The Morgan brand is one that has always been in the very limits of my peripheral vision. I knew it was there, yet rarely mentioned them during sports car conversations. That was even amid the inevitable British section of any chat with my new French car friends. As a hardcore sportscar enthusiast, Lotus, Caterham and TVR tended to dominate the patriotic element. Nevertheless, the cars are icons – their sporting heritage only a little older than the technology of their typical underpinnings. And that was always the problem.

But wait. Things have changed!

It’s not an overnight thing. Morgan in the year 2025 didn’t just happen from one day to the next. But unless you had their latest cars front and centre, you’d be forgiven for missing the Turn of their recent magic trick. I’ve recently befriended a rather superb magician so you’ll forgive me pushing the magic trick phase metaphors to their end in this article.

Upon first sight, Morgan’s Pledge arouses no suspicion. It presents just like how you’d expect an Aero 8 could look two and a half decades on. And I have fond memories of the first iteration when it was brand new. A friend’s mum turned up in hers when I was still at school – it looked great. Morgan had ‘gone modern’ – inverted Mini headlights; racey wheels and brakes; muscular aerodynamic bodywork – and a LeMans racing cousin to excite a fifteen year old car fan. If only they’d bothered to replace the ‘cheap’ BMW gearknob, but I digress…

The Supersport also has modern forward lighting – just what you’d expect in an era of tiresome EV nonsense. The whole front end is very on trend, even if a bit too ‘Marmite’ (if you’re reading from abroad, that’s a polarising funny foodstuff we have in Blighty – Britain). Yet it’s unequivocally still a Morgan; arguably much more traditional than the Aero series cars. And that might just be a good thing for once.

As you walk round the car there’s elegance and cleanliness; a successful modern take on a classic style. And there’s something about the rear wheels in their arches that screams ‘HOT ROD’ in a way that photos simply don’t capture. I couldn’t wait to test the rear wheel drive dynamics. By the time you’ve got to the very back, you can’t help but realise that you’re looking at something that may not be what it seems. With the optional carbon fibre hardtop fitted, the rear window is a striking detail, drawing the eyes ahead of spotting the far-from-traditional low-swept tail. It’s got an element of that much appreciated 2019 Porsche 911-based ‘special’, Moby Dick.

Just like each element in a good magic trick, the Porsche reference is not here by accident. Wink.

Whether you’re most inclined to start by reaching for the driver’s door or by opening the bonnet, you’ll be greeted pleasantly by build quality that simply isn’t conventional Morgan. Inside it’s Morgan only really smart. That there’s a powerful BMW engine hiding under the humps isn’t a surprise given the Aero 8 and more recent Plus Six ancestry. On the contrary, with the front end looking as it does, that this car isn’t a hybrid perhaps is. Of course, the car is aimed primarily at the toy market, so that’s hardly a problem, is it?

Start touching stuff and you’ll find that this car is properly engineered. There are some very nice features; the headrest-style connections for mating sidescreens to doors my particular favourite. The boot was also a surprise, one I’ll leave you to discover yourself at your favoured dealer. There are a couple of bits that need a quick redesign and update, but that’s like getting 98% in a Maths exam. You’d still be fairly happy with the result. As you get behind the wheel and adjust the seat, two things should stand out if you’ve ever driven other Morgans. First, you can actually swing your leg through the aperture as you take for granted with other marques. The seat is good. It’s comfortable, there’s sensible adjustment and it moves cleanly. Production car rather than quirky. And it’s a nice place to sit, genuinely. The cabin isn’t out-of-this world fantastic, but it really is a pleasant space. A good choice of materials and a steering wheel that is an improvement upon the overly bland Plus Six predecessor.

I’m sure there was room for at least one more prevalent Morgan logo or badge in the somewhat naked centre console and the chaps in Malvern are still leaving BMW gearknobs in plain sight, but, frankly, once you start the engine and put the new girl in Drive, you can almost forget all about that. Your peripheral vision is satisfied, the environment pleasing as you shift your focus to the picture framed by the windscreen. If that’s a flowing UK B-road you’re in for a real treat and if it’s not, don’t worry, going to find one isn’t going to be a chore.

You take a proper look in the door mirrors and realise you should have adjusted those before you set off. If you’ve got the sidescreens on you’ll have to get out, but, you know what? You don’t care. This car isn’t a BMW 3 Series or some mundane commuter vehicle. It’s a toy. You and I both know that all the best toys retain things mechanical. They are analogue. Of course if you’re going all in and left the windows on the garage floor you simply reach, adjust and carry on. Quicker than searching for some wiggly-woggly stick thing in the doorcards of what you drive every day at the moment!

Three turns of the steering wheel into any drive and anybody who has driven most of the Morgans produced in recent years will notice something specific – the steering feel. Old Morgans were terrible. I’m sorry Morgan, but you know that too. Perhaps the old 3 Wheelers could get away with it for the charm of the experience. However, it was such a shame to fall short in the Plus Six. Thankfully, afterschool study sessions have helped get this exam result. The Supersport has still not reached fabulous, but I don’t expect the majority of owners to spot the subtle distinction from some of the very best steering systems I’ve had the pleasure to engage with. It loads up correctly, operates suitably linearly and has a pleasing weight to it. Gone are the days of He-Man’s arms, but it’s not a one finger affair like the Vauxhall I rented a year ago. Honestly, it’s good.

To save words on the page, the rest is simply evolution of the Plus Six – and I raved about that in a previous article. The engine is powerful and the gearbox logic is much better tuned in the various modes. The braking performance is far more than adequate. Horsepower and factoid numbers you can read about elsewhere. They don’t even matter here anyway. This car has been conceived for experience rather than statistics…

If I start getting granular with my vehicle engineering hat on, the ride and handling is pretty good, but the car I tested is a little off with some excessive spring bounce at the rear. The throttle pedal and automatic transmission modes are well crafted to provide a range of options to suit driver and their mood. I’d have loved the car with a manual ‘box, but well-heeled consumers simply don’t want that very often these days. Ergonomically, I found no holes. That really is saying something. I can’t speak on behalf of the really tall and really small, but for my size, this is the second time that a Morgan has been far more than satisfactory (The Super 3 being the other!)

Visibility out of the rear window (with hardtop fitted) is excellent. The curved screen was a very worthwhile investment of time and no doubt money. Door hinges, the closing clunk, ingress/egress through the enlarged door aperture. It’s all strong marks here with the exception of the door (and sidescreen) release knob. The idea is great, but it’s a finger guillotine – reader, you have been warned! Seriously, Morgan need to do a dealer retrofit upgrade on this with a tweak to the knob and/or surround. A bit of a dealer’s time adjusting the installation on both doors to get the feel and function correct is also essential. The bonnet catches may be a nice visual change, but they’re bloomin’ awful to use and will require very careful adjustment to work well. This feels like a poorly executed kit-car feature and should be binned off. Fast!

In terms of driving, the car is generally composed; smooth yet engaging. From manoeuvring and low speeds to the spirited stuff, nothing is a problem. It makes some lovely sounds alongside the wind noise somewhat inherent with a flat ‘screen car – though not quite as marked as the Plus Six fighter jet whoosh on full-bore pedal pushes. The paddle-shifted cog swapping works well enough. It’s no manual and it’s no Porsche PDK, but it’s genuinely fine. Flow the car through a wiggly bit and you’re just going to start smiling. In a very un-Morgan way, the steering does everything it should do. This is a proper sportscar – Morgan now have my attention. And it’s very comfortable to sit in.

The car I tested was literally brand new – almost zero miles – on a cold damp day and on the public road. I simply wasn’t going to thrash it or get things into opposite lock, but I’ve got a pretty good handle on what a car is going to do by climbing 50% up its performance range and I can’t wait for a chance to get this car up to its lofty 70% – and substantially above in the right environment. The tail hints at what it’s going to do with a knowing smile that’s makes me have to concentrate very hard on behaving. There is a hotrod hidden under there.

With the weight of the car, available engine braking and the capable stoppers, you don’t need to brake as often or as hard as you may expect, but if you do, there’s plenty there. I’m not sure that the ‘fix’ for customer feedback regarding the uninspiring brake pedal from the previous car has been a success. It feels like they’ve just bunged a stiff spring in-line with the master cylinder pistons and until you overcome this, you’re not really feeling the brakes correctly. It’s firm but without doing anything. However, once through this zone (spring compressed), they feel fabulous – they’d be bloody brilliant on the track! On an elevated-speed emergency stop the rear rose right up and became very agile under braking – could perhaps do with some added anti dive there…

Right, time to summarise where to find those final marks: door release, bonnet catches and brake pedal evolution. The front bumper is too subjective for me to comment further. And then there’s the suspension. The car I drove was on the optional adjustable Nitron dampers which feel like they need some tweaking, however I’m confident that the chassis is going to be a lot of fun. Can’t wait to get on a test track and really push this car. I’d also like to run some back-to-back testing on this particular vehicle to see if we can get it riding and behaving as I expect it could with a few turns of the knobs. Perhaps ‘factory setting’ simply means ‘fitted’ in Morgan’s case rather than actually tested and adjusted to optimum.

But let’s get to a verdict.

For me to simply shower praise on a car is exceptionally rare. Just like when I’m developing a driver I won’t blow smoke in dark places unnecessarily. But if I pay a true compliment, you’ve damn well earned it. Yes, those few percent should be sought – particularly with this price tag – but they are very easy fixes that don’t mean recall and could even be sold as an ‘extra’ if Morgan take a few more leaves out of Porsche’s book.

We’re back at that P-word again! Why? Well it’s time for this magic trick’s much-awaited Prestige. You missed the Turn didn’t you? It wasn’t in the drive, it wasn’t in this article. For a car company dating back one hundred and sixteen years (!) with disappointingly little progress in terms of steering, suspension and underpinnings, in relative terms, they have completely reconceived the important stuff in less than the blink of an eye. Go and read about aluminium chassis technology with code numbers and steering updates available in marketing blurb on your own, please. The presentation is all marketing hot air, but the results make the difference. I will argue that Porsche produce some of the very best sports cars and I’ve put my money where my mouth is more than once. But you know what? They’ve now become too good. I’ll argue vehemently that the Germans are now at least one decade overdeveloped, attaining peak road-car enjoyment later than much of the industry with their (981) Boxster Spyder in 2015. Morgan are very late to the party. Perhaps even two decades when it comes to the era I consider golden as regards driving enjoyment in a car. But thank god they came.

If my current budget stretched to keeping all my current toys and to daily a fairly modern 911, I’d buy a (991.2) 911 Carrera T, no question. Make me choose from brand new cars in 2025 after popping a hundred grand in my pocket and you won’t see me anywhere near a Porsche showroom. The (992) 911 is a lovely machine. Very well refined, loads of modern tech to extend your smartphone and all that, but I’ll simply walk the other way. As almost the polar opposite, Morgan’s new Supersport offers you suitable comfort, refinement and just enough modern tech that you can go about your daily business, yet in a way where you are bathed in a constant glow of driving satisfaction. We’re not quite talking less is more. Just ‘enough’. Driving this car exudes how I felt when running a Mk 1 MX-5 every single day, everywhere only with abundant understated performance, celebrated British craftsmanship and the perfect balance of quirk vs quality. Now that’s a compliment!

Well done Morgan, you really deserve the high marks this time. Now get on with the door & bonnet latch upgrade kit, but don’t charge me Porsche money for the privilege…

Special thanks to Morgan & Lotus specialists Allon White Sports Cars for inviting me to drive their new Supersport. This was the best one yet!

Car tested would cost around £130,000 with options fitted, including: