Morgan Revives 4-Seat Roadster, Improves Aero 8
For this year’s Geneva Motor Show, Morgan unveiled the new 2006 Aero 8, with one key improvement - they fixed the nose. The biggest criticism against the ‘8 was the fact that its headlamps made the car look cross-eyed, to the point where it truly split opinions. The new car draws on last year’s Aeromax concept, a one-off hardtop coupe version of the Aero 8, nabbing the alterations made to the front end. In place of the canted headlights are self-cleaning xenon units that point straight ahead, as well as fog lamps, all borrowed from the MINI Cooper. The new Aero 8 also gets a revised front air dam that features a smaller intake, and the option of a hard top.
Aside from the aesthetics, the Morgan Aero 8 continues on with the mechanical revisions made to its chassis and drivetrain last year. For power, it relies on BMW’s latest 4.4-litre V8 engine, which features Valvetronic throttle management and Double VANOS for a total of 333-horsepower. With an aluminum body and frame, the Aero 8 is able to hit 100 km/h in under 4.5 seconds, and has a top speed of close to 280 km/h. Because each car is hand-built to the owner’s specs, there’s a significant waiting list of between six to twelve months. Pricing is on a per model basis, but expect to pay upwards of $110,000 US dollars ($127,000 CAD) for a North American specification model.