Ahhh, Fiat Uno. My family grew up with this car for 15 years and thousands and thousands of kilometers! Crossing to France across the narrow mountain roads, to the Mediterranean beach. We always said it was a potato but nowadays I realize I wish I could have a car that could run so many kilometers.

1988 Fiat Uno 45 fire my first car. 998cc 4 speed. Great car. Very reliable had it of six years and did over 100,000 miles. Not much rust. Only thing I didn't like was horrendous understeer in the wet. Might have been something to do with the 20 quid or so Polish tyres I put on it! ;)

I have a Fiat Uno 60S in my backyard and now I am in love with old cars from like the '80s that are clean and nice and a little JDM'd but I didn't take care of the car and now I don't even know why I don't take it faster to the recycle station. Note to kids: take care of old cars that your parents, or grandparents don't use and don't play in them or around them damaging them, take care of them cause you will cry for them when you'll be older! And I freaking looooooooved the way it sounded and how (relatively) quick it was.

Not my words, Carol, those are the words of Top Gear Magazine...

Both cars featured in the video haven't been taxed since 2003 according to the DVLA website.

I had the mg metro and the fiat uno turbo,the fiat was years ahead in my opinion and crazy fast too.

Loved my K 1.1 handled well great fun around town nippy in traffic easy to get through tight spaces, Had the little bugger up to 110 on the A2 to Dartford one time. Great in the snow of '96, very predictable handling.Shame I couldn't bring it with me to Aus.

I grew up watching these episodes!! Great that you've been able to get them onto KZfaq!

Lynn i'm not driving a mini metro.

When you see that mustard coloured Morris Ital in the background you can appreciate why someone might be glad of a Rover Metro...

Had a MG metro for ten years never let me down once.

A few days ago I found a copy of 1993 UK market Fiat Uno brochure and I was staggered to see how modestly equipped the lower trim levels were. The rev counter has always been among the rare goods and even very tastefully equipped versions like Top Class were lacking it but SX and Suite had one. When in 1993 my grandfather bought Uno 45 (called "1000 CARB BASE" as sales receipt stated) apart from passenger side mirror and a rear screen wiper it had absolutely no optional equipment whatsoever ;).

@energymc22 not all k series blew gaskets mainly the 1.8 k series.

The K series design was good to a point, having had 2 Rovers with the K series I enjoyed driving them, revvy engines, plenty of power, the MGF which was one I had overheated once losing coolant but still survived it only to throw a big end bearing some time later, good engine just wasn’t designed well enough. I prefer the A series.

"Lynn, I'll just speak over you" "I'm not driving a mini metro, I'm not driving a mini metro, I'm not driving a mini metro"........... "They've rebadged it ya fool"

when top gear was about cars

I had a Fiat uno for my first car , it had a fire engine made by Porsche it was crazy fast.

In the mid-80's I had an Uno 60 as a hire car one trip home to the UK and also drove my sisters A-Series 1.3 Metro. At that stage the Uno was a huge step ahead of the Metro. I'd have loved to drive these later Uno's and Metro's to see how they compare. The Fiat Uno 70 and Turbo were available in South Africa (where I lived at the time), the Turbo felt like a rocket, but it wasn't available which made the choice of a 2.0l Open Kadette GSi an easy one.

My first car was a Fiat Uno 45S 3 door and my second was the Uno 60S 5 door. Wanted the facelifted version but never got it.

Happy Birthday FIAT UNO, 40 years old today 🙂

little did they know back then the overheating issues that would be associated with the k series...but over all even after i had done the headgasket 3 times in 5 years on my 416si, it was a bloody fantastic motor when it was going!

Fiat Uno - the best basic transportation ever made. Love my 2003 brasilian made Uno. Exterior styling, in particular the back, was 15 years ahead of its time (just look at the 1994 VW Polo). Can carry amazing amounts of stuff and handles bad roads just as well as some entry level 4X4.

The brazilian made Uno was based on a Ritmo chassis i believe. Exterior was styled as the Uno except for the slightly different bonnet.

I have studied crashes in Brazil & most of the fatal crashes I have seen in Uno`s have had people not wearing seatbelts in them.. A lot of the crashes have also been on high speed roads & involved either crashing into trucks, or head on into other cars while overtaking, or going off the road & then hitting tree`s & posts. Not many cars will allow you to walk away from those crashes, especially when not wearing seat belts. The biggest problem on Brazilian roads is Brazilian mentalities!

My mum had a black five-door diesel Uno until about 2002, now there are only 18 black and 18 diesel Unos left on UK roads in 2020 according to the DVLA.

Damn, no handbrake turns in reverse.

Why does he change pronubciation from "Uno" to "You'no"

@Krycek2008 - It's a 'no frills car' then. And that's a good thing. Less gizmos to distract you and at the same time less things to break. I doubt however all you have said is true. A/C is and always was optional and power locks and windows were standard starting from 'S' trim upwards. Moreover, ABS was optional on top-of-the-range models and driver's airbag was fitted in late South Africa models.

I might be upset by the answer, but, if anybody knows where my beautiful Fiat Uno 60s 5 door registration C36 GKO is, a reply here would be welcome. Loved the car, used to enjoy rushing from Sevenoaks to Tonbridge in Kent on the country roads.It was a 1986 model and my first new car.

No idea what it's actually like to own/drive, but that Metro has canyons instead of panel gaps in some places.

According to the DVLA the Metro car hasn't been taxed since February 2003. I imagine it got scrapped 20 years ago. No details held regarding the MOT neither. I used to own one and I found them to be great little cars. Problem was they were so easy to steal and mine did get stolen.

The Metro was so heavily reworked, it should have received a new body. The front was all-new and the passenger compartment modified for the new running gear. In fact, there was a rebody touted but management thought it would be cheaper to rework than rebody. However, with the level of modification needed, that possibility wasn’t the case. Good car, though. I love Unos. Maybe a bit biased as I still have one. A perfect tonic to today’s cars.

i swear i saw blue smoke coming from that uno at 5.22

@Krycek2008 - I won't argue with you about the brazilian model 'cause you obviously know it better than me. Most of what I wrote yesterday was about european models which are quite a bit different. Production in Italy ceased in 1995 and was passed to Poland, the country I come from. The options list was practically gone, but AFAIR power windows and locks were standard on 1.4 i.e.S model. As for brazilian post-facelift Mille (2005-) I'm pretty sure A/C was available as an option. Cheers.

My comment was tongue in cheek :)

The S was the mid range trim level, it would have been the same spec as the one in this video. If your Dad had splashed out a few hundred quid more he could have got a 70SX which had electric windows, remote central locking, a rev counter, a tilt & slide roof, climate control, velour trim, front fog lights & arch & sill extensions like the Uno Turbo. I have 2 Uno 60S`s & prefer the 1.1 FIRE engine to the non-FIRE 1.4, but we never got the 1.1 engine with SX trim (unlike the rest of Europe!).

I also had an Uno, from new. Utterly reliable and only let down by poor headlights ( I suppose that was the same for most cars of the day) and handling in the wet which was bloody awful. Noisy engine, but mine never let me down - not bad for a little car.

British labour (back then especially) was alot more then in Italy. That was probably why...

@Pentdad Cheers I will give it a go.

Do you remember the lancia y10 ?

"no facelift model" Well ignoring the rear sub-frame, rear valance, doors, boot surround, rear quarters and that high level filler cap did appear on some Mk2's... dashboard,interior, roof all being Austin Metro. Front subframe changed to take the less successful K series. Start taking these apart and you still see Austin Rover parts on them. The biggest giveaway is the Austin Rover Logo usually found on the rear boot catch. Admittedly they handle incredibly differently, mainly due to the front subframe differences and the different suspension setup. Also they don't mention that the poverty model was a 4-Speed- just like its predecessor.

Is that a Marina at 03:24? Most were gone from British roads by 1990. Obviously there were a lot more than exist today though.

actually the a series was introduced in 1951

Not a Word about the fact that, except for the brazilian 948cc, ALL the engines of the Uno We're fuel injected, not carburetted.

The only wrong thing I can see with the Rover Metro is the tight legroom in the back when it could have been better, Rover used the bigger seats out of the 200 which gobbled up the rear legroom to uncomfortably unacceptable standards, also when it got crash tested by EURONCap it scored 1 star and caused awful life threatening injuries, not even an airbag on the drivers side could make this better.

Chris Goffey enjoying those brown paper envelopes that he kept getting in the post, never a bad word against Austin/Rover ?

Metro for the win!

Uno, at least at its launch in 1983, was very advanced compared to the competitors

Cars were too expensive... £7k In 1990!!

The grey Metro G940BKV has been untaxed since 2003.

@Krycek2008 - Well I must admit that is true. It was designed to meet the 80's safety standards and compared to other 80s superminis (Ford Fiesta, VW Polo, Peugeot 205 etc.) it does that rather adequately (see crash test reports of that era). It can't however stand a chance against modern cars with their frontal crumple zone tough and rigid enough to plough thru 80s cars. I wonder why did they chose not to sell Punto (176). It was a leap ahead in terms of active and passive passenger protection.

Facelifted Uno was far more fun to drive than the Metro. Such a pretty little car. More reliable and cheaper too.

My first car was a Metro and every component of it was absolute crap, it was like driving around in one of Optimus Prime's turds

Carine💅

Was it You-No or Oooh-No, he uses them both several times?!

Did Top Gear ever tested the Fiat Tipo?

The vehicle details for G940 BKV are: Date of Liability 01 02 2003 Date of First Registration 01 03 1990 Year of Manufacture 1990 Cylinder Capacity (cc) 1118CC CO2 Emissions Not Available Fuel Type Petrol Export Marker Not Applicable Vehicle Status Unlicensed Vehicle Colour GREY

Unfortunately the Uno 1.4 i.e.S here in the UK had neither power windows nor locks, my father had one in 1993 and I remember being disappointed as a kid that it didn't have even a rev counter :(

My dad got a metro rover for only 200 quid. Used

Fiat Uno 60 ?

Old Top Gear 1990 - Fiat Uno & Rover Metro

1:35 gott DAMN, standards were low back then!

wouldnt have wanted to own a fiat full stop coffin on wheels springs too mind lol

👍

I know in practice there was only 2 or 3 years in age difference between those two cars but I must say looking at them it seems more like 10 years. In 1990 you could reasonably pass the Uno off as a modern car despite it being nearly 8 years old, whereas the Metro shape was clearly a relic of the 1970s. The really crazy part is that Rover continued to pedal it for a further 7 years after this point! I don't think that did the Rover image any favors in the long run. Meanwhile Fiat launched the radical new Punto just 3 years later...

Gosh...it had engine based on a one from 1949...and people dared to call Skoda 1,1/1,3 liter made from aluminium as old fashoined? Lol

Tipo makers are turkish people and uno came from there

They've rebadged it Lynn.

He should have said "The K-Series engine which is already blowing headgastkets internationally" :) Thanks for the vid

Doubt it.

Did you see the cost of cars back then. £7800 for the 1.1 metro, jesus we got ripped off in the UK. No wonder i could have never afforded a new car in the early 90's

K- series - the head gasket chewer. Give me the FIAT every time - I had 3 Uno's - a 45, a 45 FIRE S and a 60S. None had the rattly dashboard alleged here and all had a good gear change.

Published on 21 Apr 2016

The Rover was a joke, a Bad joke, no car and the FIAT UNO was the best car in this class!

i'm in love with 80s cars! Even the small city cars. But the metro looks AWFUL! :S

I would pick uno cheeper to fix

tough choice not. i would of gone for the rover metro all new design better engines and electrics than the uno. not a lover of british oritalian cars.

as usual austin rover produced models too long

He's driving round the island by MANOR VET'S at they top of my road. WOW that headcasket on the k series was a good one he must be five miles away from they main gate😂 and if you had an older version of the two door all the bits of the new one would FITTED BOLT FOR BOLT SO topical BRITISH HEADLIGHT REPLACEMENT UPGRADE WELL IT WORKED BECAUSE THE WELSH HAVE BUILT HOUSES ALL OVER FACTORY 😎!!!!

Before TG was made for chavs and hooligans.

Sad they drive in the wrong way

How this man can praise the Metro with a straight face is beyond me. This thing rusted during the few minutes he reviewed it.

My Mum has owned both these cars, both were horrible. Fiat was the noisiest car I've ever been in.

The metro was a piece of shit when it came out, and even worse at the end when it was so antiquated and démodé that it looked silly and ultimately sad next to it's competition, only third world cars were worse than this hateful remnant.

robot built cars are shite hand built cars last longer the f.i.r.e engine's not a bad unit though

Rover Metro ........ 1+ cm panel gaps, bonet, tailgate, bumper-to-fenders, just everywhere. Worse than Dacia or Polonez from 80's. UNO was gazzillion times better car. Yeah, it has failures but you can fix 'em easily. With Metro, once it's starts to fall apart, no matter the amount of money you throw at it, it'll be still broken.

Worst car I ever owned!

Metro was a heap of shite .

Ugly looking car ..

The vehicle details for G274 ABY are: Date of Liability 01 08 2003 Date of First Registration 14 02 1990 Year of Manufacture 1990 Cylinder Capacity (cc) 1108CC CO2 Emissions Not Available Fuel Type Petrol Export Marker Not Applicable Vehicle Status Unlicensed Vehicle Colour BLUE