RE: Shed Of The Week: Rover Metro

[olof3528]

GranCab said:

If you really wanted a small car for a grand ...
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/used-cars/citroen/c2/u...
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/used-cars/renault/clio...
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/used-cars/honda/jazz/u...
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/used-cars/fiat/punto/u...

Edited by GranCab on Friday 24th October 11:48

You're not getting it. Why would you want a boring mainstream car when you can have something so genuinely nice and different. Fx as a mint Metro. You're so strange, you Brits...

[jeremy996]

I rather like the Metro, but at £995 it is far too much.

As a family we had an early hearing aid beige 1.3S, (1275cc A Series), which went to university/college with my sisters, (my parents asked me to find a cheap basic car). It got named Rustbucket almost from day one, which was unfair as it was rust free, (Ziebarted from new and only three owners). While at GLOSCAT with my sister, it was used as band transport for a thrash metal band, with the seats folded down you could fit a lot of stuff in it.

When my sisters got proper jobs and bought shiny cars, (one sister a Mini City E and the other a Vauxhall Nova), I got it back as a "spare" car and kept it as it was almost worthless. We kept it insured and MOTed, so if we or anyone of our friends needed a car, it would be lent out on a 'feed it and don't crash it' basis. It eventually died after an accident into the armco around a railway bridge, which bent rather too much of it out of shape. It drove into the scrappy in 1996 and I got fair money too.

I have one memento from the Metro, a exhaust valve with a V shaped chunk missing from it, described as 'mice'. The only time it would not start, it had no compression on pot 4 and a cylinder head gasket failure between 1 and 2. No wonder it would not start! I think the repairs were under £100 - the big advantage of simple cars.

[PoopahScoopah]

Well played Shed. Well played indeed! I can't remember the last time I logged on at lunchtime to find the forum replies to SOTW already up to about 8 pages!

I find there's some irony in the fact that so many feel let down by this week's SOTW because it's just a Metro. A stty old Metro. Who could possibly be interested in that? And yet the first umpteen pages are filled with criticisms of the Metro's crash (un)worthiness. Valid criticism or not, if the worst thing you can say about a Metro is that it's a death trap, then you probably ought to close your PH account and just stick to reading The Guardian's motoring pages (or something similar). By the logic of some, they wouldn't entertain the thought of taking anything made before the late 90s anywhere near a public road. Forget the many and varied classic cars from the previous decades, as they don't have an NCAP rating! Jesus wept

Can't say I'd particularly want to own a Metro mind you, unless it was something ridiculous and Q-car-ish like the turbod beige one somebody posted earlier. And I can't see this one going for anywhere near the asking price unless it's to a real enthusiast from an owners club who wants to preserve its condition. Horses for courses I guess.

Roll on next week. No doubt it will be business as usual at SOTW with yet another big Euro saloon. The PH masses will be back in their comfort zone and the forum will be full of the usual yawning replies like "I live just down the road. Tempted!" or "If I had space for another car I'd be all over this!".

[Dr Imran T]

this may well top the Nissan Bluebird that was on SOTW before - however I think the bluebird has the edge.

[Wolands Advocate]

PoopahScoopah said:

Well played Shed. Well played indeed! I can't remember the last time I logged on at lunchtime to find the forum replies to SOTW already up to about 8 pages!

I find there's some irony in the fact that so many feel let down by this week's SOTW because it's just a Metro. A stty old Metro. Who could possibly be interested in that? And yet the first umpteen pages are filled with criticisms of the Metro's crash (un)worthiness. Valid criticism or not, if the worst thing you can say about a Metro is that it's a death trap, then you probably ought to close your PH account and just stick to reading The Guardian's motoring pages (or something similar). By the logic of some, they wouldn't entertain the thought of taking anything made before the late 90s anywhere near a public road. Forget the many and varied classic cars from the previous decades, as they don't have an NCAP rating! Jesus wept

Can't say I'd particularly want to own a Metro mind you, unless it was something ridiculous and Q-car-ish like the turbod beige one somebody posted earlier. And I can't see this one going for anywhere near the asking price unless it's to a real enthusiast from an owners club who wants to preserve its condition. Horses for courses I guess.

Roll on next week. No doubt it will be business as usual at SOTW with yet another big Euro saloon. The PH masses will be back in their comfort zone and the forum will be full of the usual yawning replies like "I live just down the road. Tempted!" or "If I had space for another car I'd be all over this!".

^^ PH needs some sort of "Like" button.

[oldtimer2]

The Metro can only really be understood in the context of the time and circumstances in wwhich it was built. As a car it did what was asked of it. But for many it was more than that. It was the car that Red Robbo tried to stop (using barbed wire barricades no less to block the entrance to the new, and then state of the art, body shop built at Longbridge). Red Robbo was fired by the BL management - a sensational event at the time.

BL also succeeded in building the car efficiently - to the surprise of many - to the extent that even the then Ford Vice president of Manufacturing for Europe (Bill Hayden) was moved to say to a Parliamentary Select Committee that he thought that BL had done a good job in this respect. So it was not just any old car. It was the car that survived the fight with Red Robbo and the disruptive shop stewards to see the light of day.

As for build quality, all I can say it was much better than the Fiat Uno I bought new for my daughter in 1986. Before the year was out both front suspension units collapsed without the benefit of a crash or a collision - prompting an extremely sharp letter from me to Fiat and an urgent recall programme by Fiat. It also proved to be a terrible rust bucket.

It is easy to see why people knock the Metro today. But that was not how it was viewed when it was launched. It was more than just a car.

[MC Bodge]

When did British people become OBSESSED WITH SAFETY?

I ride a motorbike and sometimes drive an MGB. NCAP -10000!!?
I'd have it, but not for a grand.

[B.J.W]

PoopahScoopah said:

well observed stuff

Point well made. This is shed of the week, not 'safest car for a grand week'

I own a Westfield. On paper, it's a death trap, but it's NCAP rating was the last thing on my mind when I bought it, as was my other recent purchase from the 1980's.

That Metro is a genuinely interesting prospect for someone looking for something a little different for a bag of sand. I doubt there are many cars around in better condition for that price.

[anonymous-user]

PoopahScoopah said:

if the worst thing you can say about a Metro is that it's a death trap.....

No. It's not. It was a poor car then and has aged about as well as a stty nappy. It's is also not what car is 'the best condition for a grand'

Nothing can save this car, nothing, ever.

[DeltaEvo2]

NO!

[Biker's Nemesis]

My mother had a Silver 1275 Metro(B444 FBB) back in 1984 I thought it was an ok car back then and still thought it was OK just before she got rid of it in 1987.

If I remember rightly it hung on pretty well in the corners and din't have much trouble keeping up with my mates 1300 Mk2 Escorts.

[Tannedbaldhead]

Have any the vitriolic critics actually driven one?

My ex wife and I bought one in the late 1990s as a second car. When we moved to London my employer got shirty about the number of weekend trips we were taking back to Scotland in my company Passat TDI so the little 3dr 1.4GTa found itself promoted from city runabout to long distance high speed cruiser. What's more, the little "Metro" stepped up to the task rather well.

It was a comfortable, quiet and refined 85mph cruiser, it pulled incredibly well from 70mph into the 90s, was a very entertaining handler, rode well on the Hydrogas suspension, I loved the airiness of the cabin (low waistline, loads of glass) and it managed to combine an incredible amount of interior space into a tiny (very conveniently so for London use)exterior. It did all this while averaging over 40mpg.

Sorry folks, but as an ex-owner I've got to say that as a driver's car (and drivers' cars are what we at Pistonheads should be into rather than safe cars) the little Rover 100 was a bloody good car.

[MC Bodge]

A relative who is a "keen" driver had a k-series 1.1 as a runaround. He seemed to like it.

A mate's brother had one. It was like a kart and driven hard everyhwere.

The Mob mentality in here is disturbing.

[masermartin]

dme123 said:

dbdb said:

The same thing would happen in any other small car from the Metro's time. The only cars of that era which can be considered anything like safe to modern eyes are very big cars at the Mercedes/XJ6 level.

This is doubtless true if you consider the Metros "time" to be 1980 when it was launched, however when they were still selling it in 1990 - 1997 it was almost certainly one of the least crash worthy cars money could by.

This is the point people are making on the safety aspect. It was sold well after it's time was up, and newer cars were being built with much better structural integrity.

r11co said:

Isn't it amazing how the human race was totally wiped out by driving these 'death traps'. We are all now just virtual reality bots and holograms I guess?

We weren't driving among much stronger and better engineered stuff then. Everything squished the same. Crash this head on into a modern Clio and the hologram would be your best bet.

Zircon said:

How is this any worse than its 1980's rivals:

I'm not really in a position to say, having only turned a Metro down as a first car in favour of what felt (to me) like a more structurally sound and spacious Mk 2 Fiesta. Never tried any of the others. Personally I found the Metro cramped, noisy and badly built and I looked at a fair number back in '95 when I passed my test. The Fiesta seemed better all round to me, albeit more expensive (maybe the market knew what people's opinions were even back then?) but take that subjectivity out of it and it's still very easy to see it's a lot worse than it's 1990's rivals.

J4CKO said:

Europa1 said:

NGK210 said:

Gandahar said:

I screwed my wife to be in a red Metro in the middle of Watford NCP carpark one night...

Gracious, the seems a tad ruthless. Or did you mean to write:

"I screwed my wife-to-be in a red Metro..."??

NGK 210, you have made my afternoon! Although my colleagues now think I am a mentalist who cackles at his desk for no apparent reason...

Are we reading this as he had to have sex with a woman, that he subsequently married, as a kind of barter to be allowed a go in her metro ?

Does that mean he is Metrosexual ?

I shall applaud you for that J4CKO, even if nobody else will ...

[VAGdave]

yonex said:

Glowing over a Metro still, well, well. I'll forgive them in the early cars The original 1300 MG was a fun little thing, but when it spawned the frumpy later cars it lost the spirit IMO. We are talking 1990 with this tepid little rot box with a wheezy A Series!! You could have also had...



or



or



Being there at the time these threads make me smile. We all knew the Metro was crap

Hmm, that picture of the Nova looks familiar. I seem to remember taking that in Whitby a few years back (note the username):
https://www.flickr.com/photos/46637666@N07/6750334...

Re the Metro, these actually drive much better than you'd think, as some on here have already noted. In my experience,a lot of old cars actually feel a more responsive / nimble (fun!) than even supposedly 'interesting' moderns. Just because it's not fashionable, doesn't have mega-bhp (and isn't a BMW/Audi) doesn't mean it should be dismissed out of hand.

Would I want it? Not especially, but it does have a place on SOTW.

[VolvoT5]

I saw a really old Austin mini-metro in a car park today. It had some retro appeal but my main thoughts were how tiny it was compared to modern cars and what a total death trap it would be in an accident. SOTW being the newer model has even less appeal but still all the downsides.

No, just no.

[Nardies]

FWDRacer said:

Do Foxtrot Oscar. Drop a 1.8VVC lump in and have the last laugh. Metro Gti's were (are) massively underated little rockets. Some people wouldn't know what fun is if it bit the end of their ker-knob. Fun isnt a chipped 118D IMHO.

This. I had a go in a 1.8vvc metro around 12 years ago, it was very brisk indeed, you were always cognisant of the fact that if you left the road you were toast, but that true of most of the small, fast cars of that era.

[redroadster]

Retro cool or Total Pish ?

[anonymous-user]

FWDRacer said:

Do Foxtrot Oscar. Drop a 1.8VVC lump in and have the last laugh. Metro Gti's were (are) massively underated little rockets. Some people wouldn't know what fun is if it bit the end of their ker-knob. Fun isnt a chipped 118D IMHO.

So no suspension or brake upgrades? Just drop a more powerful engine in...better than 118d (chipped)

You heard it here first

How many of you commenting held a driving licence in 1986, serious question. I can remember driving a '78 mk1 Fiesta that was more refined and faster than my new 'City X'! I also didn't know what ride quality was until a knackered 205 diesel. Do you see a trend..

Of course it could be that I just despise the British car industry and have been proven wrong by the absolute success of Rover..erm..oh. Still it gives pistonheads hope. No matter how loathsome a car is someone, somewhere can find character.

[J4CKO]

masermartin said:

dme123 said:

dbdb said:

The same thing would happen in any other small car from the Metro's time. The only cars of that era which can be considered anything like safe to modern eyes are very big cars at the Mercedes/XJ6 level.

This is doubtless true if you consider the Metros "time" to be 1980 when it was launched, however when they were still selling it in 1990 - 1997 it was almost certainly one of the least crash worthy cars money could by.

This is the point people are making on the safety aspect. It was sold well after it's time was up, and newer cars were being built with much better structural integrity.

r11co said:

Isn't it amazing how the human race was totally wiped out by driving these 'death traps'. We are all now just virtual reality bots and holograms I guess?

We weren't driving among much stronger and better engineered stuff then. Everything squished the same. Crash this head on into a modern Clio and the hologram would be your best bet.

Zircon said:

How is this any worse than its 1980's rivals:

I'm not really in a position to say, having only turned a Metro down as a first car in favour of what felt (to me) like a more structurally sound and spacious Mk 2 Fiesta. Never tried any of the others. Personally I found the Metro cramped, noisy and badly built and I looked at a fair number back in '95 when I passed my test. The Fiesta seemed better all round to me, albeit more expensive (maybe the market knew what people's opinions were even back then?) but take that subjectivity out of it and it's still very easy to see it's a lot worse than it's 1990's rivals.

J4CKO said:

Europa1 said:

NGK210 said:

Gandahar said:

I screwed my wife to be in a red Metro in the middle of Watford NCP carpark one night...

Gracious, the seems a tad ruthless. Or did you mean to write:

"I screwed my wife-to-be in a red Metro..."??

NGK 210, you have made my afternoon! Although my colleagues now think I am a mentalist who cackles at his desk for no apparent reason...

Are we reading this as he had to have sex with a woman, that he subsequently married, as a kind of barter to be allowed a go in her metro ?

Does that mean he is Metrosexual ?

I shall applaud you for that J4CKO, even if nobody else will ...

Im here all week


With a VVC in and a bit of work they are a bit of a weapon, a lethal one at that, a chap on my Facebook campaigns one and beats chaps in some serious machinery.

I do need to dig ours out and do something similar with it, ultimate sleeper.

I sort of get some of the dislike, I wouldn't want one but I cant hate something that was so much a part of my formative years.