Review: Morgan Aero Supersports

100hpero

ITL

09-ago-2010 19:21

Precio: 140.000 Euros
Motor: V8, 4799cc atmosférico
Potencia: 367cv
Par (Nm): 490Nm
Transmisión: 6-Vel auto, trasera
Velocidad Máxima: 273Km/h
0-100Km/h: 4.2 segundos
CO2: 260g/km
Peso: 1180kg

What is it?
Morgan's new range-topping sportscar, with a price tag to match. The Supersports is essentially a targa-roofed derivative of the previous Aeromax coupe, with the two cars sharing the same bonded aluminium chassis and lower bodywork.

The Aeromax was designed by Matt Humphries while he was still a design student at Coventry. Now graduated - and installed as Morgan's first head of design - the Supersports is his first major project for the company, and there's no denying that it's a stunning-looking car.

As with the Aeromax, and the earlier Aero 8, the Supersports has a bonded aluminium chassis - largely developed through Morgan's GT racing - plus 'superformed' alloy body panels (a process that uses high air pressures to form heated aluminium into shape.) Power comes from a BMW-sourced 4.8-litre V8 with 368bhp, which needs to motivate a car with a dry weight of just 1180kg.

What's it like?
Let's start with the design, which is stunning. You could park the Supersports next to anything short of a gold-plated Bugatti and know that it would win the bulk of attention. The traditional lines and muscular contours manage to refer to Morgan's illustrious sportscar past without degenerating into caricature.

Getting into the Supersports requires you to squeeze through a short door aperture, but once inside the cabin is trimmed to an impressively high standard, with most switchgear being bespoke. Our test car was fitted with the side exhaust system (banned in some export markets), which means that firing up the engine creates an instant, bass-heavy stereo V8 soundtrack.

Despite the under-stressed nature of the engine the Supersport's lightweight construction (still featuring English Ash between the alloy chassis and bodywork) means that performance is getting on for supercar rapid. The car we drove had the ZF six-speed automatic gearbox that most buyers go for, and which actually cuts 0.3 seconds from the car's 0-62mph time; 4.2 seconds to 62mph is quick in anyone's language. Morgan's increasingly prominent green credentials are also on display with a combined economy figure of 26.2mpg, easily achievable in everyday driving.

Modern Morgans have their dynamics underpinned by the company's extensive - and successful - experience in GT racing; one of the Supersports roles was actually to homologate a more aerodynamically efficient body shape to help the competition effort. The result is a very rigid chassis with excellent body control, agile responses and huge mechanical grip.

The Supersports doesn't have any stability control system, but on dry roads that's really never an issue. The targa roof system definitely isn't designed for making the most of a showery day, though. Removing the heavy roof panels and packing them in their protective bags takes a good ten minutes, and if you carry them with you they'll wipe out most of the otherwise generous boot space.

Should I buy one?
If you're looking for something completely unlike anything else, and you're able to stretch to the substantial asking price, then the Supersports should definitely be on the list.

Morgan has managed a neat trick over the last decade, quietly moving up the automotive hierarchy and becoming a genuine - if offbeat - luxury brand. When the Aero 8 was launched in 2000 it cost £5000 less than the cheapest Porsche 911. To buy an Aero Supersports you'll have to be prepared to spend as much as a Continental GT or DB9 would cost.

Yet the brand's success is that, experienced up close, it becomes impossible to deny that the Supersports deserves its place in such rarefied company.