Daniel Reigada not as impressive but I drove my Rover 100 from Southend to Glasgow and back in a day only stopping for fuel!! As you say the worst car for the job but as you say young and stupid these things have to be done!

Ha ha, good story thanks for sharing.

The thing is; the Metro was British Leyland's answer to the Ford Fiesta and the Renault 5 . That's like coming out with "6" when someone asks what's E= MC2

When you said "sorry Andrew" - I said "that's ok" 😁😁😁 Have you done a review of Roots group cars. I had a MK2 Humber Sceptre. - classy !

I wonder what score Doug DeMuro would give the metro 😂😂😂

@The Passionate Ponce Yes. It completes the picture and broadens the scope of those perceived buying one.

@The Passionate Ponce Your view - enjoy it.

A true environmentalist keeps a car forever!

Depends on which one the 1100 had a long stroke and liked to go bang if u revved it hard. My personal cheap A series favourite excluding the 970 and 1071 Cooper S was the 998.

Gearbox is made of paper though

Hayden 2nd gear was the weakest the synchro would give up. In the 60s and 70s BL did have a Special Tuning division who sold to the public you could get straight cut fears that were stronger but whined and we're best off road.

@@nigeh5326 I know lol, the synchro for second is going in mine currently and is a pain.

@@nigeh5326 The MG Metro Turbo and the Mini ERA Turbo had the gearboxes that had straight cut gears. It was probably made by BL's tuning division.

I never understood that. These cars were nicer to drive and ride in than most other competetors.

@@andrewthompsonuk1 do you mean the metro was nice to drive ?

@@chrisredfield3240 for its price and class it was.

@@andrewthompsonuk1 i had a fiesta it did drone but was much better to drive than the metro. Steering was much nicer and road over bumps better (not saying much metro's and bumps in the road did not get on well) also the fiesta's never seemed too burn any oil. All the metro's almost used a 50/50 fuel too oil ratio.

@@chrisredfield3240 I never drove a Fiesta from that period, people liked them. The BMC FWD cars were perhaps an acquired taste , I liked most of them.

@@fenrichlee2867 I thought so, my mother used the word berk.

You didn't borrow it much then lol

It was in good condition until Ian rallied it

@@forestdad Got a link or something? Doesn't sound good :(

a polish for a polish eh ;)

Now that is funny, with the colours :)

Even in 1st gear?

@@jaggass I don't think she ever got out of first gear

LOL!

No whines from our Metros, and almost none from MIL. 😉

That's what I was thinking...

We used to get transported to school if we were lucky!! in an Orange (flame Red?) Metro Mk1

@@I-T-S-M-E lovely bright orange wonderful

@@I-T-S-M-E same here

Michelo D.I.Y. My rear suspension went and then the front suspension on my 1984 Mk.1. I replaced it with a Micra but wish I fixed it now....

Yes! I remember the Metro being airy and quite fun to drive.

It is airy because the roof is rusted through.

mini with square body, simple as

@Leonard Carr The OHV A-series is a 1951 design. Food rationing ended in July 1954.

A30 was the first car in 1952, closely followed by the Morris Minor Series 2.

A very tidy example. The suspension is perhaps not on top form though, I don't remember the ride being quite that crashy but that could be the passage of time.

Even if it's shit?

I wouldn't go that far. British people ditched it in spades for the Fiat Uno, Citroen AX, Renault Clio, Ford Fiesta and Peugeot 205. And not forgetting the Japanese were making big inroads. The metro might be retroactively charming (I still have fond memories of it), but it wasn't competitive or well liked compared to the competition at the time.

In 1993 I probably could have bought any new one of the above at a stretch. In retrospect (or Metrospect) the Metro was the best built. I think build quality is actually very undervalued in reviews (especially when it is fashionable to BL bash). With a K series engine and 5 speed (3 door for me) I guess I could have lived with one. The huge drawbacks for me with the Metro were the driving position and heavy steering. I'm not too familiar with the K, but the A just wasn't as free-reving as offerings from it's European competitors. So, for the most you got a sit on driving position with half dead steering, handling reactions and a wheezy engine. The Renault 5 Campus would have been a good budget choice, or a last model Uno. Not sure about the 205. Was it gone by '93? The car I actually had at that time was a 1985 Fiat Regata. I done it's bottom end in and spent quite a lot it fixing it. Shortly after it's last repair sadly it caught fire. I strongly suspect foul play at the garage. The car may have lasted till 2000 - no particular reason to the contrary. One thing is for sure. Cars of the 80's to 90's didn't have huge amounts of trouble free years in them. With a budget car you could pay over 4 years (on a young person's salary), but by 6 it's all down hill.

Does anyone know what £7,500 would have got you at the dealer in 1993? - except laughed at. I think we missed the 106 and the Nova, Starlet, Ibiza, FSO 125p, Polonez, Lada Samara or Yugo Sana.

The metro was competitive for most of its life. Also the Japanese did t get too far - Toyota’s market share is only 1-2%.

Ah so that that was the Metro driven by a driving instructor that tried in vain to not let me pass in my Kia Pride at 105mph. I did pass him in the end and he wasn't happy.

Jack Howell +1

My god.

it did, and the sound, and we all knew how to fix anything on them, but they should have pushed themselves for a 5 speed box, and to improve the engine sooner (the k? series was way too late and a bad design) as well as suspension and rust issues, the overall design i dont mind, they werent cutting edge but also went 'out of fashion' a lot slower

@@jusb1066 The K-Series was a sound design but it was poorly executed. The idea of sandwiching the engine in this way was not a new thing as it had been used in racing and motorcycles before. One thing that killed it was the stretch to 1.8 - It was designed as a small engine programme from the outset and when the government and/or BAE refused to give money for the large engine programme (to replace O-Series derived units) they had to push the K-Series to do what it was wasn't really designed for. If they had been able to test the engine more, they would have fixed the headgasket issues by strengthening the bottom end and reducing it's tendency to beam and twist.

You can individualise the hydrogas cans ;) very easy to do. There is also a small rod inside which you can shave a few mm off transforms the suspension on these. I did this on my rover 100 I also pulled the 1.4 litre engine out and fitted a 1.8 out of a mgf :). I used to love hanging on the back of imprezas lol. But mine succombed to Rot. But you can convert and do the suspension in well one day

I drive a Vauxhall Nova as a daily now. Great wee cars though a Metro handles a lot better.

205 is my favourite car ... I still have a Peugeot antres ecosse body kit for one 😊 I owned X's 1.4 1.6git 1.9gti and a convertible cc at the same time 😁 I really had a pug bug in my youth ....Max Power!!a

4 electric windows ?

There's no point finishing the sentence, HighHoe Kermit, I'll just speak over you. Go on, try and finish the sentence and see what I do.

Power sappingly mundane!

"Lynn, I'll just speak over you"

@@mattridgley9095 not my words...the words of top gear magazine

Great stuff ian keep them coming as me my daughter lucy are glued to your videos you should make a TV series I would watch and so would many others

😂😂👍

@@rutter1ify what about the wife though?

Same here, never bought any of said proprietors papers either. I remember we had a Metro hire car while my dads Punto was being repaired after being rear ended. It was awful, compared to the Punto it felt very tinny. It made a large bang every time you slowed down too. By 1996 it was just too past its best sadly. Of course Ford were also using very old engines in the Fiesta until the early 2000s. I miss the clatter of those Ford Kent engines. The A series sounded so refined compared ot them.

I thought you were talking about headlamp & taillamp bulbs, changing headlamp bulbs some times requires air sea rescue to get your hand back !😃

Unless you had a Citroen BX which takes days to change the spark plugs as you have to disassemble half the front body to get to them.

They've re-badged it you fool!

I too had a metro, it should have been sent to Dresden.

Yes, the standard engine had a pressed steel rocker cover whereas the MG version had an alloy one like in this video.

@@Allan9966 Although no sign (I think) of the anti-shunt tie rod or the anti-run-on valve in the vacuum line.....Was the standard 1.3 A+ engine painted red too?

I am pretty sure that the only engines finished in red are the MG ones.

It had an awful mw/lw push button radio. This car was being used daily and I needed a Bluetooth stereo for making calls etc. The other benefit was that the stereo could take my USB for those longer journeys. I still have the original and pop it when I go to shows etc

Further more, the speakers on the shelf are 'period' and suit the car really well. It only had one speaker from the factory but now has a whopping 4! 😂

Yeah they took the name off the cars in 1997 and sold the weirdly "marqueless" for a few years before they made the Metro a Rover and stopped making the 2 bigger cars.

Dudley, in 1986 they ceased branding the cars as austin as this was when rover group became the norm. Strangely enough though the austin logo remained on the grill badge of some cars with 'metro' over the top. By 1987, the cars had ceased all austin branding and the new rover shield badges were used on the montego and metro with their names on respectively. The maestro never had the shield badge and stayed with the oblong variant. By 1990 the metro was then known as the rover metro and carried the rover shield badge right up until 1997 when the rover 100 ceased production.

Couldn't save the Rubik's Cube!

@@HubNut I seem to recall the rubber dash' mats were standard in the Metro van, but not all cars?? I certainly bought one from an AR dealer for my Metro. May not save Rubik's Cubes, but was just right for parking change.

Why stop there? Morris Marinas with BMW running gear and power train - reinforced roof pillars so that pianos could land on it all day, and revised body shape that Ital design would go mad for

lol! Cant be that bad, haha :D

Ade H I'm surprised it didn't go on strike!

Between potholes and craters.

Miller Corner I do believe that when you bought the car, the in car entertainment was the rubik cube, but if you were cashed up and bought the deluxe model you got a radio 😳

That's not the rust you can hear, it's the A series trimming chain rattle. They all do that Sir!