Morgan - a traditional sort of sports car

I'VE been asked, by my new employers, to find a secondhand car for sale at one of Britain's hundreds of classic car dealers and take it for a test drive. Will this suit the bill?

It's a 1997 Morgan +4 and if you're interested - which, if you like reading Life On Cars, you probably will be - it's yours for £24,500. Yes, I know that's the same sort of money as a showroom fresh Focus ST, a brand new Toyota GT-86 or a gleaming Golf GTI, but this is a much more enticing prospect. This is an immaculate Morgan that belies its years because it feels as though it's only just been run in.

Regular readers will already know I've got a soft spot for traditional sports cars and what I reckon this lacks in showroom-fresh reliability and warranty it makes up by just feeling more alive somehow. On a grey day at Southport sands it looked the part, and there's something about the view down that long, louvred bonnet that makes this a motoring experience rather than just a drive.

Would I have one over a GT-86? Not if I had to use it every day - it's heavy, defiantly old fashioned and I get the feeling taking a +4 to Tesco would spoil the Morgan magic somehow. But given a sunny day and a set of windy lanes to a country pub, this would run rings around the Toyota.

I mean, just look at it...