Sports car enthusiasts who feel that things used to be better in the old days should be pleased to learn that a car first produced in 1950 can now be bought brand-new right here in America. The quirky Morgan Super 3 has been available in the US for a little more than a year now, and now it’s time for the US to experience the Morgan Plus Four. As the name indicates, this is powered by a four-cylinder turbocharged engine – the award-winning 2.0-liter BMW TwinPower B48 engine, similar to the one you’d find in the 2 Series Gran Coupe.

Orders for the Plus Four have officially opened after a five-year-plus homologation program to ensure it meets American safety standards, marking the first time a four-wheeled Morgan has been available in the US since 2005. 12 official dealers across the country will be offering the sports car at a base MSRP of $84,995; let’s see what that buys you.

Lightweight Fun

Some Morgans are famously constructed of wood, but that wouldn’t do in America, so the Plus Four sits on Morgan’s CX-Generation bonded aluminum platform, first introduced in 2020, with double wishbone suspension. Power goes to the rear wheels through a ZF eight-speed automatic, whose shifter was clearly scrounged from a BMW parts bin. However, both the engine and transmission get Morgan-specific calibration. For example, the normal driving mode adapts gearshifts based on brake pressure and steering angle using four calibrations, and in Sport and Sport+ modes, another four calibrations do the same but with “more dynamic” settings.

The electronic stability control program also operates differently in each mode, but if you want a more focused experience, the optional Dynamic Handling Pack developed with Nitron adds new springs with single-way adjustable damping and a rear anti-roll bar. Whatever your choice, you get 255 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque, enabling a 0-60 mph time as low as 4.8 seconds and a top speed of 149 mph.

AP Racing handles braking, and if you don’t need a lot of space, this could be a reasonable daily driver with a WLTP fuel economy figure of 39 mpg. Sure, the EPA figures will be slightly lower, but a car that weighs 2,200 lbs dry isn’t going to put much strain on the B48.

Bespoke As Standard

“At Morgan, there is no ‘bespoke’ department. Every Plus Four that enters production is bespoke as standard,” claims the British automaker. There are nearly endless colorways and combinations on the Morgan Motor US configurator – both for the sleek old-school body and the sumptuous leather-trimmed cabin – but no-cost paints are limited to four hues: black, white, green, and blue. However, extra-cost paints aren’t ludicrously priced, with 12 additional shades available for around $1,100, another dozen optional metallic hues at nearly $1,900, and a trio of 3-stage pearl finishes at a little more than $4,800.

Any of these colors can then be ordered in combination with any other for a two-tone scheme that costs a little more than $2,200, plus the cost of the paints you choose. You can also choose any solid color from an RGB selector for just $1,595, but the classic combination of dark green paint with a caramel cabin should always be on the shortlist. If you’d like to see some of these paints and feel the various leathers in person, Morgan has dealers in the major cities of New York, Detroit, Chicago, Florida, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and Fort Lauderdale, among others. If there’s enough interest, perhaps someday we’ll get the straight-six Plus Six.