Or in other words can these be driven and driven and driven without any maintenance or any kind of mechanical sympathy, the answer to that is “Not really” as no car will go on forever without something going wrong.
kept me employed, welding, welding, welding, gearbox mainshaft bearing, welding, welding, ignition module, welding, back swinging arm bearings, welding, welding, pump up suspension. at least they had the sense to put plastic pipes on the hydroelastics allegros used to corrode through and drop on thier arse! more welding, gearchange seal, welding, clutch slave cylinder, welding and finally welding.
Rust was #1 problem with cars back then. I think Audi and Peugeot were some of the first manufacturers to use galvanized sheet metal in their cars, and it made all the difference! I just sold my '94 Peugeot 405, and it still didn't had almost any rusting issues, after 25 years.
That's because long after humanity has been wiped out and a whole new sentient race has evolved in our place, they'll discover the existence of humanity when a volcano erupts and a full intact and functional 405 falls out.
Crankshaft failure at 30,000 miles?! Bloody nora. Out of everything on any car I've had, that's the one part I never even -thought- would be a failure risk, and I've had some that lived beyond 130k. The production and quality control out of the BL shops really must have been absolutely shocking.
It was… it really really was, I worked for Chrysler in the 50s to 90s. They had me do an inspection on the European division in 75. They got some of their parts from BL… it’s just incredible hot often these parts didn’t work out of the box. My recommendation was to ditch BL, but chrysler sold their euro division not long after. I wonder what happened to that shift shaft bearing agreement with BL (then Austin rover). Oh well, probably won’t ever know.
My aunt had an MG Metro turbo years ago that was always getting nicked.The second time it was stolen the thieves must have thought it to be so bad that a couple of days later they dumped it back outside her house.
There is an old Yugo joke : How other car companies test how good car selas ? -They put a cat inside , and if cat is dead by the morning sealing is good . But how they test if Yugo seals good ? -They put a cat inside and if cat did not run away by the morning it seals good . They might used elephant for this car ...
@@nudgenudgewinkwink3212 Yes but Ford wasnt Stuck in the 60s like Leyland. The Suspension or other things from Leyland were even made in the 50s while Ford, Nissan or Honda were looking in to the Future.
@@fartgarfunkel2433 That was the problem with all those manufacturers like Leyland etc, they never invested and never kept updating their products like today's car industry.
I bought an MG Metro for £50 about 8 years ago (try getting one for that now!). Actually looked quite smart in Black with red graphics/seatbelts/carpets etc. Bearing in mind this car had sat on someone's drive for aorund a year untouched, it fired up easily and just needed a suspension unit changed (cost me £15 from an Austin Rover breaker) to get through an MOT. Had it for ages, never let me down and great fun to drive.
Daniel Hamby I was putting in modern times too, just amazing how cars have improved. I used to push my finger underneath my 1984 Austin Metro and it would break into rust particles.
I think the majority of B reg cars are 1984, this was filmed in ‘91 so it’s like a 2011 car (in 2018), still shocking! My mum has an MG Metro (also a B Reg) it rusted like buggery, engine was weak and caused no end of strife. Fucking horrid little thing, I’m just glad we never crashed in it or I’d be dead at anything over 20mph!
@@iainmclaughlan1557 But really there was a lot of cars without similar problems in 80's. Our family had 1987 Fiesta in 2008 and it had much less rust than any of those Metros in 1991
@@jhutt8002 it was depressing because I love the look of the Austin Metro, still my favourite car. If it was reasonably reliable I would still have it now.
I don't know if it's unheard of... I've seen a few Yaris, Ibiza's and even VW UP!'s with quite bad rust on them. In some ways, I actually think VAG might be one of the worst offenders for modern day rust. My father just got rid of his 2013 Passat with 70k miles as the front wings were starting to corroded at the arches.
My father had one of these. By that time, my mother had utterly emasculated him. His joyless grey face as he climbed into it every day is a childhood memory. And then one day he came home and instead of stopping on the drive in front of the garage as he usually did, he folded that Metro in half on the garage wall. He just didn't stop. Whatever it was inside him that made him bend that car like a wet napkin was still alive. My mother hadn't killed it completely. She spend the next 15 years finishing the job. Poor bastard ended up with a baby blue Maestro as a replacement.
I remember back in 89/90 my Dad went to a car auction to get a Metro as a second car. That's what he said he wanted to get, a small car and he was a BL/Rover fan - our car at the time was a W reg Maxi! What he came back with was a C reg 1.3 Vauxhall Astra. The Astra was great (I learned to drive in it) and I bet it outlived any of the Metros he saw that day (1999 when it died!)
Well, my mum used to hold one of these... and with "hold" I mean that she treated it like a baby. She grew so fond of this car, that when its time came (after roughly 18 years of service with some mechanical problem once every 2 years, eventually, even in the engine itself) she CRIED over it. I had to push this cabinet almost every morning to make it to school. When she tried to get spare parts to repair it, we went to the wrecking yard and they had like 2 cars who could be used. The parts were outrageously high in cost, too. I still remember when, on the motordrive, my cousin drove this up to 140 km/h (which was the best you could get from a 1.0 Austin Metro) things were all trembling, and you could literally feel the weight shifting around like you were on a boat. She eventually gave up on this thing and bought an Opel Corsa... I can't deny the MG Metro 64 looks like a funny car to drive into, though.
I had a 1984 mg metro. It leaked oil all the time smoked on over run the electrics just stopped working like the indicators. It rattled. It was dreadful
That "MiniMetro" badge caused us grief getting insurance once. The guy on the phone said there was "no such car as a mini metro. It's either a mini, or a metro". I wouldn't say the ride was entirely without thrills. We acquired a strange noise on the way home one day. It turned out that it was only really the brake disk holding the front wheel on (the hub nut had come loose). And the distributor had a nasty habit of becoming unstuck and spinning out of position, so you stalled with a great big bang. The car eventually rusted in half.
My mum had two of these. A 1985, C reg in what could only be described as dirty water blue, and a white M reg one. Of all the cars she had, these were the only two they never broke down. And they didn’t rust either.
Unbelievable how the British motor trade ended up. We used to be one of the largest car manufacturing nation in the world who supplied good quality high-end cars globally. It all slowly went down hill after WW2 and as a result, in the 1980s, Germany was producing the Golf, France gave us the 205 and we answered with the Metro! Everything about the car was wrong. No wonder the last British people’s car manufacturer Rover went under at the turn of the century!..
We sacrificed the auto industry so that we could beat the nazi's, We then had to pay america back for thier part (if germany had beat us they'd have owned europe, then asia, then the world, effectively we paid america to save the world).
Obviously nothing to do with the bloody awful trade unionists at Longbridge and the equally pathetic management who effectively worked themselves into the role queues.
@@jaggass Not much road salt is used around here so Sprinters tend to hold up better here than elsewhere. I've seen some horror shows in Sprinters in other states though including one that was more rust than paint.
All filmed in Selly Oak Birmingham. The shots on grass are on Gibbins Rd park and the car park shots are the old Sainsbury’s on Battery retail park (since demolished).
my mum had a 1983 A reg moritz model which never ever failed to start. my w reg fiesta ghia needed plugs, points, rotor arm, dis cap and condenser every 6 months as the bloody damp got into it all the time !
The tin can is a death trap. My brother bought one for £100 before he got a license and we ragged it while fixing the horrible rusted front wings and quarter panels lol. We got it mot'd and my mum drove us about in it because she didn't have a car at the time but I'm so glad shes a good driver because they fold up like a cheap suit.
In 1986 I drove a Metro 1.0L all the way through Germany - Switzerland and Italy to the South of France (and back). I think this qualifies as one of the last great motoring adventures. My girlfriend left me soon afterwards. Such is life.
The 40hp low compression was meant as a city runabout, running on 1 star petrol (the cheapest sort). For retired going to supermarket and garden centers, who were probably too scared to go on the motorway.
I hired a Metro to go camping in Cornwall years ago with two mates. The choke had to be left out for miles before you could push it in or the engine would stall. The exhaust also fell off. What a shite car. It was cheap to hire but the company I used obviously wasnt the best. Not exactly Hertz or Enterprise standards.
I did my lessons and passed my test in '87/'88 in a Vanden Plas Metro and the day I passed my test vowed that I would never drive another, they were a horrific car. The learner car was brand new so that says it all, shit when new and only got worse from there on in.
Metros sucked. My Mum's 1988 Micra ( whilst still a rust-bucket) was reliability personified. She now drives a beautiful 1995 model. Yet again; fantastic reliability.
The Montego was even worse. In fact after a terrible experience with one in the nineties. I never went near another Austin Rover car again and couldn't afford the far better Rover 200 and 400.
Ive had quite a few cars over the years including some posh German ones. Yes Metros had bits that fell apart but they were easy to repair and the most fun cars I've driven. The exhaust fell off but a mate tied it on with string (sounded like a harley!), knocked the bumper off, held that on with a mates shoelaces! Used to get 5 people in it and it handled really well.
my first car was an x Reg metro. it was great. you could put a quids worth of fuel in and go out for the day lol. when your 18 that's all ya needed back then
ewaf88 they were really good basic cars. OK. I wouldn't have one today because of the volume of traffic on the roads now but back then just getting from a to b was great in a metro
Mark Evans I can tell you unequivocally that 99% of Metros were rust buckets. My mum had an ‘84 MG Metro, it rusted to death, my aunt had an ‘83, it also rusted itself out of an MOT. Great concept, poorly executed!
My main memories of the Metro: awful engine noise that made long journeys painful, rubbish interiors and rampant rust, nearly as bad as a seventies Fiat. My local councillor had a five year old Metro and the wings were rotten, it felt like it was ready to fall apart and the engine was very noisy. OTOH someone I knew on the dole with not much money managed to get 13 years out of his Metro before the rust killed it.
the engine noise isn't so bad, much better than a mini due to the sound deadening and i've never found it much of an issue, though at 70mph it revs quite high and is in need of a fith gear. i have a 1987 metro and all it has is some slight surface rust on the underside of the rear valance and the underside of the front lip under the bumper but nothing bad, i do look after it though but it doesn't have a garage so it does last well
@@ambivalentonion2620 If anything else, the A series was quite a durable engine and economical. My main gripes with the Metro were the lack of development- it should ave received a five speed transmission and a diesel option by 1985- and rust on some models. Otherwise when it was launched, a good car that saved BL.
@@Glenn1967ful The mk2's should have received a 5 speed definitely, the HLE models did have a longer fourth gear that helped however. The mk2 was still a nice improvement and i much prefer it to the mk1 cars, i would love a late mk2 gta they really were quite good-looking cars. The rust is usually quite bad i've most likely just been lucky and waxoyling the hell out of it didn't hurt
i remember my dad had one of these it had a hole in the floor which as a child i thought was amazing, and it always broke down all the time. Then he got another one which looked mint but kept breaking down and then the engine blew. After that it was replaced by a diesel 205 which went on for 10 years without any trouble except getting drop links and new brake disks.
Agreed. Regular oil changes are a must. Ok, the 12,000 mile service intervals were stretched to say the least, but even on a brand new car I wouldn't like the same oil in an engine for more than 12k!
@@nicholaskennedy1748 I must agree with you two, regular oil changes and services are essential. I own a 97 metro with the 1100 k series, temperamental when I first got it (the water pump blew a week after I'd bought it) but with proper maintenance it has been brilliant. The A series has always been noted to be made out of higher quality materials than other engines of its day. For more information may I suggest AROnline.co.uk
@@joshuagale3041 at least water pumps are easy to change. I take it by 97 the 1100 had the 16 valve head? I have an 87 Metro 998c c City with 10k miles from new. The A plus was built to finer tolerances with more durable parts, so as a rule run forever if looked after. Yes I've been using the AR online website for years, its great!
@@nicholaskennedy1748 Alas No. I have the more reliable but less powerful 8 valve head. Less trouble because personally I think the 16v head is a tad over designed and weak compared to the 8v
I had a 1983 one of these in 1997, what an absolute piece of shit. I like to tell people what I didn't replace on it - the windscreen, and the body shell. Everything else, fell off, rusted to dust or exploded while driving. Totally lethal machine, should never of been allowed on the road. National embarrassment to of made the worst excuse of a car ever made bar none.
love that quote at the end about buying a mini it has a sporting chance of starting in the morning how do they? the metro and mini had the same engines. minis dont start well from cold neither than metro's
I owned two, a 2-door 80’s model that cost £100 and was driven into the ground followed by a 4-door 90’s model that cost £500 and was driven into the ground. Both clocked up thousands of miles and I tinkered with the engines on weekends. My sister owned a Kensington in kingfisher blue.
My parents bought a Primrose yellow metro, brand new in 1982. TBF it never let them down mechanically, but rust became an issue later in life. Reg was: PFR 876X
People seem to have a habit of looking back at these old bangers through rose tinted glasses. In reality age hasn't made them any better. They were junk when new and are even worse now. My Granfather and Uncle had a few new ones in the 1980's due to my Grandafther working at the factory and they were horrible, and nothing but trouble.
My mum had one of these in the late 90s. It was stolen out of a Safeway car park and found barely hours later abandoned nearby. They didn't even nick the stereo. So awful even smackheads won't take it!
The MG version was fun, I recall hoonin round corners with the front wheels at a ludicrous negative camber angle due to the severely corroded front inner wings.
My Mam had an M reg one. Never broke down ALWAYS started and went all around the country sailed through MOT's... until some country in an Audi failed to give way in 2006 and wrote it off. Everybody was fine (except the div in the Audi who still thought they owned the road who received a damaged ego) but the apparent one off Metro had to be scrapped.
My Metro was fun to drive - but the engine overheated going up a mountain in Switzerland (as did the brakes on the way down). Rust finally kiiled her starting the the bottom of the Driver's side door. But she did make it to the South of France (and back), Was it a quiet- refined journey? Err no - a 21st century go-cart would probably be more comfortable - but back in 1986 it was one hell of an adventure. I wonder how my modern Golf TDI would fare.....Thanks for fun post,
missus had a 88 and 90 one; ironically could fit a full size baritone saxophone instrument in case in boot - can't do that on most modern cars now. we remember having to sit and bounce up and down to make fuel go down the line to start the engine. what fun!!! lmao
In fact, in my country, Spain 🇪🇸, there was an advert of the MK1 Opel Corsa (Vauxhall Nova in Britain 🇬🇧) in its Swing version, whose slogan can be translated as: "Opel Corsa Swing, the car where youth runs around its veins", and it actually had 5 speeds, thanks to which it could get up to 50 mpg at a steady 90 km/h (56 mph) which is a pretty good mileage for that time, isn't it?
On the +ve side, my mate had a MG turbo version that went like a nutter when it worked. Which wasn't often. But that turbo was mind blowing in 1986. In fact it was turbo-blowing.....
I had a '86 "E" Fiesta that had to be scrapped in '93 due to rust in the floor and inner wings. I have 2 Metro's, an earlier one and the later "K" series engined one (which is excellent by the way). I had no rust in either.
i know someone who got a 85 metro car in 1992,7 years old and it lasted only another 6 months, gearbox went, rust failed on a MOT and winter was a nightmare to get it going, terrible little things and the turbo versions were just a joke as a hothatch .
You could always guarantee these things were at the front of a long queue of traffic . Don't know whether it was the type of driver they attracted , people who aspired to get near 30 mph ....on a 60 mph road . These , Allegro , Morris Marina all attracted a certain type ....like BMW attract arrogant lunatics .
My first car was aRover Metro reg K915 BDC. It was red 3 door Quest Edition and I never had any bother with the engine. It started first time EVERY TIME and was totally reliable. BUT the body work, oh dear, try as I did to stop the rust it just kept on coming. Shame because it was a wonderful car to drive. If they’d have been built better then they would’ve been perfect.
Wait till the crash test, long story short....Dead at any speed, and that's a new none rusty model. The 90s Ford Fiesta & the Ford Ka rusted like weetabix in the wind.
I had two of the old ones. A 1980/1 1.3S, whose sporting pretentions were supported by ... a rev counter, and an '89 1.3L, which had started life as a BSM car. I did get nearly 85,000 miles out of the later car, against less than 50,000 from the first, although the gearbox had to be rebuilt at 22,000 miles.
I had a D reg automatic. Nothing like as poor as this review says, though I know what he means about a musical gearbox! Transported a full size kitchen cooker 250 miles in mine.
It wasn't just British cars that rusted quickly in those days. I owned a 1972, 1300 VW Beetle in 1977, it was rotten to the core and broke down every other month, this was a five year old VW that was supposedly, ''super reliable!'' Go onto ebay now and search classic cars pre 1975. There's lots of British stuff still around, but where are all the French and Italian rot boxs? ,,, incidentally, I love French & Italian rot boxs.
well, it would be true if it wasn't due to the global carmakers who have manufacturing plants in Britain (see Ford, Honda, Nissan, Toyota...), any of which have shown that they actually know how to build cars, since their quality standards are clearly higher than those of any ex-British Leyland brand
I had no rust issues with my 1982 Metro City. No reliability issues, either. No issues at all, in fact. I used to drive it flat out everywhere, too. It was just as good as my 1985 Mini City. Which was very good. It was great, right up until the day that I crashed it.
I had a couple of Metro's. Both were reliable enough. Although the suspension issue was there (fortunately i had a breakers nearby that only charged £15 a unit). Actually enjoyed driving my second one, which was an MG variant.
Actually the A series engine was fine. Sadly the Metro was outlived by the Mini, the car it was intended to replace. They also suffered severely from rust.
I was just looking at the secondhand prices - my goodness they would be considered expensive today for a small car. Back in the 80's and 90's cars sold in the UK were very overpriced. I wouldn't mind owning a Metro now for a bit of fun - but after all the rain we've been having I might just find a pile of rust waiting for me in the morning.
I bought a Y reg in '95 for £150 and toured around the UK in it for 4 months. Had to replace the motor because it dumped all of its oil out of the driveshaft seals which was £50 out of an A reg from a wrecker. Had to replace the front hubs because the splines sheared. It was rusty as hell but I loved it.
Do you know, I used to steal these as a youngster using only a stick from a tree. I am seriously not lying, just a thin but strong stick was all that you needed, to get in to them and to start them. Put the stick in the door lock and put pressure on one way, watch the little finger pop up button through the window moving and find a position with the stick that raises the button and then apply more pressure, until it pops up, you never even had to wait for it to pop, just rising a little was enough to be able to open the door, even if it went back down to lock the door once you had opened it. Once in, put your hands underneath the wheel and grab the little plastic cover, pull and that just comes off , revealing a bunch of wires going in to the ignition part. Grab those wires and pull straight with pressure and pop, out comes on the end of them the little black box, that the key would go through the lock and into to start the car. Once out, pop your stick in to the hole in that little black box and turn, bam the car starts. Pull the steering wheel side to side to break the lock, and away you go all with a stick from a tree lol God I regret so much from growing up, but man do I miss those days, my mate had a half blue half lime green metro and we actually used to cruise looking for girls when I was a teenager as well, cruising in a metro !! How times have changed lol
ctd... Previously, my mum had had an HLE from 1982 to 91 which always delighted me with its go-kart like handling (c.f. my cars at the time a 318 BMW and '89 model Carrera). Still running fine when she swapped it for a new GTa which served her well till sold in 2007. I remember thinking when I saw this edition of Top Gear, that they seemed to love bashing the Metro, having praised it lavishly on its update/relaunch (in 1990?)
John Collins Yes, that was a Metro City 1300 F reg. Irronically newer than both of Richard's E reg Rover 216s's he had, even though Hyacinth kept calling Elizabeth's car 'old' lol
"but are they any good for demanding motoring?"
"Not really"
LMFAO, brilliant
I keep coming back just for that part 😂
Or in other words can these be driven and driven and driven without any maintenance or any kind of mechanical sympathy, the answer to that is “Not really” as no car will go on forever without something going wrong.
kept me employed, welding, welding, welding, gearbox mainshaft bearing, welding, welding, ignition module, welding, back swinging arm bearings, welding, welding, pump up suspension. at least they had the sense to put plastic pipes on the hydroelastics allegros used to corrode through and drop on thier arse! more welding, gearchange seal, welding, clutch slave cylinder, welding and finally welding.
Rust was #1 problem with cars back then. I think Audi and Peugeot were some of the first manufacturers to use galvanized sheet metal in their cars, and it made all the difference! I just sold my '94 Peugeot 405, and it still didn't had almost any rusting issues, after 25 years.
That's because long after humanity has been wiped out and a whole new sentient race has evolved in our place, they'll discover the existence of humanity when a volcano erupts and a full intact and functional 405 falls out.
@@CptCaptainClockwork That may be the case!
Crankshaft failure at 30,000 miles?! Bloody nora. Out of everything on any car I've had, that's the one part I never even -thought- would be a failure risk, and I've had some that lived beyond 130k. The production and quality control out of the BL shops really must have been absolutely shocking.
It was…
it really really was, I worked for Chrysler in the 50s to 90s. They had me do an inspection on the European division in 75. They got some of their parts from BL… it’s just incredible hot often these parts didn’t work out of the box. My recommendation was to ditch BL, but chrysler sold their euro division not long after. I wonder what happened to that shift shaft bearing agreement with BL (then Austin rover). Oh well, probably won’t ever know.
My aunt had an MG Metro turbo years ago that was always getting nicked.The second time it was stolen the thieves must have thought it to be so bad that a couple of days later they dumped it back outside her house.
Lol 😂
Had to sell mine because of the same reason stolen twice in 6 months
so bad the thieves gave it back....... :->
Romeo's Dog that’s like the shoplifters taking something back
Mine kept getting broken into. In the end I just left it empty and unlocked everywhere.
There is an old Yugo joke :
How other car companies test how good car selas ?
-They put a cat inside , and if cat is dead by the morning sealing is good .
But how they test if Yugo seals good ?
-They put a cat inside and if cat did not run away by the morning it seals good .
They might used elephant for this car ...
With build quality like this is easy to see why the British auto industry went to the dogs
Most of the fords on the road at the same time were made in the U.K.
@@nudgenudgewinkwink3212 Yes but Ford wasnt Stuck in the 60s like Leyland. The Suspension or other things from Leyland were even made in the 50s while Ford, Nissan or Honda were looking in to the Future.
@@fartgarfunkel2433 That was the problem with all those manufacturers like Leyland etc, they never invested and never kept updating their products like today's car industry.
my 1979 Passat got less corrosion in 1990...!
The Nova he mentioned was the world’s worst car at the time
I bought an MG Metro for £50 about 8 years ago (try getting one for that now!). Actually looked quite smart in Black with red graphics/seatbelts/carpets etc. Bearing in mind this car had sat on someone's drive for aorund a year untouched, it fired up easily and just needed a suspension unit changed (cost me £15 from an Austin Rover breaker) to get through an MOT. Had it for ages, never let me down and great fun to drive.
Count Quentula at his most brutal! Wonderful stuff!
That red MG Metro is in shocking condition for its age. That’s like having a 2012 supermini with rotten front wings and sills, unheard of
Daniel Hamby I was putting in modern times too, just amazing how cars have improved. I used to push my finger underneath my 1984 Austin Metro and it would break into rust particles.
I think the majority of B reg cars are 1984, this was filmed in ‘91 so it’s like a 2011 car (in 2018), still shocking! My mum has an MG Metro (also a B Reg) it rusted like buggery, engine was weak and caused no end of strife. Fucking horrid little thing, I’m just glad we never crashed in it or I’d be dead at anything over 20mph!
@@iainmclaughlan1557 But really there was a lot of cars without similar problems in 80's.
Our family had 1987 Fiesta in 2008 and it had much less rust than any of those Metros in 1991
@@jhutt8002 it was depressing because I love the look of the Austin Metro, still my favourite car. If it was reasonably reliable I would still have it now.
I don't know if it's unheard of... I've seen a few Yaris, Ibiza's and even VW UP!'s with quite bad rust on them. In some ways, I actually think VAG might be one of the worst offenders for modern day rust. My father just got rid of his 2013 Passat with 70k miles as the front wings were starting to corroded at the arches.
My father had one of these. By that time, my mother had utterly emasculated him. His joyless grey face as he climbed into it every day is a childhood memory. And then one day he came home and instead of stopping on the drive in front of the garage as he usually did, he folded that Metro in half on the garage wall. He just didn't stop. Whatever it was inside him that made him bend that car like a wet napkin was still alive. My mother hadn't killed it completely. She spend the next 15 years finishing the job. Poor bastard ended up with a baby blue Maestro as a replacement.
Are you sure the brakes didn't just fail?
Sounds like an Alan Bennett play.
Sounds like an average marriage to me.
Say hi to your Mum for me... 😬
That's why I never got married!
I remember back in 89/90 my Dad went to a car auction to get a Metro as a second car. That's what he said he wanted to get, a small car and he was a BL/Rover fan - our car at the time was a W reg Maxi! What he came back with was a C reg 1.3 Vauxhall Astra. The Astra was great (I learned to drive in it) and I bet it outlived any of the Metros he saw that day (1999 when it died!)
Ahh the good old "Rustin Metro"
I bet you could put that thing on the surface of the moon and it still would oxidize.
Good one. !
Well, my mum used to hold one of these... and with "hold" I mean that she treated it like a baby. She grew so fond of this car, that when its time came (after roughly 18 years of service with some mechanical problem once every 2 years, eventually, even in the engine itself) she CRIED over it. I had to push this cabinet almost every morning to make it to school. When she tried to get spare parts to repair it, we went to the wrecking yard and they had like 2 cars who could be used. The parts were outrageously high in cost, too.
I still remember when, on the motordrive, my cousin drove this up to 140 km/h (which was the best you could get from a 1.0 Austin Metro) things were all trembling, and you could literally feel the weight shifting around like you were on a boat.
She eventually gave up on this thing and bought an Opel Corsa... I can't deny the MG Metro 64 looks like a funny car to drive into, though.
I had a Metro Turbo, was a very nice car, never had a problem with it, rust or otherwise
Kaluthrica
Did you only own it for a day?
Same here never had any problems with my one was sound like
Were you living in a vaccum environement ?
I had parts of a Metro turbo (unfortunately not the turbo!) in my Mini, that was alright.
So you just kept in a sealed garage and never drove it
How would the mini have more chance at starting than a metro? The mini and the metro had the same running gear.
Metro had a bigger battery without cables running the length of the car.
For those who say modern car don't rust obviously hasn't owned a Mazda. My 2010 mazda 5 is rusty to buggery underneath as it has no underseal.
I had a 1984 mg metro. It leaked oil all the time smoked on over run the electrics just stopped working like the indicators. It rattled. It was dreadful
All the Metros featured in this video have been scrapped
That "MiniMetro" badge caused us grief getting insurance once. The guy on the phone said there was "no such car as a mini metro. It's either a mini, or a metro". I wouldn't say the ride was entirely without thrills. We acquired a strange noise on the way home one day. It turned out that it was only really the brake disk holding the front wheel on (the hub nut had come loose). And the distributor had a nasty habit of becoming unstuck and spinning out of position, so you stalled with a great big bang. The car eventually rusted in half.
My mum had two of these. A 1985, C reg in what could only be described as dirty water blue, and a white M reg one. Of all the cars she had, these were the only two they never broke down. And they didn’t rust either.
Unbelievable how the British motor trade ended up. We used to be one of the largest car manufacturing nation in the world who supplied good quality high-end cars globally. It all slowly went down hill after WW2 and as a result, in the 1980s, Germany was producing the Golf, France gave us the 205 and we answered with the Metro! Everything about the car was wrong. No wonder the last British people’s car manufacturer Rover went under at the turn of the century!..
To be fair Rover made some good cars in the 90s apart from the 100, like the 200/400 and the later 75.
We sacrificed the auto industry so that we could beat the nazi's, We then had to pay america back for thier part (if germany had beat us they'd have owned europe, then asia, then the world, effectively we paid america to save the world).
@@tomstech4390 save the world 🤣 you're having a laugh surely
@Wallace Carney 200/400 were better than Escort and the 75 was a decent luxury car
Obviously nothing to do with the bloody awful trade unionists at Longbridge and the equally pathetic management who effectively worked themselves into the role queues.
Lynn I'm not driving a mini metro!
Rick D B you’ll have to sack a few people then.
@@valicourti'm keeping Jill though!
As long as you can get a big dinner plate in the boot…
Alan Parsons. Legend
You know the breakfast buffet? Eat as much as you want but from an eight inch plate? TWELVE inches! Keep it in my room!
Can you imagine a 2013 model (equivalent age today to the 85 seen at 2:32) having that sort of rust??
Take one look at a Mercedes Sprinter van that's a couple of years old.
Michael David Mercedes-Benz applying insufficient coats of the water based paint they use
@@RWL2012 Old paints are more durable but due to emissions we have to use water based paints.
@@jaggass Not much road salt is used around here so Sprinters tend to hold up better here than elsewhere. I've seen some horror shows in Sprinters in other states though including one that was more rust than paint.
40mpg from the Metro!? Very impressive considering 30 years later I get that from a 1400 petrol Corsa.
All filmed in Selly Oak Birmingham. The shots on grass are on Gibbins Rd park and the car park shots are the old Sainsbury’s on Battery retail park (since demolished).
Quentin really does detest the Metro and later Rover 100. He never holds back in showing his disdain!
I bet that national at 4:00 is still around and still smoking as good as ever
Selly Oak has change such a lot. At a guess it was the 144 to Worcester.
NO WONDER the British car biz went in the shitter
my mum had a 1983 A reg moritz model which never ever failed to start. my w reg fiesta ghia needed plugs, points, rotor arm, dis cap and condenser every 6 months as the bloody damp got into it all the time !
If Long John Silver were walking around the factory with his parrot on his shoulder it would be screeching "Pieces of shit, Pieces of shit"
The tin can is a death trap. My brother bought one for £100 before he got a license and we ragged it while fixing the horrible rusted front wings and quarter panels lol. We got it mot'd and my mum drove us about in it because she didn't have a car at the time but I'm so glad shes a good driver because they fold up like a cheap suit.
Whats bizarre is that British car makers have not improved since this time. Look at Jaguar Land-rover. They have terrible reliability.
Lol the old Metro was already seriously dated in 1991 ^^
Still love the looks
In 1986 I drove a Metro 1.0L all the way through Germany - Switzerland and Italy to the South of France (and back). I think this qualifies as one of the last great motoring adventures. My girlfriend left me soon afterwards. Such is life.
Girlfriends come & go, but a Metro is for life....
@@_Ben4810 Well it lasted 6 mo this so job done.
The 40hp low compression was meant as a city runabout, running on 1 star petrol (the cheapest sort). For retired going to supermarket and garden centers, who were probably too scared to go on the motorway.
I hired a Metro to go camping in Cornwall years ago with two mates. The choke had to be left out for miles before you could push it in or the engine would stall. The exhaust also fell off. What a shite car. It was cheap to hire but the company I used obviously wasnt the best. Not exactly Hertz or Enterprise standards.
I did my lessons and passed my test in '87/'88 in a Vanden Plas Metro and the day I passed my test vowed that I would never drive another, they were a horrific car. The learner car was brand new so that says it all, shit when new and only got worse from there on in.
Metros sucked.
My Mum's 1988 Micra ( whilst still a rust-bucket) was reliability personified.
She now drives a beautiful 1995 model.
Yet again; fantastic reliability.
I'm amazed that people bought Metros with their own money when they could have had a K10 Micra or VW polo, many of which are still on the roads today.
The Montego was even worse. In fact after a terrible experience with one in the nineties. I never went near another Austin Rover car again and couldn't afford the far better Rover 200 and 400.
Ive had quite a few cars over the years including some posh German ones. Yes Metros had bits that fell apart but they were easy to repair and the most fun cars I've driven. The exhaust fell off but a mate tied it on with string (sounded like a harley!), knocked the bumper off, held that on with a mates shoelaces! Used to get 5 people in it and it handled really well.
the 1980-1990 Austin Metro was assembled in
Longbridge, Birmingham, England
my first car was an x Reg metro. it was great. you could put a quids worth of fuel in and go out for the day lol. when your 18 that's all ya needed back then
+Robbie Crosbie Bit like the older corsas are now fuelwise :)
Mine was an x reg too - it would go a long way if you could hold a steady 55.
ewaf88 they were really good basic cars. OK. I wouldn't have one today because of the volume of traffic on the roads now but back then just getting from a to b was great in a metro
They found the 1% that was rusty, they were good value budget cars
Mark Evans I can tell you unequivocally that 99% of Metros were rust buckets. My mum had an ‘84 MG Metro, it rusted to death, my aunt had an ‘83, it also rusted itself out of an MOT. Great concept, poorly executed!
My main memories of the Metro: awful engine noise that made long journeys painful, rubbish interiors and rampant rust, nearly as bad as a seventies Fiat. My local councillor had a five year old Metro and the wings were rotten, it felt like it was ready to fall apart and the engine was very noisy. OTOH someone I knew on the dole with not much money managed to get 13 years out of his Metro before the rust killed it.
the engine noise isn't so bad, much better than a mini due to the sound deadening and i've never found it much of an issue, though at 70mph it revs quite high and is in need of a fith gear. i have a 1987 metro and all it has is some slight surface rust on the underside of the rear valance and the underside of the front lip under the bumper but nothing bad, i do look after it though but it doesn't have a garage so it does last well
@@ambivalentonion2620 If anything else, the A series was quite a durable engine and economical. My main gripes with the Metro were the lack of development- it should ave received a five speed transmission and a diesel option by 1985- and rust on some models. Otherwise when it was launched, a good car that saved BL.
@@Glenn1967ful The mk2's should have received a 5 speed definitely, the HLE models did have a longer fourth gear that helped however. The mk2 was still a nice improvement and i much prefer it to the mk1 cars, i would love a late mk2 gta they really were quite good-looking cars. The rust is usually quite bad i've most likely just been lucky and waxoyling the hell out of it didn't hurt
i remember my dad had one of these it had a hole in the floor which as a child i thought was amazing, and it always broke down all the time. Then he got another one which looked mint but kept breaking down and then the engine blew.
After that it was replaced by a diesel 205 which went on for 10 years without any trouble except getting drop links and new brake disks.
The crankshaft issue is incorrect, they are quite hardy and like all a series engines they are quite reliable
Agreed. Regular oil changes are a must. Ok, the 12,000 mile service intervals were stretched to say the least, but even on a brand new car I wouldn't like the same oil in an engine for more than 12k!
@@nicholaskennedy1748 I must agree with you two, regular oil changes and services are essential. I own a 97 metro with the 1100 k series, temperamental when I first got it (the water pump blew a week after I'd bought it) but with proper maintenance it has been brilliant. The A series has always been noted to be made out of higher quality materials than other engines of its day. For more information may I suggest AROnline.co.uk
@@joshuagale3041 at least water pumps are easy to change. I take it by 97 the 1100 had the 16 valve head? I have an 87 Metro 998c c City with 10k miles from new. The A plus was built to finer tolerances with more durable parts, so as a rule run forever if looked after. Yes I've been using the AR online website for years, its great!
@@nicholaskennedy1748 Alas No. I have the more reliable but less powerful 8 valve head. Less trouble because personally I think the 16v head is a tad over designed and weak compared to the 8v
@@joshuagale3041 I'm assuming aswell there was less head gasket issues with the 8v head?
Brother in law bought these - rust and unreliability came as standard. I had a few Uno's - much much better
“All the performance and agility of the Albert Memorial” 🤣👍🏻
My brother in law bought a brand new metro something in the 80's something. It literally disintegrated within four years.
I had a 1983 one of these in 1997, what an absolute piece of shit. I like to tell people what I didn't replace on it - the windscreen, and the body shell. Everything else, fell off, rusted to dust or exploded while driving. Totally lethal machine, should never of been allowed on the road. National embarrassment to of made the worst excuse of a car ever made bar none.
love that quote at the end about buying a mini it has a sporting chance of starting in the morning how do they? the metro and mini had the same engines. minis dont start well from cold neither than metro's
Michael Langley my Austin Metro started very well in all conditions.
I owned two, a 2-door 80’s model that cost £100 and was driven into the ground followed by a 4-door 90’s model that cost £500 and was driven into the ground. Both clocked up thousands of miles and I tinkered with the engines on weekends. My sister owned a Kensington in kingfisher blue.
My parents bought a Primrose yellow metro, brand new in 1982.
TBF it never let them down mechanically, but rust became an issue later in life.
Reg was: PFR 876X
People seem to have a habit of looking back at these old bangers through rose tinted glasses. In reality age hasn't made them any better. They were junk when new and are even worse now. My Granfather and Uncle had a few new ones in the 1980's due to my Grandafther working at the factory and they were horrible, and nothing but trouble.
I've had an 87 metro for the past few years and done 12k miles each year
Can anyone tell me why the build quality was so bad? Just the difficulty of keeping the business going? Or greed from the owners?
Mainly the laziness and incompetence of the designers and the workforce
My mum had one of these in the late 90s. It was stolen out of a Safeway car park and found barely hours later abandoned nearby. They didn't even nick the stereo. So awful even smackheads won't take it!
I used to own an E reg metro 1.3 and it was a wonderful little motor and i had no problems at all with it , maybe i was just lucky ?
The MG version was fun, I recall hoonin round corners with the front wheels at a ludicrous negative camber angle due to the severely corroded front inner wings.
I used to have one but it rusted away. Great to drive though - got my down to the South of France and was a hoot to drive through the Alps
My Mam had an M reg one. Never broke down ALWAYS started and went all around the country sailed through MOT's... until some country in an Audi failed to give way in 2006 and wrote it off. Everybody was fine (except the div in the Audi who still thought they owned the road who received a damaged ego) but the apparent one off Metro had to be scrapped.
Audi drivers to a tee.
The 6R4 is a legend.
I used a van version for a while - it was appalling and had the turning circle of an oil tanker.
I really tried to watch this. I love top gear, I remember the quentin days. Still couldn’t get past 1:46 and bringing which magazine into it...
My Metro was fun to drive - but the engine overheated going up a mountain in Switzerland (as did the brakes on the way down). Rust finally kiiled her starting the the bottom of the Driver's side door. But she did make it to the South of France (and back), Was it a quiet- refined journey? Err no - a 21st century go-cart would probably be more comfortable - but back in 1986 it was one hell of an adventure. I wonder how my modern Golf TDI would fare.....Thanks for fun post,
missus had a 88 and 90 one; ironically could fit a full size baritone saxophone instrument in case in boot - can't do that on most modern cars now. we remember having to sit and bounce up and down to make fuel go down the line to start the engine. what fun!!! lmao
I remember they still had a 4-speed transmission when every other make had 5 speeds.
In fact, in my country, Spain 🇪🇸, there was an advert of the MK1 Opel Corsa (Vauxhall Nova in Britain 🇬🇧) in its Swing version, whose slogan can be translated as: "Opel Corsa Swing, the car where youth runs around its veins", and it actually had 5 speeds, thanks to which it could get up to 50 mpg at a steady 90 km/h (56 mph) which is a pretty good mileage for that time, isn't it?
Quenton Wilson is a ringer for Richard E Grant in Withnail and I 😂
Imagine accepting a 3 year old car witlh holes rusted through the doors...
They missed a great publicity opportunity when they refused to supply these for the James Bond movie of the day.
On the +ve side, my mate had a MG turbo version that went like a nutter when it worked. Which wasn't often. But that turbo was mind blowing in 1986. In fact it was turbo-blowing.....
I had a '86 "E" Fiesta that had to be scrapped in '93 due to rust in the floor and inner wings. I have 2 Metro's, an earlier one and the later "K" series engined one (which is excellent by the way). I had no rust in either.
i know someone who got a 85 metro car in 1992,7 years old and it lasted only another 6 months, gearbox went, rust failed on a MOT and winter was a nightmare to get it going, terrible little things and the turbo versions were just a joke as a hothatch .
6:25 but otherwise a great little car to own?
You could always guarantee these things were at the front of a long queue of traffic . Don't know whether it was the type of driver they attracted , people who aspired to get near 30 mph ....on a 60 mph road . These , Allegro , Morris Marina all attracted a certain type ....like BMW attract arrogant lunatics .
2:45 "advanced corruption"! - I think he meant advanced corrosion?
No he had it right 😀😁😀😁😂
My first car was aRover Metro reg K915 BDC. It was red 3 door Quest Edition and I never had any bother with the engine.
It started first time EVERY TIME and was totally reliable.
BUT the body work, oh dear, try as I did to stop the rust it just kept on coming.
Shame because it was a wonderful car to drive. If they’d have been built better then they would’ve been perfect.
Wait till the crash test, long story short....Dead at any speed, and that's a new none rusty model. The 90s Ford Fiesta & the Ford Ka rusted like weetabix in the wind.
I had two of the old ones. A 1980/1 1.3S, whose sporting pretentions were supported by ... a rev counter, and an '89 1.3L, which had started life as a BSM car. I did get nearly 85,000 miles out of the later car, against less than 50,000 from the first, although the gearbox had to be rebuilt at 22,000 miles.
I had a D reg automatic. Nothing like as poor as this review says, though I know what he means about a musical gearbox! Transported a full size kitchen cooker 250 miles in mine.
It wasn't just British cars that rusted quickly in those days. I owned a 1972, 1300 VW Beetle in 1977, it was rotten to the core and broke down every other month, this was a five year old VW that was supposedly, ''super reliable!''
Go onto ebay now and search classic cars pre 1975. There's lots of British stuff still around,
but where are all the French and Italian rot boxs?
,,, incidentally, I love French & Italian rot boxs.
I had two. Loved them. Did a tad over the speed limit on motorways with ease. Perfect also for the winding lanes of rural Devon where I lived.
I must admit, the British have a good sense of humour. Sadly, designing and building cars is not one of their strong points.
well, it would be true if it wasn't due to the global carmakers who have manufacturing plants in Britain (see Ford, Honda, Nissan, Toyota...), any of which have shown that they actually know how to build cars, since their quality standards are clearly higher than those of any ex-British Leyland brand
I had a yellow metro, 1st gen. second hand , dealer must have seen me coming, put me of british cars for life.. Japanese is best..
Japanese as in Toyota, honda, mazda and subaru
Nissan, Mitsubishi, Suzuki and isuzu are Japanese but they make unreliable junk cars
What about Daihatsu?
RMGDEV daihatsu is owned buy Toyota therefore I consider it a Toyota product
Joskj j Nissan used to make great cars
I had no rust issues with my 1982 Metro City. No reliability issues, either. No issues at all, in fact. I used to drive it flat out everywhere, too.
It was just as good as my 1985 Mini City. Which was very good.
It was great, right up until the day that I crashed it.
@@Aaron-tf3iv F**937X. 👍
@@Aaron-tf3iv Ah, right. 🙂
My 1st car was a Metro and it was great, Didn't have a problem with it.
I had a couple of Metro's. Both were reliable enough. Although the suspension issue was there (fortunately i had a breakers nearby that only charged £15 a unit). Actually enjoyed driving my second one, which was an MG variant.
Actually the A series engine was fine. Sadly the Metro was outlived by the Mini, the car it was intended to replace. They also suffered severely from rust.
I was just looking at the secondhand prices - my goodness they would be considered expensive today for a small car. Back in the 80's and 90's cars sold in the UK were very overpriced. I wouldn't mind owning a Metro now for a bit of fun - but after all the rain we've been having I might just find a pile of rust waiting for me in the morning.
Mine was a white one K923 KUY and it never let me down. Anyone got it now?
Two new wings,front valance and a good paint job for around 200 quid....
Those were the days.
I bought a Y reg in '95 for £150 and toured around the UK in it for 4 months. Had to replace the motor because it dumped all of its oil out of the driveshaft seals which was £50 out of an A reg from a wrecker. Had to replace the front hubs because the splines sheared. It was rusty as hell but I loved it.
@LondonItalian its B569 POC and what about A952 VOB?
He says that the Fiesta and the Nova were better but as Clarkson put it, it's like comparing TB to Typhoid.
My mum had a red Austin metro called Morris with blue pain splats my dad put on, you can imagine the feeling I got at home time in primary school!
A few years ago I saw a red 1982 MG Metro turbo and it was mint. It obviously had been well looked after by an enthusiast.
Do you know, I used to steal these as a youngster using only a stick from a tree. I am seriously not lying, just a thin but strong stick was all that you needed, to get in to them and to start them. Put the stick in the door lock and put pressure on one way, watch the little finger pop up button through the window moving and find a position with the stick that raises the button and then apply more pressure, until it pops up, you never even had to wait for it to pop, just rising a little was enough to be able to open the door, even if it went back down to lock the door once you had opened it. Once in, put your hands underneath the wheel and grab the little plastic cover, pull and that just comes off , revealing a bunch of wires going in to the ignition part. Grab those wires and pull straight with pressure and pop, out comes on the end of them the little black box, that the key would go through the lock and into to start the car. Once out, pop your stick in to the hole in that little black box and turn, bam the car starts. Pull the steering wheel side to side to break the lock, and away you go
all with a stick from a tree lol
God I regret so much from growing up, but man do I miss those days, my mate had a half blue half lime green metro and we actually used to cruise looking for girls when I was a teenager as well, cruising in a metro !! How times have changed lol
ctd...
Previously, my mum had had an HLE from 1982 to 91 which always delighted me with its go-kart like handling (c.f. my cars at the time a 318 BMW and '89 model Carrera). Still running fine when she swapped it for a new GTa which served her well till sold in 2007.
I remember thinking when I saw this edition of Top Gear, that they seemed to love bashing the Metro, having praised it lavishly on its update/relaunch (in 1990?)
Don't show this to Twin Cam
Is this the car driven by Hyacinth's neighbor Elizabeth on "Keeping Up Appearances"?
John Collins Yes, that was a Metro City 1300 F reg. Irronically newer than both of Richard's E reg Rover 216s's he had, even though Hyacinth kept calling Elizabeth's car 'old' lol
Matt Webb Thanks for the information, Matt. I appreciate it!