A dozen days have flown by since the climax of the Morgan Motor Company’s centenary celebrations that climaxed at Cheltenham Racecourse. It was a marvelously morgasmic event and I was delighted to have played my small and humble part. Even as I write, Morgans still dot the landscape as owners from far and wide extend their visits. Yesterday, in Sussex, I chatted to a couple from New Zealand who had shipped their car all the way over here and are now headed for the Edinburgh Festival. They’ve come far and are filling their days. Great.
When not in use, my own Morgan shares a stable with a brace of rather more practical Mitsubishis, as regular thumbers of these pages may know. Both the 1.5 three cylinder five door Colt diesel - due its first MOT in December - and the now six month old Lancer 2.0 DI-D GS4 Sportback, also with five doors, continue to delight. Of all the cars that I have spent long periods with, I can remember none more reliable, not to mention frugal.
The Lancer Sportback, in spite of its, erm, sporty looks, sexy profile and menacing jet fighter schnozzer, gobbles up loin fruit and baggage as readily as it smears up and down the highways and byways. It may do the Ziegler donkey-work, but it’s more thoroughbred hunter that burro in the way it goes about its business. And here’s a thing: we all know never to believe motor manufacturers’ fuel figures. Should they claim 50mpg, you and I would probably be happy if the car drank fuel at the rate of 40 to the gallon. It’s a bit like going to the doctor in reverse: when he asks how much you drink, he will always double what you tell him.
Mitsubishi claim that we should average 43.5 mpg in the well specced GS4 Lancer. Wearing my snugly fitting obsessive’s anorak, I can tell you that since February we have managed exactly 42 mpg. That’s flipping amazing. My right foot is made of lead and I drive everywhere as though my underpants are on fire. This means, that if I could only learn to drive properly, I should easily exceed the manufacturer’s claim. I think Mitsubishi are selling themselves short on that one. Whichever way the mop flops, they are being jolly honest.
No need to tell you that the motor industry, along with everything else, continues to lick its wounds. Mitsubishi has come up with a unique way of backing its dealer network, showing faith and confidence in the future which, with Lance Bradley at the helm, is bright and secure - of that I’m sure.
Morgan ownership is a great joy. It wouldn’t be practicable, however, without the backup provided by our pair of Mitsubishis. Well, not for me and my gang, anyway.
Zog Ziegler