Show-quality MG Metro for sale
Remember when Britain made small cars and your grandad bought them?
Few cars have been treated (or subjected) to as many headline changes in their lifespan as the Metro. Of course, it began life as an Austin - famously conceived to replace the original Mini in British Leyland’s portfolio - before MG and then Rover were charged with selling it. The latter transition, immortalised by Alan Partridge (they’ve rebadged it you fool) signified the model’s descent from genuine supermini contender to venerable figure of fun. Suffice it to say, 18 years at the small car coalface had done it no favours by the time it was dubbed a Rover 100.
Nevertheless, as is often the way with practical, cheap-to-buy cars (precisely the sort that the industry currently struggles to offer) the Metro sold comparatively well, especially to begin with. That the Mini outlived it by three years says much about what being genuinely good and innovative and fun does for a car, but between Austin and MG and Rover the Metro found over two million customers. Which is a fairly substantial number even allowing for its prolonged lifespan.
Certainly it was popular enough to spawn several go-faster derivatives. The most famous (and actually fast) was obviously the Clubman version of the verifiably bonkers Metro 6R4 that Williams had developed for Group B rallying. Naturally, the 250hp homologated car had little to do with the road-going model and was sold in very limited numbers for £44,000 - an astronomical figure for its time, but a speck compared to what they fetch now. Even the restomod version currently working its way through MST’s development process is expected to cost £300,000.
At the other end of the scale you got the MG Metro. This was the original attempt to go all jazz hands with the standard Austin and would eventually spawn the (sort of) mighty Turbo derivative, that could develop 93hp in its heady pursuit of rivals like the similarly titled Renault 5. But there was also a non-Turbo version, which featured the same four-cylinder A-Series engine as the Mini Cooper - i.e. the 1275cc motor that was coaxed to output 72hp via a modified cylinder head and lustier carburettor.
We’re fairly confident that it produced a 0-60mph time of 10.9 seconds, which we’re fairly confident isn’t going to seem savagely fast today. But as the vendor of this fully restored example suggests, it’ll keep up with modern traffic okay and attract all the ‘waves and beeps from motorists and pedestrians’ you’d expect from seldom-seen 34-year-old Metro in very fetching MG livery. Additionally, on a ’90 plate, it must’ve been one of the last ones built before Rover took over the reins.
Perhaps asking £9,995 for it is leaning a little hard on the British public’s affection (especially with I’m-not-driving-a-Mini-Metro, I’m-not-driving-a-Mini-Metro still ringing in your ears) but then again the hatchback bookmarks the start of so many car histories that it isn’t hard to imagine someone getting all giddy about the prospect of finding one in ‘better than new condition’. We’re not told what the current mileage is, although we do know the car covered the distance between Great Harwood and the NEC (for a classic car show) with no problems at all. Anyone with working knowledge of the Metro from back in the day will know that this is a good sign.
10 grand for a Metro ! Yeah but people will pay 100 for a Mini, always seems strange to me that the Mini has such fondness and the Metro get the highly original "Kill it with fire" comments, yet they shared and engine and gearbox, probably other bits, the Metro was better in a lot of ways, just wasnt as cute/iconic but I think the polar opinions are weird, I remember Minis being a bit crap in a lot of cases, a Metro was preferable if you had to use it every day.
Ten grand isnt that much for a very tidy looking, as new example of any classic car that someone has put all that effort into, would I buy it, no but would love a go of one and see if it still feels as much fun. My mums one did rust though, the front valance being the worst bit, but then my Manta GTE did, everything did back then, just at slightly different rates.
I guess £10k isn't stratospheric these days assuming it is rot free. They were pretty reliable in their day. I regularly did the trip from Manchester to Coventry Uni without any issues or breakdowns - it was the late 80s after all not the dark ages.
Would I have this one? Probably not - it was a stepping stone car while at Uni and whilst being a decent little car I never saw it as being truly desirable in period so 35 years later I can be nostalgic but realistic... The Fiat Uno Turbo that replaced though, that would be harder to say no to.
PS, before some smart arse chips in with the usual you could buy x,y or z for £10k, YES we know. We are on a car site!
I would still own a nice early MG Metro if one turned up at the right price.
A K&N air filter
a Goodmans stereo with graphic equalizer and some shelf mount 6x9's
Some vinyl covered MDF door car mounted housings for the front mids and tweets
I look back now with rosier than rose tinted glasses at what was a never ending wait for the next upgrade.
My first car bought behind my parents' back....
I'm not buying this one without alloys though.
I had an identical G reg BRG MG to replace my Metro Turbo, which had been stolen. Naturally, the MG also got stolen.
Both great to drive, possibly because of their narrow width. At least, in city traffic you could exploit gaps that not all cars could.
I preferred the Metro Turbo for the record, but would kind of like either for city use now, although I wouldn't like to crash one.
(I think the MG decals look great myself, but there was a lot of muttering within the factory, that they looked like they had been stuck on by a drunk)
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