Morris' Mercurial Marvellous 850

Independent suspension on all wheels is employed. Springs as such are absent. Instead, there are four highly resilient rubber cones, the resistance in which builds up according to the load carried. The life of the units is said to be almost indefinite —longer, in fact, than normal coils. The suspension units are used in conjunction with normal telescopic shock absorbers.

A striking thing at first glance is the smallness of the wheels which carry tubeless 5.20 by 10 tyres. However, on the roads I don't think it would be possible to tell the difference between these and say, 13 inch wheels. Over the roughest parts of our test course the wheels tumbled into and over potholes and rocks, but never once did I encounter any serious jarring and thumping. Over corrugations there was a slight tendency for the ride to be choppy.

Handling on the rough section of the test course was better than any other car I can recollect. With the power on the 850 shot around the corners — most of them downhill —without the slightest fuss or bother, but with a fair degree of understeer. Just as long as the power was kept on, the handling was above reproach. The whole secret of driving an 850 fast is to make sure you keep your right foot hard down on the go pedal. If you are really hammering through a corner and ease off the power, understeer turns to oversteer and makes the car feel unstable. Tramp on the power again and it comes good without hesitation. The tail, by the way, always follows faithfully behind and I could just not shake it loose.

At one stage during the test I had the chance to drive the Morris over some recently wet and very, very greasy roads. I found a deserted roundabout and flung the long suffering 850 into it flat out in second. Although the inside front wheel spun slightly, the car felt perfectly stable and refused to slide.

In the Morris 850 you feel as though you are a strong candidate for the World Championship for drivers. Very few cars impart the same feeling of trust and confidence that you get in the 850. What other cars gain on the straights, the baby makes up on the corners. Quite obviously there is a limit as to how hard you can go around a corner in any car, but I venture to say that a well-driven 850 would be almost impossible to catch on a twisty road.

Front wheel does have its peculiarities in handling, but taken overall it is much better than conventional systems of rear drive. For instance, rear-engined cars generally have to be treated with a certain amount of respect until the driver gets used to the handling, but in the 850 a driver can feel completely at home in a matter of a few miles.

The steering of the 850 is by rack and pinion. In spite of the fwd there is very little reaction through the steering wheel, as is common with many cars using this kind of drive. The only time I was actually aware that the front wheels were the driven ones was when the car was accelerating hard out of a tight corner in second gear. Even then the reaction was only slight.

Directional stability in high cross winds was good with the power on, although I did notice a slight tendency to wander when the power was off.

Of the handling this can be said: to make the car go around a corner, just point the front wheels in the desired direction of the travel and press hard on the accelerator. In other words, you press the buttons, the Morris does the rest.

Unlike most small cars I have driven, speed is difficult to judge without the aid of the speedo. On several occasions I found myself driving away past the speed limit without being aware of it. In traffic the car's good acceleration and ability to slip in and out of the most unlikely looking spaces are a constant temptation. In fact, it is very hard not to throw the car around in a most vigorous fashion. For town use the brakes are good and combined with the high geared steering (two and a third turns lock to lock for a 30 foot circle) make for exceptional manoeuvrability. For parking and turning in narrow streets, the steering lock seems to be comparatively big, which it is for a car 10 feet long. The restriction is, of course, the price paid for front wheel drive. If you remember, Citroens have been plagued with this problem in the past caused through the limitations of the constant speed universals.

However, for anyone used to driving a normal sized car, the 850 would come as a revelation. It is just the kind of car you jump into and drive off anywhere, confident that it will go reliably, economically and quickly and when you get there you can be reasonably assured of easy parking.

On paper the performance of the 850 is not breathtaking by any means, but it is as good as some 1500 cc cars and about 60 percent better than any other car of comparable size. Examining the economy of the car, I found that driven in a manner which permits moderately fast average speeds to be maintained over relatively long distances, the 850 is not only faster than most, but also more economical. Driven flat out on a long trip with four people and luggage aboard. I was staggered to get a return of 38 mpg on one tankful and as the traffic thickened up and reduced the average speed, this consumption improved to 42 mpg. I daresay that careful driving would return perhaps 50 mpg. Normal driving conditions with two people aboard would probably result in 45 mpg.