RE: Shed Of The Week: Rover Metro
Discussion
yonex said:
kambites said:
So was the Metro, wasn't it?
The point being that the Fiesta was available in '76, you didn't see many Metro's at the same time 
I don't like the Metro at all, it just seems bizarre to single it out. The Polo of that era felt significantly better, but but you paid for it; the rest of the competition were all equally horrible, IMO.
kambites said:
RoverP6B said:
As I've said already, the Metro was a hateful horror when new and only got more horrible with age. The Peugeot 205 was an utter revelation by comparison.
Each to their own, I suppose. That's certainly not my experience at all. Put me in an entry level version of each of the cars in that market sector in the late 80s with all the badges covered up and I don't think I could tell you which I was driving; the exception being the Vauxhall Nova was absolutely horrible. Edited by kambites on Monday 27th October 14:54
The 309 was way better than the 205 anyway.
Escort Si-130 said:
A real fanboy
Not really, I am not a fan of small cars. I just want the Metro to be seen in context and away from the rhetoric and vitriol which seems to so much enjoyed here. Many in this thread seem not to have grasped that 1997 was seventeen years after 1980, and that a lot of progress was made in that time. Very few cars indeed set standards for anything positive after that length of time.dbdb said:
They're no worse in an accident than any other small car from the early 1980s, and better than some.
Maybe that's the Metro's problem - that it went on too long. They were as old as the hills by this one's time: the Metro is a classic car now really.
I like them. More so the early ones, but even this car with its ever so posh interior can find a place in my affections. I learned to drive in a Metro. My driving instructor had one. It was a lovely car to drive, so much nicer than my mother's Golf, which it bettered on the road in every way other than speed.
A good Shed of the week. I seem to be rather off-message with this, though.
Maybe that's the Metro's problem - that it went on too long. They were as old as the hills by this one's time: the Metro is a classic car now really.
I like them. More so the early ones, but even this car with its ever so posh interior can find a place in my affections. I learned to drive in a Metro. My driving instructor had one. It was a lovely car to drive, so much nicer than my mother's Golf, which it bettered on the road in every way other than speed.
A good Shed of the week. I seem to be rather off-message with this, though.
The Metro was a good car in its early years. Not 'the best car in the world', but then no one is claiming it to be. But it was much more than just a competent effort; it was a genuinely good car by the standards of the early 1980s, long before they became fashionable to despise them. It is also useful to remember that many halo cars from the era - the 205 is a case in point - were undeniably excellent for their type in their upscale variants, but the base spec efforts were often rather less than wonderful.
The Metro is a nice old car which is good to drive and captures a time now passed. Personally, I preferred it to my mother's VW Golf (which was fairly horrible), though not to the Polo or Peugeot 205, both of which I like. Some of the comments about the Metro here are a little silly in my view.
J4CKO said:
Yes, the 205 seems to have some love due to the GTI, I had a 1.1 5 door for a while and it wasn't some fine handling version of the GTI with a smaller engine, it was a fairly average 80s supermini with a rattly old Simca engine, I didn't rate it much higher than the Metro to be honest, a bit better looking and more rust resistant but not outstanding in any way.
The 309 was way better than the 205 anyway.
Yep. The 309 was way better than the 205 anyway.
The 309 was a lovely car, much underrated in my view.
J4CKO said:
Yes, the 205 seems to have some love due to the GTI, I had a 1.1 5 door for a while and it wasn't some fine handling version of the GTI with a smaller engine, it was a fairly average 80s supermini with a rattly old Simca engine, I didn't rate it much higher than the Metro to be honest, a bit better looking and more rust resistant but not outstanding in any way.
The 309 was way better than the 205 anyway.
Yeah, the smallest-engined 205s were nothing special, but they still steered and handled very sweetly. My wife's second 205, the 1.4 Roland Garros, was a total and utter gem, however. It wasn't just a much better car than the equivalent Metro, it was a quantum leap ahead. I still remember the clarity of feedback through the steering, brakes and throttle. Electric power-assisted nothing (apart from the ignition and starter)! Oh, to be young and fit and care-free again... I rather fear that, if I got another 205 now, I'd just get tired of the lack of torque, the absence of refinement and the tinfoil build quality, but I loved them at the time, despite being a barge man at heart...The 309 was way better than the 205 anyway.
kambites said:
Yes, the Metro was about four years later. It was still a contemporary and, in my experience, a better car.
I don't like the Metro at all, it just seems bizarre to single it out. The Polo of that era felt significantly better, but but you paid for it; the rest of the competition were all equally horrible, IMO.
I'm not singling it out at all, I'm just telling you compared to pretty much all the contemporary cars it was frankly, rubbish. The Fiesta you drove must have been very broken.I don't like the Metro at all, it just seems bizarre to single it out. The Polo of that era felt significantly better, but but you paid for it; the rest of the competition were all equally horrible, IMO.
kambites said:
Yes, the Metro was about four years later. It was still a contemporary and, in my experience, a better car.
I don't like the Metro at all, it just seems bizarre to single it out. The Polo of that era felt significantly better, but but you paid for it; the rest of the competition were all equally horrible, IMO.
I'm not singling it out at all, I'm just telling you compared to pretty much all the contemporary cars it was frankly, rubbish. The Fiesta you drove must have been very broken.I don't like the Metro at all, it just seems bizarre to single it out. The Polo of that era felt significantly better, but but you paid for it; the rest of the competition were all equally horrible, IMO.
Seems good to me. There will always be a few of these in perfect condition popping up due to the people who bought the majority of them.
As a family we had plenty of different versions, my contributions were:
85 1.0 CityX
90 1.1s
Have a feeling this would outlast the majority of the sheds we have seen on here recently despite the reputation for reliability problems.
As a family we had plenty of different versions, my contributions were:
85 1.0 CityX
90 1.1s
Have a feeling this would outlast the majority of the sheds we have seen on here recently despite the reputation for reliability problems.
Greg_D said:
Escort Si-130 said:
FPMSL
I'd sooner be in a metro than a similarly lightweight Citroen AX....KTF said:
FWDRacer said:
have the last laugh.
Until you hit something or something hits you.Different times people, let's not be silly with obvious pictures that are going to prove nothing. Let's see the fiesta/nova/ax/205 pictures for some sort of balance.
OpulentBob said:
RoverP6B said:
...the comfort and build quality of a Mercedes-Benz and most of the dynamic capability of a BMW (if anything, it handled rather more securely than a 2002 or similar...), plus the refinement of a Rolls-Royce. I still miss mine and I'd have another in a heartbeat if I had a proper heated, ventilated, dehumidified garage. The rust was what killed it in the end, just as it killed so many great German cars of the same era.
Can you send me a link to those rose tinted specs you're wearing? 
aarondbs said:
OpulentBob said:
RoverP6B said:
...the comfort and build quality of a Mercedes-Benz and most of the dynamic capability of a BMW (if anything, it handled rather more securely than a 2002 or similar...), plus the refinement of a Rolls-Royce. I still miss mine and I'd have another in a heartbeat if I had a proper heated, ventilated, dehumidified garage. The rust was what killed it in the end, just as it killed so many great German cars of the same era.
Can you send me a link to those rose tinted specs you're wearing? The P6 is a beautiful car, though.
Negative Creep said:
I assume everyone pointing out the safety aspect would never drive one of these on a public road? No airbags or NCAP stars so it must be an absolute deathtrap
Kill yourself in that and people you never met would mourn yours and the cars passing. Kill yourself in a Metro and you would be lucky if your other half put a bunch of petrol station flowers at the location you snuffed it.dbdb said:
The P6, along with the Lotus Elan had the distinction of being the only cars less reliable than the Series 2 Jaguar XJ12 in a survey conducted by Road and Track in the 1970s, so not quite Mercedes-Benz build quality...
The P6 is a beautiful car, though.
I understand it got that way in the later 70s, yes, particularly with the introduction of the new paint shop and colours at Solihull. Mine, however, was beautifully built and never gave me the slightest problem while it was on the road. I just took it off the road with the intention of fitting rear seat belts (a baby son had made the lack thereof something of a problem) and sorting some minor rust issues, then the recession and Black Wednesday hit, I lost my job, damn nearly lost my home too, the car got shoved onto the back burner. By the time I decided, 16 years later, that I wasn't going to be in a position to deal with it at all, the rust had spread to such an extent that repair wasn't feasible. I understand that it donated its drivetrain and some suspension and interior parts to a rust-proofed but mechanically knackered high-mileage sister.The P6 is a beautiful car, though.
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