighted and the right sort of speed, at 2.4 turns between locks, with a good turning circle. It’s stable at speed but builds response linearly and gives you a good feel for what’s going on.

The handing balance is pretty nice; it’s agile and capable of holding decent grip but, because you’re sited near the rear axle and because of the surfeit of grunt, it also has a very old-school, traditional high-powered roadster vibe, of wanting you point it in the right direction and light the touch paper. Like a miniature Ferrari 812 Superfast but with steadier steering. That’s not a criticism, by the way.

MPG & RUNNING COSTS

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On a good day the Morgan should return around 35mpg and, at the moment, used Supersports are holding their values terrifically well. A car that’s this handbuilt in so few numbers should continue to do so.

VERDICT

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The Supersport 400 is a thoroughly enjoyable Morgan. Sure, there’s more wind and road noise than you would get in a typical ‘second car’ in a garage, but it feels so much more special than that. It’s a bespoke, hand-built car.

There is an argument that, given the amount of hours that go into it and given that people want half a million quid for the typical restomod, any Supersport is actually good value (and since Morgan doesn’t always turn a profit, maybe it is too cheap). The 400 appears little worse value to me than the base Supersport, because it gets additional character and a few otherwise optional packs as standard. And it’s blisteringly fast.

Whether it will be a third or second car, it’s a really enticing sports roadster/coupe.

Matt Prior

Matt Prior
Title: Editor-at-large

Matt is Autocar’s lead features writer and presenter, is the main face of Autocar’s YouTube channel, presents the My Week In Cars podcast and has written his weekly column, Tester’s Notes, since 2013.

Matt is an automotive engineer who has been writing and talking about cars since 1997. He joined Autocar in 2005 as deputy road test editor, prior to which he was road test editor and world rally editor for Channel 4’s automotive website, 4Car. 

Into all things engineering and automotive from any era, Matt is as comfortable regularly contributing to sibling titles Move Electric and Classic & Sports Car as he is writing for Autocar. He has a racing licence, and some malfunctioning classic cars and motorbikes.