The Plus Four’s elegant, elongated wing panels may be narrower than those of the Plus Six, but it still takes a good-sized step to bridge them.
With the roof down and the cutdown doors open, boarding this car is still markedly easier than getting into a Caterham or Ariel Atom might be, though. Even with the roof in place, it’s not too physically testing a process. The worst of it is managing to avoid snagging your trousers on the exposed raised edges of metalwork around the car’s door latches as you slide in, and then making a concertina of your legs and swinging them through the fairly small door aperture.
Apart from a slightly narrow seat and a snug-feeling driving environment, though, the cabin is surprisingly spacious. It’s laid out simply and has more than a hint of richness about it and plenty of charm. Although Morgan’s slightly truculent, stiff runners make the seat’s position a bit tough to adjust, there’s plenty of driver leg room.
Ahead of you, analogue dials for coolant temperature, fuel level, engine speed and road speed are all present, as is an analogue clock; and although they could have been given a little more material lustre and retro-cool design appeal, they strike the right kind of ambience for the car.
The cheap, shiny mouldings around the steering column aren’t so pleasing. No doubt they came as a job lot with the PSA Group parts bin column stalks and the holiday rental car key, but the car deserves better. Likewise, exposed electrical wiring has no place in a car at this price point, and we found a couple of examples of that.
The only digital screen anywhere in the car is one about 4in diagonally across that sits dead ahead of the driver and can be configured as a digital speedometer (the analogue one is on the far side of the dashboard) when it’s not temporarily relaying changes to your selected heater settings, for example. A smartphone cradle somewhere on the otherwise sparsely populated centre console would have been a practical addition, but you can well understand why Morgan didn’t include one.
Cabin storage around the cockpit is in short supply and there is no cupholder, but you can slot keys, phones and wallets into the ‘glovebox’ compartment, which would then be effectively retained by the elasticated mesh on the front of it.
Morgan Plus Four infotainment and sat-nav
The Plus Four doesn’t get any on-board audio system as standard and doesn’t even offer navigation as an aftermarket option. The simplified trip computer ahead of the driver provides per-journey fuel economy information as well as an electronic dipstick level, but anything beyond that is considered unnecessary for this car and, to be fair, probably is.
For extra cost, Morgan will fit into the woodwork of the rear cockpit frame a couple of nicely grilled speakers that are connected to a small amplifier, to which you can also connect your smartphone via Bluetooth. Alternatively, you can hook up an audio source via a wired 3.5mm minijack in the glovebox.
It’s a nicely integrated, discreet solution well suited to the car, although the speakers have slightly limited power and, with the car’s roof up or down, you’ll struggle to make out much detail in what you’re listening to with all the ambient noise. Just for some relief from the drone of a long journey, though, it’s worth having.