Morgan Supersport 400 vs. Porsche 911 Carrera T

Can a Morgan be as usable as a Porsche? Can a 911 thrill like a Supersport? Time to find out...

By Matt Bird / Saturday, 31 October 2026 / Loading comments

We’d be the first to concede that Supersport 400 and Carrera T are not conventional head-to-head rivals. Look at their interiors, for one thing: the Porsche is a lesson in sensible sombreness, everything in its place and a place for everything. The Morgan is like a concept come to life, an orgy of leather, metal, wood and Alcantara. The analogue speedo is best viewed by the passenger (the driver gets a digital readout), the sat nav screen is wherever your phone has ended up, and the wheel looks like something from a gallery. The Porsche will permit an extra pair of seats in the back; the Morgan hardly feels large enough to carry two people in the front…

Despite their obvious differences, however, there’s plenty that brings Porsche and Morgan together as well. Both are driver-focused offerings in their respective lineups, placing an additional emphasis on the driving experience compared to the standard Supersport and Carrera. Both produce similar amounts of power from similarly configured engines. Both cost more than £100,000 out of the gate, with plenty of scope to add more in personalisation (see below for the breakdown - it’s not often the 911 is the modestly optioned one). And, to be frank, what else is there? These are sub-1,500kg sports cars with around 400hp, no hybrid assistance and rear-drive only. A disparate pair of sports cars to drive and compare is better than none at all.

The 400 promises a lot, too. There have been Morgans with more than the Supersport’s 340hp in the past - cars like the old Plus 8 - though they always felt overengined in the less desirable sense of the word, driver clinging on while a BMW V8 did its best to tear a steel-chassis’d Morgan asunder. Fun for a bit, if not a recipe for a lifetime of happiness. With the latest version of the CX architecture, more than 400hp, a standard Dynamic Handling Pack, a new Active Performance Exhaust and the encouraging base of the Supersport to build on, hopes are high.

Pleasingly, the 400 is an immediately more invigorating sports car. The slightly industrial, breathy blare of a Supersports is gone, this version of the BMW B58 much smoother and sweeter to listen to thanks to those new pipes. Albeit with a racy edge, too, the rasp and snarl of its turbo straight-six unmistakably evocative of various 2JZ and RB-engined icons from the other side of the world. And from the other side of the world, a little wiggle on its springs like a muscle car if you give in to temptation and rev it in Park. Probably a standard Supersport does that as well, but the sound never encourages you to - now it does. And it’s brilliant fun: six-cylinder Morgan flagships can certainly do the hot rod thing just like a V8.

That invigoration extends to the performance as well. Torque might be unchanged from the Supersport, though taking this new flagship beyond 400hp - another 20 per cent more exactly - means it definitely feels faster when you go looking for it. With weight unchanged as well, meaningful acceleration in a 400 feels like piloting a luge, surrounded by a tube of metal that just won’t stop speeding up. There’s a Caterham feel, too, where the power-to-weight so emphatically favours the former - it’s 350hp per tonne now - that there’s seemingly no inertia at all. Ratios continue to fall, speed continues to climb, and before long even the most charming chap in the country wouldn’t be able to talk himself out of trouble in this Morgan. 180mph? Easy peasy.

Certainly this feels usefully quicker than the Porsche, it being only slightly down on power though carrying an extra quarter of a tonne. With acceleration punctuated by manual gearshifts, too. Indeed, with its more accommodating cabin and greater insulation (despite the changes that come for a T), the Porsche feels slower even than the stats suggest. The Morgan is a proper straight-line monster in a way that the standard Supersport isn’t quite, with just the right amount of power surfeit; by comparison, the 911 can feel not exactly slow - just not that fast either. The flat-six isn’t as nice to listen to, either, without the same attitude at low revs or musicality higher up

By and large, these two drive just about how they look. The Morgan is relatively narrow tracked, driver sat back towards the driven axle and a large engine under a dramatic bonnet - it’s the old-school British sports car for the mid '20s. Your cornering approach reflects that: while limits are higher, slow in and fast out is still your friend. The broad Porsche predictably trades on traction, stability and poise. Even with a manual between the front seats of the 911, the driver is undoubtedly busier in the Morgan, especially in inclement weather.

Busier doesn’t necessarily mean better entertained, though. Much is made of Porsche control weights, and they really come to the fore here: every pedal application and steering input feels more precise and confidence-inspiring against a slightly approximate Morgan. Surprising, perhaps, given the weight difference. But the first degrees of steering lock and centimeters of brake pedal travel are a tad vague in the Supersports, and down a road there’s no separating them in terms of speed.

With the manual so seldom seen these days, a gearbox as good as the Porsche’s really stands out. The weighting is spot on, the travel short, the feel very deliberate - a proper change-gear-for-the-sake-of-it arrangement, much superior to the old seven-speed unit. Something similar (or even just comparable) would be ideal for the Morgan, the perfect complement to its traditional feel. While much is made of the new selector, it’s not much cop, with the springiness of an arcade game joystick. The paddles are still the old items, too, fixed to the column and not offering enough resistance. Manual shifting isn’t the tactile reward it should be in a good auto. The sportier drive modes make the throttle too sharp, ergo kickdown too keen, so you leave it alone. It’s the little details that you’re willing to work around in isolation that are totally exposed by a note-perfect Porsche.

The auto’s frustrations are doubly disappointing because the rest of the 400 package encourages the driver to get stuck into the experience. Beyond the initial fuzz, the geometry changes for this version result in a Supersport that’s keener to corner; firming up the Nitron dampers of its Dynamic Handling Pack (optional usually, included here) makes for taut, disciplined dynamics - it’s the first Morgan in memory that feels better the harder you drive it. Without, crucially, abandoning the charisma that made them all so appealing in the first place, from the view out the front (and the rear, in fact, for this particular Morgan) to the reaction of passers-by.

You won’t get cheery waves or anecdotal stories in a bright red 911, sure, but then neither will you have to make any excuse or allowance for it. There simply isn’t a weak link to the T; it’s as complete and as capable as any other 992, and where some lesser-ranking PDK machines want for a bit of involvement, the manual means you’re always occupied and very entertained. It’s sufficiently altered to feel just that bit fizzier than a Carrera, without being changed too much and undermining the everyday usefulness. The tyre noise is nothing compared to the Morgan’s wind noise. Obviously a 911 Carrera with a manual and some stickers is less of an event than the first series production Morgan with over 400hp; when folding yourself into a seat that never quite fits right or dealing with a huge fogged-up screen behind, however, being eventful isn’t exactly desirable.

Especially as, hand on heart, a 992 still offers a keen driver a great deal. Maybe it isn’t as raw, yet it can counter with an engine that revs with even greater vigour, a suite of driver aids that intervene more tactfully, and that really beautifully done manual. However you want to drive the Carrera T, it’s happy to accommodate. The 400 really only feels at its most compelling in ‘en route to Sunday Service’ mode. Which, in fairness, is probably where a Morgan should excel.

When the as-tested price is £165k, however, the offering needs to be more broadly talented. The £135,000 list looks punchy already, even allowing for those famously strong Morgan residuals. Particularly when there’s a Porsche that can offer its own take on the almost retro sports car idea - and be better suited to all scenarios - for almost £20,000 less. Objectively and entirely predictably, it’s the superior modern-day sports car. And actually a real highlight in the 992.2 lineup, proof that a new 911 doesn’t have to be more than £150,000 to put a smile on your face.

But probably you were team 911 or team 400 in the first place. Nothing about the comparison will have changed your mind, exactly because they’re so different in the first place. Nothing about the Porsche’s manual 'box counters the Morgan’s incredible design; the hand-crafted sense of occasion is a USP, but then so is being great to drive. Perhaps the more important takeaway is that Carrera T and Supersport 400 are the best of their respective bunches, usefully more exciting than the models beneath them without compromising the innate appeal. Combining classic style with modern performance in their own distinct ways makes for a pair of very satisfying, persuasive sports cars; anything less wouldn’t hit the spot in quite the same way, and neither do you crave much more. Those after a Morgan or a 911 Carrera - and not of unlimited means - can do no better than a Supersport 400 or T. There’s never been a better time, basically. Just go easy on those options…

SPECIFICATION | 2026 MORGAN SUPERSPORT 400

Engine: 2998cc straight-six, turbocharged
Transmission: 8-speed automatic, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 408@6,000rpm
Torque (lb ft): 369@1,250rpm
0-62mph: 3.6sec (claimed)
Top speed: 180mph
Weight: 1,170kg
MPG: TBC (35mpg est)
CO2: 180g/km (preliminary)
Price: £135,558 (price as tested £164,597.11 comprised of Morgan Satin Silk Silver paint for £5,221.51, Rosewood Santos console veneer for £1,549.56, Sophisto grey 19-inch Sportlite wheels for £995.04, Sennheiser Premium Audio for £3,731.40, Coral front brake calipers for £481.88, Connectivity Pack for £342.05, Alcantara interior - Chocolate for £2,250.46, Dark Accent Pack for £1,237.58, Tunnel sides in leather for £373.14, Coral Side Sill Graphic for £354.34, Aluminium Gear Selector for £1,741.32, Black alcantara steering wheel for £795.16, Box Weave carpet - Dark Grey for £746.28, Ceramic Dark Grey exhaust tips for £301.39, Supersport 400 Extended Stitch for £963.88, Limited Slip Differential for £2,425.42, Comfort Plus seats for £746.28, Sophisto Grey Hard Top for £4,347.08, Heated seats for £435.34

See every Supersport for sale

SPECIFICATION | 2026 PORSCHE 911 CARRERA T

Engine: 2,981cc, flat-six, twin-turbo
Transmission: 6-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 394@6,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 332@1,950-5,000rpm
0-62mph: 4.5 secs
Top speed: 183mph
Weight: 1,490kg (DIN)
MPG: 26.0-27.1
CO2: 237-246g/km
Price: £117,000 (price as standard; price as tested £128,466 comprising Guards Red for £1,704, Sport-Tex Plaid Interior Package with extensive items in leather for £NCO, Adaptive Sports seats Plus, electrical 18-way with memory package for £2,428, Rear seats for £NCO, Preparation for roof transport system for £51, ‘911 Carrera T’ decorative side logo in Vanadium Grey for £NCO, Seat Belts – Guards Red for £380, ParkAssist including Surround View for £729, BOSE® Surround Sound System for £1,269, First Registration Fee and VED for £4,905)