More Plus Points for the Morgan Plus 4

You might struggle to spot them, but Morgan has initiated a range of updates to the Plus 4’s styling, suspension, and technology. Like most Morgan modifications you’ll need to go macro to notice the changes. Outwardly, the car still looks like it was born in the 1950s (which the Plus 4 was), but put this latest model alongside the outgoing car – first introduced in 2020 – and there are subtle differences. Re-profiling of the front and rear wings, the new eight-inch headlamps that incorporate turn signals, and a matte graphite front splitter all stand out. At the rear is a simplified diffuser, and there are now just two taillights instead of four. Those classic-looking chrome mirrors are actually new as well.

Moving inside, there’s nothing obvious to see with the changes focused on in-car entertainment and lighting. It remains a delightful mix of old and new, with wood veneer, aluminium, leather, and deep-pile woolen carpets. The BMW-sourced gear selector and steering column look a little out of place, but that’s the price of progress. Oh, and on the topic of price, the Plus 4 starts at just under £75,000, while as tested it’s almost £87,500.

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Beneath the bodywork, the 2-litre BMW twin-turbo engine and eight-speed automatic transmission are unaltered (a six-speed manual is also optional). Morgan has updated the suspension, though, with new spring rates and re-valved dampers. A new Dynamic Handling Pack is available, featuring adjustable Nitron suspension that provides new springs and single-way adjustable damping, along with an adjustable spring platform, as well as the addition of a rear anti-roll bar.

I spent many miles on motorways and mountain roads in a Plus 4 in 2023. With that experience still relatively fresh in my mind, my time with the new iteration quickly yields some clear differences.

Immediately obvious is a somewhat stiffer ride. It’s not unpleasant, but you certainly feel the bumps a bit more than before. The trade-off is a chassis that’s perhaps just a little easier to play with. Even with the car’s stability systems in place and on a dry road, it’s perfectly possible to provoke the rear Avon tyres into a smidge of a slide coming off a roundabout with an early application of the accelerator. The car I drove to Switzerland was on winter rubber and would also move around, but it now feels more predictable and easier to control.

This sort of behavior is rather at odds with the car’s classic looks, even more so when you switch the driving mode to Sport Plus and the BMW motor accompanies every throttle lift with the type of pops and bangs you normally hear from a modded 1 Series.

As a result, while the Plus 4 can cover ground remarkably quickly when deploying its full 255bhp, sprinting to 62mph in scant 4.8 seconds, and gobbling up corners with gusto, it feels just a bit wrong to do so.

For most of my time I simply pottered around in auto mode, not troubling the plastic paddle-shifters (which would be much nicer in metal) and savouring the sounds of my playlist more than the motor. The updated Sennheiser stereo system is easy to pair by Bluetooth and has plenty of power. So much so, in fact, that you feel the bass through your butt almost as much as you hear it. It will even almost overpower the wind noise at 70mph whether the roof is down or up.

On that topic, it’s not the work of a moment to raise or lower the canvas as it requires getting out of the car to do so. The side screens are also removable and, on delivery the driver’s side didn’t make a good seal with the windscreen pillar and took several attempts to readjust it. I’m sure that with familiarity it would become less fiddly.

This minor niggle aside, the Plus 4 is no more difficult to live with than any other roadster. It’s a doddle to drive when you want it to be, but can turn on the taps when you reach your favourite road, and all the while offering the charming good looks of yesteryear.