RE: MG Metro Turbo | Spotted

[anonymous-user]

I had a lowly CityX. It was worse than both of my Minis and ate it’s gearbox. Predictable.

Next door had a turbo from new. It was always in the garage tbh, traded for a 2.0s Capri IIRC

Always liked the early MG’s, something honest (honestly rusty) about them. Quite why BL couldn’t make a valance or front wings last as long as breakfast is beyond me.

[VR6 Eug]

Take the engine out and put it in a Mini.

I am laughing at the 50mpg...40 at very best for 56mph, they were juicy in there day.

[Skyedriver]

After about 6 minis I progressed to my first mini metro. A 1.0 litre ex NHS
A major step forward in design and build quality from the Issigonis mini.

Progressed through a couple more i litre ones then a 1.3HLE and a MG.
Then bought a Metro Turbo, a write off I rebuilt.
It was no faster than the MG, but had quite a bit of torque steer on tight junctions.
Think the rear ARB and bigger wheels helped the handling a little.


About 10 years later I had a 1.3 courtesy car - Jeez what a pile of cr4p

[Howrare]

First car I ever started up, and brought a clutch pedal up on. Drove it 3 whole meters up a driveway. 😄 Still counts.

[Deep Thought]

Leggy said:

95hp AFTER strapping a turbo to it. LOL

The story was at the time that AR wound the turbos down a bit on them to stop them blowing gearboxes - at least until they were outside warranty.

You have to remember this was 36 years ago - and even then they were boosting what were 25 year old design engines and gearboxes.

[Tin Hat]

I had 2 - E648 ENO in white which was stolen ( I think I was paid £4,400.00 by my insurer in 1991 which is a good indication of how expensive hot hatches were back then) followed by a G reg green one with the chunkier wheels. Both were mildly unreliable due to gearbox complications, the second one needed a recon engine at about 30k. The A series engine was fairly prehistoric.

I absolutely loved them nonetheless, I thought that they handled nicely and looked smart. I upgraded to a new K reg Metro Gti which felt like a rocket with a good gearbox and taught my friends razzy Corrado many a lesson, much to his haughty disapproval and to my delight.

The Metro and later Rover 100 platform took some unfair stick in my opinion, there was plenty of fun to be had in them!

[silkcutjaguar]

I’m sure the Metro was originally launched in 1980, not 1982 as the article says.

[millen]

Friend of mine had the dubious distinction many years ago of closing the M25 one rush hour morning in a white Montego. Spontaneously combusted when traffic slowed to a crawl after a high speed stretch (yes, there were jams even in those days!). Believes a garage the day before had overfilled the oil which leaked onto the hot exhaust. Whatever, it was a burnt out shell by the time the boys in red arrived.

[J4CKO]

yonex said:

Always liked the early MG’s, something honest (honestly rusty) about them. Quite why BL couldn’t make a valance or front wings last as long as breakfast is beyond me.

Yep, my mums one was going in holes on the front valence, so it got an afternoon of chiseling, filling, sanding, a can of schultz and a coat of white paint, and it looked great, long enough for it to get traded in at least.

My Auntie had metros as well, she had an MG that got nicked and replaced it with a red GTA which looked really funky and it had a cool reg plate "F40 MNF", my uncle added a Ferrari sticker

Anyway, it lives on but it looks a bit different to how I remember it, seems to have a bit of a body kit, same colour but somehow longer and flatter, must be the camera angle...

[Deep Thought]

silkcutjaguar said:

I’m sure the Metro was originally launched in 1980, not 1982 as the article says.

Yes. It was the MG that was launched in May 82, not the Metro itself

Edited by Deep Thought on Wednesday 6th November 09:09

[Turbobanana]

J4CKO said:

Yep, my mums one was going in holes on the front valence, so it got an afternoon of chiseling, filling, sanding, a can of schultz and a coat of white paint, and it looked great, long enough for it to get traded in at least.

My Auntie had metros as well, she had an MG that got nicked and replaced it with a red GTA which looked really funky and it had a cool reg plate "F40 MNF", my uncle added a Ferrari sticker

Anyway, it lives on but it looks a bit different to how I remember it, seems to have a bit of a body kit, same colour but somehow longer and flatter, must be the camera angle...

Pah, cheap bodykit to hide the rust

[anonymous-user]

J4CKO said:

Yep, my mums one was going in holes on the front valence, so it got an afternoon of chiseling, filling, sanding, a can of schultz and a coat of white paint, and it looked great, long enough for it to get traded in at least.

My Auntie had metros as well, she had an MG that got nicked and replaced it with a red GTA which looked really funky and it had a cool reg plate "F40 MNF", my uncle added a Ferrari sticker

Anyway, it lives on but it looks a bit different to how I remember it, seems to have a bit of a body kit, same colour but somehow longer and flatter, must be the camera angle...

[mnx42]

I had one of these in red. I went to see it with a mechanic friend and he begged me not to buy it.. so I did the right thing, and bought it!
What a dog. It was the worst car I’ve ever had in the way of things going wrong. It was hardly ever on the road due to engine issues and the suspension.
However when it was running it was a laugh. I used to love watching the turbo boost lights going up and it was nippy enough back in the day. I never felt safe in it though!

[viggyp]

Mate's mum had a burgundy one when we were in our late teens. I enjoyed driving it then a few months down the line I purchased an E plate Uno Turbo. It annihilated the metro and that was before I got it modified. Both 1300cc but the difference was quite noticeable.

[200Plus Club]

viggyp said:

Mate's mum had a burgundy one when we were in our late teens. I enjoyed driving it then a few months down the line I purchased an E plate Uno Turbo. It annihilated the metro and that was before I got it modified. Both 1300cc but the difference was quite noticeable.

Exactly my thoughts, following the metro turbo was an E reg uno turbo 1.4 which in the day was a rocketship by comparison.

[DickyC]

IIRC when Lotus were developing the car they managed much better performance but the engines only lasted 50,000 miles.

[Leins]

The Crack Fox said:

Leins said:

I'm not driving a Mini Metro!
I'm not driving a Mini Metro!
I'm not driving a Mini Metro!

I love that scene. "They've rebadged it, you fool!"

I drove my own £299 Metro to Casablanca wearing a T-Shirt with that same slogan on.

I always thought the preferred vehicle for such a trip was something reliable like a Testarossa

Please tell me you took it into the dessert with an XR2 for a “Riddle of the Sands” photo op?

[thiscocks]

AdamV12AMR said:

I had a matching pair of these as a kid...

lol, quite cool. Illegal wheels / arches though

[soxboy]

J4CKO said:

Yep, my mums one was going in holes on the front valence, so it got an afternoon of chiseling, filling, sanding, a can of schultz and a coat of white paint, and it looked great, long enough for it to get traded in at least.

My Auntie had metros as well, she had an MG that got nicked and replaced it with a red GTA which looked really funky and it had a cool reg plate "F40 MNF", my uncle added a Ferrari sticker

Anyway, it lives on but it looks a bit different to how I remember it, seems to have a bit of a body kit, same colour but somehow longer and flatter, must be the camera angle...

Good to see sticking with the BL theme with the body-kitted TR7

[Limpet]

Never had much love for the Metro Turbo, or the Metro in general come to that. The Montego Turbo on the other hand....

Fond memories of my mate's mildly tweaked one winding way off the (130 mph) clock, 4 up on the A34 in the wee small hours back in the early 90s. I was working for a Ford dealer at the time, and I don't think it was much (if any) slower than a standard Sierra Cosworth in a straight line.