Old Top Gear Austin/Rover Metro/100

[mig189189189]

Great video!

Awesome classic car!

[MrMcKane]

The only good thing to have ever come out of the Metro's existence was the 6R4 rally car.

[pogly100]

MAHAHA he even found one with "SUX" in the number plate! Go Quentin!

[VeloceManiac]

Fuck its so horrible, burn it!

[chefblanc]

lijke claRKSON , this guys time is up .. what about awful cars of today like the bmw attempt at the our british mini [when they stole the name ] and the bizarre beetle. shite cars that keep going wrong..

[kernals12]

and don't think BL had an excuse because they had no money, Ford was able to design a revolutionary car when they were on the brink of bankruptcy, what matters more is how much time you have, the Metro was designed in just one month.

[kernals12]

the only reason this car sold at all is because it was British, you can tell by the fact that it was only a best-seller in it's domestic market.

[kernals12]

they thought that this could replace the Mini? idiots

[darren3965]

this piece of shite is NOT in the same league as the vw polo you muppets lol

[ash7990]

To be entirely honest, anyone slagging off or laughing at a the metro should take a Rover Metro GTi out for a spin.

[hunghuge12]

@ash7990 Yeah and they will love it. Unless it breaks down. Or they have a crash. That's assuming they can find one that's still got a floor, sills and subframe in the first place.

[vincelockyer]

i own a '90 Rover Metro 1.1 - the build quality is terrible, the interior comfort is non-existent but there's something wierdly endearing about it. i'm going to look after it as no doubt they will all be off the road very soon

[jaggass]

im going to find that metro and dig it out.

[gt4driftster]

the best bit about this... that it finished just after "cameron diaz naked at 200mph in a lamborghini.. just.. PERFECT!

[voiceofreason2008]

i do not care what any insane metro would like to say about the GOD awful austin metro, rover metro and finally the rover 100 basically the same car rehashed over about 17 years

ok it had restyled interiors and changes to the transmission and suspension and minor teaks to the exterior but underneath it all was a car that was a car crash to own and speaking of crashes if i ever dared to be in one id want life insurance the ncap crash results were gut wrenching for a car in production in 1997

[pattzydriveman2010]

the engine may be old but mg when strapped a turbo to it it felt much more diffrent bro has got 1 running 153bhp and 170touqe I love it

[jakamneziak]

Great poem if nothing else.

[jaggass]

Not a fan of quentin wilson. Crashed a de tomaso opantera Caused £50,000 damage to it

[TheArsebiscuits]

Terrible car to crash. It was made for far too long.

[pattzydriveman2010]

ahh poor austin sadly gone and of course metro is austin

[anonymuswere]

did any of you old school petrol heads bother saving any for the collectors value? in another few years, they may be as rare as a Yugo in the states, and worth more than a veryon 'cause you only left 6 alive!

btw...we were hit with these type, as well, and not just a yugo. we breifly got the Sterling in the US...which is, I beleve, a triple rebadged one of these.

[Threetails]

@anonymuswere That was actually the much larger Rover 800, although not much better in build quality despite the sad attempts at marketing it as a "luxury" car.

[anonymuswere]

@Threetails

what makes the poor thing worse is, since it was a rebadged Honda, they didn't flip it to Left Hand drive till it came over here, and the fusebox, hood release, and i believe the handbrake (?) were all still in the RHD positions.

I think the closest we came to these kinds of small car lemons besides yugos were early Hyundais (pronounced HUN-day in the states, btw)

[tjf4375]

@Threetails Alan Partridge would beg to differ.

[the06bug]

I read that its final nail in the coffin was that Euro NCAP test where it scored 1 star. They said that it coulda been worked to earn a second star, but I guess that by the time Rover realized this, sales had fallen down like a tower of kapla sticks.

[johnm400uk]

Typical idiotic Top Gear and its annoying presenters. The only real problem for the Metro was rust on the wings and sometimes front/rear fender and oil leaks around the driveshaft and gear selector rod. The rest of the car did a job. It was a budget small car and personally speaking my dad had 2 of them running on a driving school with no trouble at all in the 5 years he had them.

[Stitch216]

The worst thing about the Metro - Worst EuroNCAP ever recorded. One of the worst death traps of the 'modern' era.

The best thing about the Metro - The 6R4.

[discocreator76]

I think the last 100s were really cute little cars, better looking than its rivals certainly, if not better built

[carzmine9]

OOH !!! Nice comeback, this argument is going well !!!!!!!!!!!!

[Speedster083]

I think the guy just hates the cars! I've owned a Metro for over 2 years now and never spent a penny on it! not even on service (as I plan to replace the engine in future) and it never broke down! and as far as rust goes! well knowing that cars rust a lot in the UK maybe you should start waxoyling them! and Fiestas do rust a lot more!! there are rustier mk4 Fiestas here in Malta than there are Metros!

[SuperTabitha22]

My first car was a 1983 mini Metro HLE in denim blue. It was 25 years old when I bought it but it was low mileage with FSH and I am glad to say it had been undersealed. Wonderful little car, full of character, hydrogas suspension and all.

Absolutely loved it, fabulous to drive- and that A series engine was bombproof. Don't you just love that gearbox whine!

[1100HondaCB]

The problems of the Metro aside, to think it was in production within five weeks is quite an achievement. The cost of developing the Metro couldn't have been that much and for it be in production for nearly eighteen years is quite remarkable. Just a shame it was badly made with ancient running gear. The foibles of the Metro aside, the car gave freedom to many people, both young and old alike.

[cisco9x]

bring back Quentin Wilson

[kazimann]

As another poster said, if you occasionally Waxoyl'd these cars every few years, rust wouldn't be an issue. They may not have been the best built car in the world, but there was indeed far worse out there. I wouldn't mind an 80's Metro at all.

Quentin Wilson is a bellend anyway. I uploaded a review from 1991of him criticising the Metro. Clarkson is no better.

[whonut]

I had one of these shit heaps. A piece of crap.

[Taz1451]

Justify your claim?

[whonut]

Ha ha! the scrap yards were full off them. Even when new it was crap. Terrible gearbox, steering appalling. And to top it all off they were rust buckets.

[Taz1451]

There are very keen restorers keeping faith in these cars. We're restoring a 114, 1.4 GTi. They were decent cars in the right hands...

[Lolf88]

@whonut

Well you might want to try driving one because the Metro was universally praised for its steering. As for the rust bucket comment, if you show me any small cars made in the eighties (and nineties for that matter) that weren't complete rot boxes themselves and I'll show you Gordon Brown's re-election proposals. I can't see how you can single out the Metro for this.

But ho hum, lets continue slating an easy target, eh?

[AnthonyUK]

When the Rover 100 got EuroNCAP crash tested and it was found that it did so badly with just 1 EuroNCAP star for crash safety it WAS the beginning of the end for it. Rover just washed it's hands of it and withdrew it from production.

[Lolf88]

@AnthonyUK

And when Fiat found their Seicento equally lacking in that department they responded by... carrying on making it, shame on Rover!

[bmwfan4lyfe]

a car thievs choice

[GRAHAM5020]

I used to work in a British Leyland garage back in 1981 and sold many of them, but many did suffer build quality faults and the body did rust quite quickly although some owners had theirs rustproofed and the body then lasted longer than the engine, but later models were much better built and more reliable and the Rover models from late 1990 were better again, handling was brilliant and fuel economy was excellent and the GTi 1.4 was a bloody quick wee machine.

[Lolf88]

@GRAHAM5020

The best ones were the Rover Metros with the early wet liner, fixed block K Series engines from 1989 to 1994. I've known some of these cars to to 110,000 miles with no major faults recorded. The carbed ones went some as well.

Oh, and the MG turbos, and the 6R4.

[rover100vvc]

I think this Quentin Wilson is just a pure KNOB

i would really like too run him over in my rover 100 so he can check out the underneath my car

[ysivyboi1]

there are worse cars and the 100's I think are good looking and I wouldn't mind buying one over a Polo or a Fiesta

[funkysi79]

@ysivyboi1 Whilst I'm fond of Metros (Dad had 2 new ones, one of which took us all the way to the South of France on a number of occasions), I'd not choose one over a Polo.

Quentin does talk sense, despite me liking the Metro. I think that comes more down to the look and overall retro-ness. I learnt to drive in a Rover 114 with BSM, didn't think too much of it. I've also recently sold a GTA that I inherited from a great Aunt with 14k on it. Decent cars, but much of the competition was better

[khalithistle]

why, so he can let you know afterwards which bits have fallen off?

[hunghuge12]

@rover100vvc You think your car is harder than a pedestrian?

[rover100vvc]

@hunghuge12

Yeah i do, i'm 100% sure and all will agree

if i hit someone at 60mph in a R100 it'll death on the pedestrian not the car

[hunghuge12]

@rover100vvc I will guarantee 100% that if you hit someone at 60mph the car will be dead. The pedestrian probably would too though. 

[rover100vvc]

@hunghuge12

Shut up you prick, dont know what you talking about.

[hunghuge12]

@rover100vvc Nice. When you run out of silly things to say just start swearing. It's a shame you would never have the nuts to say it in person. Good luck running people over in your metrot. If it can ever build the speed up to catch them.

[rover100vvc]

@hunghuge12

I bet your 1/2 breed mother is a lesbian

I dont own a Metro or R100 i own a Honda Civic VTI

[hunghuge12]

@rover100vvc Wow. You've really gone up in the world. I bet everyone at the mcdonalds drive through loves you. Like I said its a shame you've got a big mouth and nothing to back it up. Throwing insults over the net is a bit childish and old now so go play. When you grow some nuts send me where to meet you and we'll see how you speak about my mother.

[DivideBYZero69]

@rover100vvc Well you're clearly an idiot, as you might as well drive a coffin. A coffin that won't start, and is more uncomfortable than an actual coffin.

[ukESC]

@rover100vvc I don't think one should use such language on here.

[PlanetAirsoftPlym]

@rover100vvc nah use a rover sterling, the worst car in the world, my dad used one in the police and it lasted a day they just fell to bits

[dannyisso]

the metro aint all that bad, if you bought one when new and waxoiled it all round it would be solid today. There are so many metro's on the metroownersclub that are fantastic examples, but it is true that most died from rot and went to the scrap yard.

[ysivyboi1]

I like the curvy design of the 100

the only metro i'd ever have would be a 114 GSi

[dannyisso]

Yeah xD mind i have to say that the 114 GSI is nice it's basically a metro vanden plas in todays world even though the metro/100/114 is not in production anymore.

[ysivyboi1]

if the slightly faster GTa had electric windows I would get that but ther essential and the GSi had the option of leather and wood door cappings

[theothertrainee]

@ysivyboi1 The Later [96, 97, 98] GTas DO have electric windows! :P lol

[theothertrainee]

@ysivyboi1 After P reg the GTa did have electric windows.

[ash7990]

@ysivyboi1 So you wouldnt buy a car simply because it doesnt have electric windows? Bit bizarre.

[kernals12]

@dannyisso the Rover Metro wasn't so bad, but the Austin Metro was awful, it was a buzz box with an engine that dated back to 1949, it had a flimsy interior, and the car had no modern features whatsoever, even when it became a Rover it had no ABS or power accessories

[Speedster083]

In my opinion a great car, very cheap to maintain and never gave any problems! the only problem is the hydragas units, but that's due to the poor quality roads over here!

[sportfuryman]

Great poem for an awful car