Morgan Supersport vs Porsche 911 Carrera T: which £100k+ sports car is best?

Photography: Jonny Fleetwood

Its styling vividly betrays the 21st century glow up. It’s a Morgan, alright, but the shapes are smoother and more sophisticated and the chrome dial has been turned down. It might rub traditionalists up the wrong way with its overt signals of ‘forward thinking’, in fact. The outgoing Plus Six had a similar stance beneath the skin – its vintage design cues had perhaps fooled you otherwise. This Supersport is an altogether more sculptured, purposeful thing, even if some of its angles might take some acclimatisation.

The Porsche 911 Carrera T needs no such adjustment, looking – as the Clarksonism dictates – just like those that came before it. That’s not completely true, of course, but this is a familiar silhouette with the T treatment limited to chintzy stickers and puddle lamps from a pure exterior design perspective. The big story lies between its hardcore bucket seats: an open-pore walnut knob denotes its 6spd manual ‘box. It’s your only option on the Carrera T, and the Carrera T is now the only 911 outside of GT3 universe to offer a stick shift.

Wood? In a 911? It sounds like Porsche is stealing Morgan’s moves too. The Supersport counters back with exposed timber when you open its boot – yes, there’s finally a boot! – as a cherry atop the ash frame that still forms the skeleton of its cars. Sustainable and flexible, as well as a clear link to the firm’s enviable 127 year heritage, it’s to be celebrated rather than scorned. And when the Supersport weighs just 1,170kg – versus the 911’s 1,490kg – it’s clearly a smart way to build a sports car.

And it lends the Supersport a performance advantage, its power to weight figure 10 per cent chunkier than the 911’s. Their on paper stats make for a score draw in Top Trumps: the Porsche’s 3.0-litre flat six turbo boasts 388bhp and 332lb ft for 0–62mph in 4.5secs and a 183mph top speed. The Morgan’s 3.0-litre straight six turbo offers 335bhp and 369lb ft for a 3.9secs sprint and 166mph maximum, the latter hamstrung by older school aerodynamics. But progress feels much quicker in the Brit for a number of reasons, its sole gearbox option being an 8spd auto that takes much of the strain from its driver. Pining for a manual? Morgan probably wouldn’t sell enough to pay the R&D bill.

While these cars kick off at different price points – the 911 Carrera T from £115,400, the Supersport from a whisker over £100,000 – they both nudge £130,000 as specced. Each model is guilty of hoarding near essential items on its options list, the Mog more so than the Porsche. Many of the chassis goodies bestowed upon this self-proclaimed ‘most dynamically capable Morgan ever’ are optional, in fact, though the configuration corner in Malvern is no stranger to demanding buyers with big budgets, so I doubt many of the diehards will mind. Even if heated seats feel an especially mean option for a car that’s no paragon of cabin insulation.

This may be a new age Morgan, and ours may have the optional hard-top screwed on tight, but refinement is still far from a Supersport strong suit. You’ll be warmer than older, fabric hooded Mogs, and rain is significantly less likely to permeate the cabin when you’re parked up. Just don’t expect its Bluetooth stereo or comms system to win their fight against road roar at motorway speeds. This car will cover long distance surprisingly well, it just stops short of utmost luxury. Efficiency it can do, however; its ‘B58’ BMW engine scores mid-30s mpg even in a stocky Z4 or M340i, so you’ll hurdle 40 with ease in here. Visibility (and general airiness) benefits from its vast, fishbowl rear screen, the seats are comfy, and careful packing might see you squeeze a weekend’s gear into its rear luggage compartment.

Where the Supersport is full of surprises, the 911 isn’t. There are minor tweaks for this latest, 992.2 generation – most notably a digital rev counter in place of the old, much loved analogue device – but if you’ve owned a Porsche before, you’ll operate this one largely on muscle memory. Back seats are no longer standard on Carreras, although you can option them back in without cost – so long as you’ve not chosen the taut, grappling sports buckets fitted here. They don’t recline forward and make squeezing even small, soft pieces of luggage into the (now cavernous) rear compartment tricky.

If you’ve owned a Porsche before, you’ll operate this one largely on muscle memory

The seats look fab and will hold you tight on a trackday, but they strike me as a bind for everyday use, as do the Carrera T’s (standard) lightweight rear windows and reduced sound deadening. Though perfect for the ‘GT3-lite’ ethos this trim level exudes, touches like these gnaw away at the all round, one car solution schtick 911s have previously mastered. Morgan wants to nab 911 buyers – and Porsche appears to be helping it out by further narrowing the usability gap between these two.

Of course, there are plusher, four seat coupes available for similar money if practicality is your endgame. These are drivers’ cars, and thus how they handle is likely to sit higher in their buyers’ priorities. It’s an area 911s have always aced and the Carrera T is no exception. The steering is as rich and rewarding as modern electric systems get, and the front end tucks into turns unburdened – allowing you to get back on the throttle and power satisfyingly out of them, the steered rear axle unfailingly keen. There’s endless precision to the process which, on the big fat tyres of its staggered 20in front/21in rear wheels, is hard to breach at road speeds. Which doesn’t stop the 911 being a thriller, of course. Its limits just feel very lofty away from the freedom of a race circuit.

Its performance deserves rich praise in a world of EVs, however. It’d be ludicrous to declare 388 horsepower ‘not a lot’, yet nowadays it could be construed as quite modest. And therefore easier to wring out on road. Porsche has built a bit of linearity into its delivery, too – impressive for a big lunged turbo engine – which the manual ‘box only intensifies. You get to enjoy more revs, more of the time, even if second gear stretches past the UK speed limit and visits to its 7,500rpm redline will be rare. Thankfully it’s boosty enough to not feel burdened by that and the joy of snicking up and down its six speeds will never wear off; it’s a big improvement over the fiddlier old 7spd manual. There’s an auto-blip on downshifts if you wish, or you can switch it off and heel ’n’ toe yourself. Porsche has always embraced tech on its own terms and the latest 992.2 Carrera T is chockful of sympathetically applied systems. Even the necessary ADAS helpers are simple to turn off.

Mind, the Morgan is gloriously free of ADAS, and your initial miles feel an instant throwback because of it. There are traction and stability systems but they’re reasonably light in their grasp and this is a car that’s raw yet approachable in equal measure. A strong achievement. The Supersport is essentially a heavy facelift of the outgoing Plus Six, already a very good car, but detail chassis improvements broaden its dynamic repertoire notably. Its extra suspension travel over the Plus Six is evident right from the off, with speed bumps no longer a concern and broken or aggressively cambered tarmac unlikely to stifle your flow.

The Morgan is gloriously free of ADAS, and your initial miles feel an instant throwback because of it

It remains a pure driving machine with no touchscreen and little to distract you inside. Whereas previous Morgans did this with limited talent or breadth below their beautifully crafted skin, the firm’s CX platform era has turned that on its head with this Supersport the current zenith. Even on damp, autumnal roads there’s always more traction than you think, so while its steering lacks the finesse and fidelity of the Porsche, the reactions of its front end are quick and its rear always eager to keep up. You have more opportunities to play with its balance, in fact, your perfectly placed hips giving you the vital sensations to know when to push harder and earlier to exit corners with a bit of a flourish. Its limits are lower than the 911, and it’s more immediately charming as a result.

And boy, does it feel quick in comparison, that familiar BMW straight six never feeling more muscular than when it has the skimpy ash frame and ally panels of a Morgan to hustle along. Sadly, you need to keep the side screens intact to enjoy the brawny soundtrack that accompanies your progress – it’s carried off in the wind with them removed. The gearbox can feel a bit conservative in its tuning, too. Left to its own devices, it shuffles up the eight ratios ludicrously quickly, encouraging you to activate Sport (or Sport+) or grab the unsatisfying parts bin paddleshifters off an old Citroen to take control yourself. Let’s not admonish Morgan for those too harshly – engineering its own paddles would eat greedily into the development budget – but when the rest of the car stands for such fine craftsmanship, they’re a clear misstep.

This is otherwise a Morgan that needs few excuses or apologies. It’s the quicker, more immediately fun car of this pair, now gifted the grown-up damping and composure the thrilling performance of its forebears always deserved. Is it mature enough to steal existing Porsche customers? I’m not so sure. But the smart and scintillating Supersport ought to give them a blooming good scare. The 911 Carrera T beats it by the narrowest, most objective of margins.