Morgan Supersport 2025 review: Judging a book by its cover
Question: what do Donald Trump, the Morgan Supersport and Britain’s best-selling brand of yeast extract have in common? Answer: they all polarise people, like taking a pick-axe to the pie chart of public opinion. So, you will either love how the Supersport looks or you absolutely won’t. Sitting on the fence is seemingly not an option.
Granted, that conclusion stems from comments posted on social media – hardly a nuanced forum for any debate. But whatever you think about Morgan’s new flagship, which replaces the Plus Six, it certainly makes people stop and stare. Or stop scrolling and stare. You can’t say that about a Porsche 911 Carrera.
I mention the sports car from Stuttgart partly because it costs about the same as a Supersport, but also because Morgan hopes to score a few conquest sales. “We aren’t trying to make a direct rival for the 911,” said chief designer Jonathan Wells when the car was first revealed. “But we do want to offer a credible alternative.”
Three months later, a factory-fresh Supersport emerges from its covered trailer onto my driveway. Its chrome is buffed and its Copper Metallic paint – a classic Porsche colour, ironically – glows gold in the sunshine. It’s time to shut out the Twitter trolls, go for a drive and judge this retro roadster at more than face value. How delightfully old-fashioned.
Timber meets technology
Cards on the table: I think the Supersport looks fantastic. It’s unmistakably a Morgan, with a rakish silhouette that has hardly changed since the Plus 4 of the 1950s. Traditional touches include the bug-eyed headlamps, low-cut doors and flat windscreen with three wipers.
Yet there are nods to modernity here, too. Instead of upright chrome bars, the horseshoe grille contains a darkened metal mesh. The hand-formed bonnet vents are replaced by a single air extractor. And the elegantly tapering tail – which owes much to 2024’s limited-edition Morgan Midsummer – houses a boot: big enough (just) to carry the detachable side screens.
The £102,000 Supersport comes with a mohair folding roof as standard, but buyers can add a carbon fibre hard-top for £4,194, or have both for £6,594. While it requires a few spanners to remove, the fixed roof fitted here creates a sleek, fastback profile that recalls the 2008 Morgan Aeromax coupe. The 19-inch Aerolite disc wheels on my test car (£4,800) add some custom car attitude – and save 1.1kg in unsprung weight per corner versus the standard 18-inch Superlite rims.
Underneath, the Morgan uses an evolution of the bonded aluminium CX platform that underpinned its Plus Six predecessor, along with the current Plus Four. Suspension is by double wishbones all round, with front and rear anti-roll bars, plus the option of adjustable Nitron dampers (£3,000, also fitted here). Oh, and before you ask, there is still an ash wood frame to support the aluminium body panels. Open the boot and you’ll see a lovely piece of exposed timber along the load lip.
Inside the Morgan Supersport
It sounds an odd observation, but step inside the Supersport and the first thing any Morgan aficionado will notice are the new, more substantial door hinges. Mounted to the metal chassis instead of the wood frame, they now feature locking points to hold the door in position if you are parked on a hill. Anyone who has ever bruised a shin when climbing aboard a Morgan should be thankful.
Like its exterior, the Supersport’s cabin is a quirky blend of old and new. Beautiful analogue dials are supplemented by an at-a-glace digital display. You’ll find leather trim, box-weave carpets and walnut veneer, but also a wireless phone charger and Bluetooth audio system with noise-cancelling technology. Only the banana-shaped BMW gear selector is something of a sore thumb. Apparently, changing it would have incurred huge costs in terms of safety testing and approval.
No matter: fit and finish are worthy of the six-figure price tag, and given Morgan’s plans to hand-build around 180 Supersports each year, exclusivity is assured. Customers can visit the factory in Malvern, Worcestershire to watch their car take shape, and chat with craftspeople amidst the sparks and sawdust. If buying a Porsche 911 is like joining a club, choosing a Morgan makes you part of a family.
A civilised soundtrack
The Supersport’s 3.0-litre turbocharged BMW straight-six is carried over unchanged from the Plus Six. Summoning up 340hp at 6,500rpm and 369lb ft of torque from just 1,250rpm, it drives the rear wheels via an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission. Unlike the Plus Four, there is no manual option.
Kerb weight has increased by 25kg over its predecessor, although the 1,170kg Supersport is still a flyweight among new cars. Zero to 62mph takes 3.9 seconds and subjectively feels even faster, the car piling on speed with a cultured snarl and muted pops from its active sports exhaust (£3,000). The BMW engine feels elastic and joyously exuberant as the revs rise, but its soundtrack is arguably too civilised. I’d welcome a few more fireworks.
That said, once you reach motorway speeds, the wind roar from around the doors drowns out everything else, making conversation difficult. If you want to enjoy music on longer journeys, the £3,600 Sennheiser audio upgrade, with a subwoofer and actuators that vibrate the car’s chassis, is likely a must-have.
Made nicer by Nitron
I’ve not driven a Supersport on the standard Spax shocks, but given how Nitron dampers totally transformed the Plus Four’s handling, they too seem like an essential option. Thus equipped, the Supersport rides with remarkable composure. The thumps and shudders that occasionally passed through the Plus Six are ably smothered, while its light steering feels calm and accurate. It’s all impressively grown-up.
Too much so? Well, the slightly unruly, hot rod character of its predecessor has been eroded a little. But in its place comes the best resolved Morgan yet: poised, predictable and confidence-inspiring. In Normal mode, the auto ’box is always looking to shift up, so I spent most of my time in Sport. Maximum-attack Sport+ mode gets a bit jarring on British roads, although you could play around with the damper settings to find a good compromise. They’re adjustable in 24 stages by hand, without needing to remove a wheel.
The Morgan might be an eight-tenths sort of car, but it’s one you can enjoy at sensible speeds, not least because of the sheer buzz it generates. Twitter might be divided (sorry Elon, I refuse to call it ‘X’), but people in the real world were utterly enamoured.
The sense of sitting almost atop the rear axle, gazing out over a long nose framed by voluptuous front wings, is also unlike anything else in modern motoring, save perhaps a Caterham Seven. And while the bare-bones Caterham is very much a weekend toy, this is a sports car you really could drive every day.
Verdict: Morgan Supersport
You’ll have noticed many references to options throughout this review, and it’s worth pointing out the £102,000 base price of ‘my’ Supersport had swelled to £126,211 when all extras were totted up. Remind you of anyone? It seems that Malvern has been studying the Stuttgart playbook…
A British 911, then? No, but the Morgan’s improved road manners, usability and performance could justifiably win over a few floating voters. Inevitably, it’s a less polished package than the Porsche, yet the compromises, like the wind noise at speed and lack of tech, are all part of this car’s unique, carefree character. Yes, the Supersport lives up to its looks – but I say that as a fan, not a (hashtag) hater.
Tim Pitt writes for Motoring Research
Morgan Supersport
PRICE: From £102,000
POWER: 340hp
TORQUE: 369lb ft
0-62MPH: 3.9sec
TOP SPEED: 166mph
KERB WEIGHT: 1,170kg
FUEL ECONOMY: 36.8mpg
CO2 EMISSIONS: 175g/km