These were all still taxed into the early 90's except the Gordini which was probably crashed or stolen in '85. The Fiesta was the winner, making it to '95. (As if anyone's bothered).
@@betaman7988 gluttons for punishment eh? Lol. Tbh I thought they were decent cars and if they were rubbish they were in good company, there wasn't a lot of good affordable cars or cars that didn't rot back in the day.
'The Metro never looked better than in this video' After three months, the paint had faded. After six months, the Hydragas made the car sit wonky on the road. After a year, the bonnet leading edge and lower valance were pock marked and rusty. After two years, the wings had rusted... Your comment is correct, but perhaps for the wrong reasons :-) Still, during the 1980s, it wasn't alone. I passed my test in one in the mid 80s. When they worked, they were quite brisk, handled OK and despite the age and being a little gruff, the 'A' Series is one of the great engines of the 20th century.
I remember my wife’s metro - brought second hand from her sister - the drivers floor pan completely rusted and dropped out. Actually improved performance as your feet could give you additional acceleration, not to mention improved braking.
@@Perkelenaattori Well considering BL were away ahead of Ford/Vauxhall etc in the UK with FWD and trying out modern non-boxy shaped cars then they were always developing their engineering - they just didnt have the money to do everything they wanted because of government interference etc. The truck and bus side for example had excellent engineering and profits to match until they were forced into bed with the car side and then they slid downhill because all of their profits were being sucked into keeping the car side going.
@@williamwoods8022 I love British cars but I would say most of the mismanagement came from corporate not government. BMC had too many similar brands which in several cases competed against each other and didn't have synergy while eating into the others profit. This coupled with not developing technologies. When other brands were adding fuel injection, BL was still firmly in the carburetor era.
@@williamwoods8022 The problem was that BL was a vast corporation that was effectively competing against itself in pretty much every car sector. Each 'brand' was inherently inward looking, trying to fight their own little corner of an ever-decreasing market share. Add to that a Union presence that had, for 25 years after the War, garnered a workforce with levels of perks and pensions that were never sustainable when the UK joined the EEC in 1973 and import taxes on cars made in Europe disappeared. That apathy, coupled with the knowledge that (as actually happened) the government would bail out BL when it went completely tits up, meant the money was never going to be there to develop any 'new' cars. The Metro was just a re-skinned Mini.. Same engine (albeit in A+ guise), same gearbox, same suspension etc... The Triumph Acclaim was just a rebadged Honda Ballade.. As were Rover's 213/216.. The Maestro/Montego could have been good, but were also woefully under-developed.. Leading to them being just about adequate in 1983, but bottom of their class by 1988...
This Metro never received a 5 speed transmission, until it’s 90’s Rover Incarnation. Fit by Ray Charles, finish by Stevie Wonder. Ugly, ghastly, noisy rot-boxes.
In 86' I was deciding between the Metro and the Fiat Uno. Chose the Uno for its better spec 5 speed box, much better 1100 cc engine. Never regretted my choice. I'm afraid the Metro just couldn't compete.
My first car was a jet black uno 45. Loved that car. Lovely engine and the ashtray was on a rail so you could slide it to the other side of the car. It made me want to take up smoking 🤣
@@zenbudhism I disagree, racing around the Kent lanes in mine, pretty much in third gear which topped out at over 70 mph had me smiling from ear to ear.😁
For anyone wondering, in Greece 🇬🇷 there was actually car industry: some small carmakers that sold only within the domestic market, more or less like SEAT in Spain 🇪🇦 until it joined VAG group and started exporting, but since the 80s it's been declining drastically (in favour of central European carmakers, I guess). It may be one of the reasons why the Starlet, in any of its generations, is still around in that country (apart from a bulletproof reliability, of course)
Peversely, while being rubbish, the metro was probably the longest lived (I saw one yesterday!) because Leyland etc were always incapable of understanding life-cycle and kept going with the same design until the company collapsed.
Oh, they understood life-cycle alright. They were just spectacularly bad at financial management, and could never afford to fully invest in a replacement. There were designs and prototypes made as early as 1983 (The AR6 project) for a replacement, but the money was never there to see it through to production. I recommend checking out aronline.co.uk for some very interesting articles and pictures of the proposed Metro replacements.
How was the Metro rubbish? They sold loads of them and most of the Learner schools ran them as well especially BSM and they even reported that they were excellent reliable cars. The Nova/Corsa was outsold by the Metro by a mile back then and it was only when the Rover facelifted version came out with higher prices that the Corsa managed to get ahead in the sales charts especially after Rover killed off the Rover Metro/100. The Metro outsold all of these other cars as well apart from the Fiesta and the Metro handled far better than the Fiesta especially in the wet where the Ford was almost dangerous with the back end giving you a fright the speed it lost grip. I worked in garages back then and the Metro was just as reliable as any of these other cars and rusted just as much as all of these cars did back then. Like Nimmo1492 says it was a lack of money that BL, Austin Rover etc was suffering from because it was government owned. When they did have money they came out with excellent engineering such as the K-Series engine which was an excellent engine and they only had problems with the head gaskets on that engine when it was re-engineered as 1.6 and 1.8 engines using the same blocks when it was only meant to be a 1.1 and 1.4 engines in the first place. They are still excellent engines when the upgraded head gaskets are used. And yes still plenty of Metros around so goes to show that looked after cars will survive a very long time if they are looked after and serviced as they should be.
The van division did the same, sherpa van in 2006 anyone? Didn't think so, convoy was a house with a moped engine that drank fuel like George best did beer.
@@williamwoods8022 They got it right in the end but the first few years of production were pretty dire (great Top Gear video on 3yo cars with terminal rust). And that's what's rubbish. The British car industry just never managed to get things right. K series engine is a good example. Lovely thing but let down by skimping on dowel pins. SD1, great looking but rust. Jaguar: nice cars but poorly made and eventually losing the plot trying to sell cars aimed squarely at 1956 (Brits have a lot of nostalgia for the past but they won't buy retro.)
@@williamwoods8022 The Metro was rubbish because it was based on engineering from the 50s.... Just a Mini with a more upright stance and a hatchback... But mechanically it had been superceded by the competition 10 years earlier. It was pretty much dead on it's feet 3 years after its launch.. By then Vauxhall had the Nova, Fiat had the Panda and Uno, VW's second generation Polo was forming it's own niche in the market, Ford had the Fiesta now in Mk2 guise, Peugeot released the awesome 205, Nissan brought the Micra... Of the 'serious' contenders in the market, only Renault and Citroen were relying on fairly old designs by then...
@@betaman7988 Yep they rusted the same as EVERY car did back then - just the rose tinted spectacles of people who just think that it was BL that rusted when FIAT or anything Italian, Japanese etc and even Ford were worst. Allegros actually had wax protection as I used to have a 1980 Allegro 1750 Equipe that was an excellent reliable and fun car that I looked after and serviced myself and when I was checking it for rust so that I could waxoyl it I found that they already did wax most of it at the factory. I presume they did that with other cars but not with the Minis and Metros and most of the rust problems with them like most cars were the build up of muck on the wheel arches etc that the owners never bother to clean off thus causing the rust.
@@williamwoods8022 Yeah everything back then had rust problems. On the other hand Peugeot got into galvanizing quickly and most of the German makes put them together properly so the chances of getting a good one were much higher. I would say Fiat were worse than BL for rust but then thery were at least as poorly built and made of metal half as thick in a lot of cases. The other thing a lot of people forget is that engines and especially gearboxes back then simply didn't have the life of newer stuff. Back in those days 50k miles was high and by 100k there were very few still going strong so while a lot rusted away it wouldn't have made a lot of difference to the lifespan since a lot of major mechanical components would have been worn out anyway. I remember the A series (and A+) being especially fond of eating 2nd cear syncros if oil changes were delayed or if you were a bit clumsy with it. These days you're more likely to scrap a car for a crash or emissions based MOT failure than anything else. The great irony of safer and (apparently) cleaner cars.
Yes, it was tremendously bright, a spacious, peppy, good handling, road holding, tried n tested, reliable A series engine, then the quick K series engine propelled British car........with an 18 year production run, very bright indeed.
I had a Metro City as a courtesy car. Drove far better than the Nova I had at the time. I went on to buy a Maestro Diesel. That was seriously economical. I got just short of 80 mpg on a motorway run from Cumbria down to Coventry and back, The lack of power steering was its downfall. VERY heavy to park.
Metro a family car?? Yeah, particularly with those squeaking, leaking hydragas suspensions! No wonder British Leyland went bust so many years ago (while all the other brands shown, are still in existence!)
Funny the Metro suspensions did NOT leak just like all of the other gas suspended cars they made as well - Yes maybe when the cars were old and not being looked after the same just like all other cars needed their suspensions repolaced or fixed. I used to have a 1980 Allegro 1750 Equipe and I never had any problems with that cars suspension and NEVER had any squeak or leaks from it - a very reliable and excellent car but then again I looked after and serviced my own cars and none of the Metros we looked after and serviced in the garages I worked in had squeaky suspensions either.
@@williamwoods8022 I had a Metro and the suspension leaked in one corner. Mine was a decade old by the time I got it though; as a 17-year-old it was all I could afford. The problem was easily solved by sitting one of my mates (who was rather large) in the opposite corner. Apart from the rose-tinted aspect of it being my first car, it was a good car to drive and always started first time, even on cold mornings. Ultimately though, it was a rust bucket, mostly through poor design and build.
MK1 and 2 Fiesta handling like a Mini (or Metro) - NO Chance! Someone spitting on the road and the back end of the Fiesta would try and overtake the front. Quite dangerous at times so much so we have to warn any mechanics who were road testing them or whoever was returning the Fiestas to the Health board after we had serviced them to watch out for the back end when they were driving them because they were bad. There was no way any of these Fiestas could match a Mini or a Metro especially in the wet.
@@williamwoods8022 My mate graduated from minis to a Fiesta. He had a normal mini 1000 first, then a 1275GT then some kind of hot rod mini with a fibreglass and space frame front end and a 1380cc motor. When driving home from work late one night in the wet in his new Fiesta at a speed he thought was 'normal' he spun it on a bend and ended up going backwards down an embankment and into a river. Car was mostly ok though but he put massive wheels and tyres on it and to help with the non existent grip from the standard skinny wheels. Basically he created the XR2 before Ford did. Good little car though, lasted well and survived its little off road reverse excursion.
Outside the UK the Metro was never as popular as the Fiat/Seat 127, Ford Fiesta or Pug 104 however was still one of the most seen and sold UK made cars apart from the Mini. This year, 1980, was actually a transition one. In only two to three years the Opel Corsa (I reckon the Vauxhall Nova for the UK market), Nissan Micra, Fiat Uno and the Renault 'Supercinque' would be the game changers, larger, more modern and with a much wider range of trim levels. P.S. Peugeot 205 for 1983 replacing the 104 range. Citroen Visa gradually replacing the LN/LNA models till the AX in 1986.
I remember being pretty excited about the launch of the Metro and shortly afterwards learnt to drive in one. Sadly it wasn't the best supermini though, and suffered a lot of rust issues (and friend had a brand new car taken back by the dealer due to severe corrosion). Fun to drive though, especially in MG form.
All cars rusted bad back then and there is no way any new car would be suffering from corrosion never mind severe corrosion no matter what manufacturer.
@@williamwoods8022 sadly that's incorrect. Several manufacturers including BL stored cars outside for many many months in damp conditions before selling as new. In some instances they were left in fields that became flooded. I can tell you as an absolute fact that my friend's Metro was eventually rejected and bought back by the dealer within months of supply due to excessive corrosion appearing bubbling out from under the paintwork. I saw the car myself, and the subsequent car (a Maestro) it was "replaced" with.
I tend to run cheap old higher mileage cars - Renault ( Clio and Megane ) - Fiat ( Panda, Uno, Punto ) have all been great - PSA Citroens and Peugeots of 10-15 years ago are similarly tough - I have found Fords and Rovers to be bloody dire - VW trades on an image that no longer applies ( look at the front wheel arches on a VW/Audi from say 2003 to 2010 ) and Japanese cars are mostly only sold at a low mileage because an expensive fault is imminent otherwise they are kept within families. There are some stellar bargains from Korea in the Kia/Hyundai/Daewoo ( and fake Chevrolet ) ranges too
Interesting. My first car was an Uno it was practical and mechanically reliable but fell to bits. I have had three Fords and they have been almost faultless (yes I am a bit surprised too!) Two BMWs. The old early 90s 3 series was great the late 90s 5 series too complicated and died. I agree with you about VWs and Japanese cars. I asked a mechanic years ago what he thought and he said something similar. He liked Vauxhalls becuase they were simple, robust and easy to fix. He liked the reliability of Japanese cars but they were too expensive to keep running due to the cost of parts and the European cars were both poorly made and the engineering overcomplicated. I never owned a Metro but drove them on a number of occasions and remember them as good to drive but bouncy. The worst car I have ever driven by miles was a late 90s Hyundai Excel - just a horrible car in every way.
The Metro and the subsequent M cars that followed, Maestro and Montego were BL's last roll of the dice. They were supposed to be the start of what Michael Edwards called a product led recovery, the profits generated were supposed to put BL back into the black and fund a wonderful new dawn for the British car industry. There was an enormous amount of publicity, hype and to be honest good will from the public. Everyone wanted them to succeed. Unfortunately the cars that arrived simply didn't live up to expectation and were pretty mediocre at best. The buying public having initially given BL the benefit of the doubt then walked away. The great product led recovery had failed badly and Austin Rover with no profits simply had nowhere to go other then back to the taxpayer and then into the arms of Honda. BL turned out to be a mess that billions of pounds of taxpayers money simply couldn't fix.
They weren't terrible, and often times even a Montego was better than say the Cavalier equivalent. But as Goffey said of the Metro, all using tweaked but still very old engines. Probably should've signed a deal with Honda 5 years earlier, but for their drive trains not rebadging whole cars.
@@GaryJohnWalker1 As I recall Gary the Montego actually had a new 1.6 S class engine that was rather punchy and on paper quite competitive. Unfortunately it was blessed with a clever but rather unreliable electronically controlled carburettor and persistent oil leeks. The Montego was definitely the best of the uninspiring trio but let down by the usual poor build quality and persistent reliability issues.
The engine wasn't too bad - but it was a development of the old B. I had a couple of Maestro EFI's as it happens on lease ( :-) ) - and they were pretty good even if not taken seriously. IMO the best Montego engine was the 2l Perkins co-dev diesel - absolutely filthy but good punch for the day and an early direct engine engine. The estate version even looked OK (again IMO!) and could carry vast amounts of cargo. Maybe the real problem in the late 80s was that AR could only do so much, good ideas from time to time but not go on to really develop them. Too small a company by world mass produced car stds even then.
@@markrl75 You are talking DRIVEL! The Maestro and Montego were actually very good reliable cars so much so that when they came out near the top for this Jeremy Clarkston at the time came out with the comment that they must have been the diesel ones which was a load of DRIVEL as well. They came out as more reliable than all of the cars in their class apart from a Volvo and they also came out ahead of them all in the crash tests with only the Volvo ahead of them as well. We looked after and serviced Maestro and Montegos and they were very reliable and discovered that they had sills twice the thickness of their Ford and Vauxhall rivals when one of our customers slid his Montego sideways into the kerb of a roundabout when we had to cut the old sill off to replace it. Didnt stop them from rusting the same as the other cars mind you as they all rusted bad back then.
There is a certain feel to the metro that non of the others had and it could certainly out handle them all , yes they did rust but so did so many cars back then . As for reliability I never had a problem with the one I drove and it was 10 years old at least by then.
The usual anti-Metro comments. Fact is, it was a sales success & saved the company. Job done. Car magazine voted the updated K-series one the best small car in the early 90s (I remember reading it) & Rover were riding high at the time with the Honda collaboration (a sign of things to come across the car industry). The big mistake was ditching Honda for bloody BMW. If they hadn't done that, Rover would still be here today.
Gavin Irvine Rover was already making good (& profitable) cars with Honda. They were also making Hondas. That would have carried on growing & being successful. BMW mis-managed the 200 in the market by hoiking up the price & pitching it against rivals in the class above, so its sales suffered. It was supposed to be the Metro replacement but the Metro was made to carry on and on (still sold well...) until its safety reputation killed it & sullied the company's reputation. BMW then sabotaged the launch of the 75, grabbed Mini & took the Land Rover technology they wanted before disposing of it. I don't think Honda would have done that.
Not anti Metro- just realistic. It was already way behind the competition at launch- all the cars here were superior. The Metro was way too small, poorly built, and lacking technology (no 5 speed box for example) to offer real competition
m k But it was competition - it was a top seller for years. Nobody was forced to buy it. It did its job. Its interior space put others to shame (Polo I remember being criticised for poor rear space). Rusted no more than any FIAT of the day. Renault 5 was 8 years old by this time, based on ancient Renault 4 underpinnings. Rear wheel drive Toyota way off the pace for 1980.... I'm not saying the Metro was the most marvellous car ever, but the level of criticism & blame it gets for everything including the demise of BL/Rover etc. I feel is always over the top and depressingly predictable. It was a popular car at the time and remained so for years. Let's for once have a break from 'Leyland bashing'.
simon hoare Clearly you never had to work on a French car from the period. Lots of European cars had terrible reliability back then. Hence the conquering Japanese with their simple, tinny fare.
@@shugthehornyhaggis the only reason rover invested in BMW was to steal the new mini design which was virtually entirely rover, along with some land rover design for the new X class of BMW SUV's, and look, they've made millions from it.
Fiat's 127 was a major success .The MK2 here was very popular,as well as the MK1.Unfortunately the MK3 saw the demise of the 127,too much plastic added.
My mother bought a new Metro in January '82. She told me the clutch and gearbox failed just before it hit 15,000kms. After a year she was completely sick of it, and said she'd never buy another British car again. She got a used Civic and drove it until 1990 with no issues. The Metro is a truly hateful car!
@@ScotiaDiesel Must be luck of the draw then. My Sister-in-Laws' 208 rattled with a badly fitted interior after a year (and drifted around bends/roundabouts). Meanwhile, a guy at work had his engine partly disintegrate after 50k. My first car was a Peugeot Estate in the early 80's - so I do have a soft spot for Peugeot.
@@BarryAllenMagic Yeah, might just be bad luck. I've ran Peugeots for years and never really had much bother. To be fair, I've heard horror stories about most car makes, from a Hyundai ix35 that had first gear synchro fault after 10k miles, to a MK7 Golf GTi that had the timing chain lunch itself after 47k. I think it's just the luck of draw with any car manufacturer. But Peugeot have definitely improved from the x07 days. Most of the x08 cars are spot on, and hark back to x06 days. My 306 DT is still going strong at 21 years old, and my 106 just completed a round trip to Inverness at the ripe age of 25. My only objection is the 108... far too budget and way behind the likes of the Hyundai i10 and Volkwagen up!
@@ScotiaDiesel To be fair, I haven't got a lot of time for most new cars. Better bodywork; mechanics generally last longer, etc. However, as soon as expensive diagnostic problems kick in, it's often the death of the car. Modern cars also have very little individuality - most looking as if they've been popped out of the same jelly mould. The bland, plastic interiors just epitomise their utterly boring, mundane feel. I'll stick to my (cheap as chips to buy and run) 17 year old Jag. Never lets me down and for an old girl, still possesses some degree of individuality and class. 👍
@@BarryAllenMagic I'm the same as you, stick with the older tech... At least you can fix them with ordinary tools! I've always had a soft spot for old Jags, lovely big cars. I actually think the S-Type was an unfairly underrated car; may be a classic in the not too distant future?
Anybody else notice that Renault was spelled Renaut on the blackboard? They also got their facts wrong about the engines, they were 1000cc (998 actually) and 1300cc (1275), not 1100cc. That said, I'd give anything to see this kind of Top Gear programme again. Nowadays, it's all such a big ego trip for that idiot Clarkson and his two hangers-on.
@@pauljeffries The 1100 special was a bit earlier & A Series. We thought they were using up the leftovers before replacing the Mini with the Metro as it also had Clubman bumpers (actually rear ones fitted to both ends). The Estates were 1098 and a 1098 Allegro as late as 1980, but I don't think they got the A+ before the final Mk3 edition which dropped the 1098 for the 998 A+ 😖
My sisters first car was a metro s, someone in silver marker pen added the letters, HITE. Shortly after that the axle cracked the wheel was hanging off and she had to scrap it.
Metros dont have axles - so I smell bullshit. And if any of this was true it sounds like most people who bought an old unlooked after car without checking it out first and then blaming the car/manufacturer instead of the previous owner and themselves for being dumb enough to buy a heap in the first place.
William Woods ok willy. That is what her mechanic told her. I guess I could track him back to 1987 and find out his number and ask him just to please you. What is with your aggressive comment?
Richard Dzien the day she got the car I asked to sit in it, pressed the horn which stuck on. She didn’t have the car very long. A turd journey was always on the cards. I was waiting for the car to be robbed! That way we could call in turd burglars.
I had a couple of second hand dirt cheap Metro's in the late nineties and both had issues that could be cheaply fixed. They were fun to drive and handled well. The K series version was nippy. I'd have another.
@@mickles1975 The Cherry was Nissan's entry-level model though not really in the "supermini" style like these, but by 1979 the car sold in Europe as the "Cherry" was actually a Pulsar, which was more of an alternative to the Sunny which would have competed with the likes of the Golf, Corolla, etc.
Lane Hogger - MK1 and 2 Fiestas had crap handling especially in the wet where the back end would just let go quickly and leave the road if you were not quick enough to react to it. We used to look after the Health Board Fiestas and other customers ones as well and had to warn the guys picking them up or delivering them back or doing road tests to watch out for this.
As so often happened at BL, what became the Metro started as one thing and ended up as another. It should have really been on the road three years earlier, so by the time it did arrive, it lacked refinement compared to much of the opposition. The public were much easier to please in those days!
I ad a 306 and it was brilliant. Well made, stylish and great to drive. But the 307 and 308 were not so good. Likewise, the 406 Coupe was a mini-Ferrari, but the 407 coupe just looked odd. Fortunately, after a decade or so of mediocre cars, from 2000-2010, Peugeot seems to have got their act back together and is making some cracking cars again.
Those starlets were light years ahead. They had 5 gears and would hold 80 on the motorway. The others would barely reach that speed and that was with the tinny bodywork booming and engine screaming. Metros were doomed from the start because it had all its running gear from the Mini. Fifties technology!!!
The Gordini was a serious motor outclassing the others as Renault's "hot hatch" and setting the stage for the Gordini 2 and the insane turbo version with all the body kit that ruled the roads until Metro's VR6 nicked the crown.
Even in 1980 it was pretty woeful to review a new car that is neither seen nor driven while some other cars drive in circles around the deserted Bookies' pitch of a racecourse. Still, R5 Gordini for me, great little motor.
I do like the styling of the VW Polo Mk 1. If my memory serves me correct the brakes were not servo assisted & the brake pedal required more pressure to operate the brakes & stop the car! The VW Polo Mk 2 which I had in the Derby saloon version had the same brake system set up & it wasn't until the VW Polo Mk 3 & future Mk's that the brakes gained a servo at last! Chris Goffey hasn't really changed much over the years, I remember him on Top Gear & this particular program was aired in 1980, the year I started school lol!
The original Mini wasn't nearly ugly enough to compete with these boxes. Leyland's designers had to get out their rulers and protractors to create something that didn't let you forget you were in the 1980s.
The Metro was not a bad car. In many ways it was rather a good car. This video is indicative of the pre-launch hype... A review that was really a trailer for a review. The Fiesta was really typical Ford of the era... Massive range, absolutely covered the market sector. Toyota, back then, was fairly niche. Peugeot did not by then have their reputation for small cars. The 104 was good, but was originally a saloon and that somehow marked it. The 127 and the R5 were both by then also old... Bit both excellent designs. The Polo was a masterpiece, but very expensive... And in pre-pattern days the parts were.costly too.
They were ok for those new car buyers who chucked it after 3 years because by that time they were rusting anyway. Parkers used to do an 'older car' guide in 2001 and it was one of the few cars to get 1 out of 5 stars (the lada niva got 2!). Still 83mpg at 30mph still better than some small petrol cars today.
They missed the key point, the 104 was 5 doors and just 2 years later the 205 and Uno hit the market, and after that the Super Mini market was 5 door not 3 door.
Not quite sure your point here. They didn't have a crystal ball re the future 5 door market when it was launched in 1980, and Leyland DID react when this emerged by producing a 5 door Metro from 1985. The Fiesta didn't get a 5 door till 1989 btw. That said, I still don't think it was the best supermini. I found it pretty easy to learn to drive (and park) in though, with all that glass area.
@@robertmarsh3588 Part of the art of motor manufacturing is picking up the trends in the market, PSA and Fiat had signed off the 205 and Uno by 1980, Leyland give their limitations needed to be thinking ahead not focusing on Fiesta which was by then coming up for replacement.
@@Thecrazyvaclav But PSA and Fiat did, BL biggest failing was letting others steer the market, alright when you are big like Japanese and Ford and can compete on price, but BL needed a price premium for their products and for that you need innovation and quality something the Metro had little of the first (its packaging was class leading) and all too little of the second.
A-Series engine was and still is an excellent engine and plenty of the other manufactures engines back then were old designs as well - Ford being a perfect example. A lot of MG metros got scrapped because of people wanting them for their Minis which is still one of the biggest cult cars in the world today and they were woirking on the K-Series engine back then which was way ahead of anything Ford had at the time when they eventually brought it out.
In my early teens in the mid 1970s I helped one of our neighbours doing engine rebore and crank regrind overhauls for his workmates in Plymouth's Postal service. All postmen seemed to have Austin or Morris 1100s and they all seemed to have knackered knocking smoky A Series powerplants. Basil Fawlty had it right.
Actually the A plus engine wasn't that bad. The problem was the gearbox in sump arrangement which was unrefined and whiny. Not at all up to the standards expected by the 1980's.
In my early 20s six months nightmare of a disastrous 4 year old Rover SD1 sent me into a new Peugeot 205 Diesel and not a new Metro. No regrets whatsoever over the following six years of reliability.
They could not, it was not launched, although they were then showing it to the press in preparation for the launch. Imagine anyway under that cover is an Ado88 and not a genuine pre production Metro, simply to protect the image of the car till launch.
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These were all still taxed into the early 90's except the Gordini which was probably crashed or stolen in '85. The Fiesta was the winner, making it to '95. (As if anyone's bothered).
Best looking car of the bunch too followed by the Starlet. The rest...no
How do you know this? Is it public record? Its fascinating
@@mosesberkowitz3298 DVLA number plate checker, its good fun to look up stuff and it's free on their website!
Very interesting the fiesta was looked after because it was a ghost.
It was a Ghia
The Metro never looked better than in this video
I actually liked the metro, and had 2. But I did like your comment.
Bugger. I’ve just realised...I’ve actually owned 3 of em.
@@forestdad Could be worse. My relatives had 5 in total
@@betaman7988 gluttons for punishment eh? Lol.
Tbh I thought they were decent cars and if they were rubbish they were in good company, there wasn't a lot of good affordable cars or cars that didn't rot back in the day.
'The Metro never looked better than in this video'
After three months, the paint had faded. After six months, the Hydragas made the car sit wonky on the road. After a year, the bonnet leading edge and lower valance were pock marked and rusty. After two years, the wings had rusted...
Your comment is correct, but perhaps for the wrong reasons :-)
Still, during the 1980s, it wasn't alone. I passed my test in one in the mid 80s. When they worked, they were quite brisk, handled OK and despite the age and being a little gruff, the 'A' Series is one of the great engines of the 20th century.
My grandfather had the Starlet and my Father the Fiesta. The Fiesta lasted 15 years and went to the junkyard. The Starlet is still rolling today
Only thing that can kill an old Toyota is road salt.
I remember my wife’s metro - brought second hand from her sister - the drivers floor pan completely rusted and dropped out.
Actually improved performance as your feet could give you additional acceleration, not to mention improved braking.
brunster64 well, it worked well for Fred Flintstone 😁
You should of patent the rights. You now could be sitting on a gold mine selling the rights to all those car manufactures who now build Hybrids!
Lol
Wow😱. Sold to her by her sister. Who needs enemies hey🤣
'Best developed car from the company for years' -- That's not saying much!
Well if you consider how much developing Leyland did it's absolutely correct. After all the A-series engine was originally developed in the 40's.
@@Perkelenaattori Well considering BL were away ahead of Ford/Vauxhall etc in the UK with FWD and trying out modern non-boxy shaped cars then they were always developing their engineering - they just didnt have the money to do everything they wanted because of government interference etc. The truck and bus side for example had excellent engineering and profits to match until they were forced into bed with the car side and then they slid downhill because all of their profits were being sucked into keeping the car side going.
@@williamwoods8022 I love British cars but I would say most of the mismanagement came from corporate not government. BMC had too many similar brands which in several cases competed against each other and didn't have synergy while eating into the others profit. This coupled with not developing technologies. When other brands were adding fuel injection, BL was still firmly in the carburetor era.
@@williamwoods8022 The problem was that BL was a vast corporation that was effectively competing against itself in pretty much every car sector.
Each 'brand' was inherently inward looking, trying to fight their own little corner of an ever-decreasing market share.
Add to that a Union presence that had, for 25 years after the War, garnered a workforce with levels of perks and pensions that were never sustainable when the UK joined the EEC in 1973 and import taxes on cars made in Europe disappeared.
That apathy, coupled with the knowledge that (as actually happened) the government would bail out BL when it went completely tits up, meant the money was never going to be there to develop any 'new' cars.
The Metro was just a re-skinned Mini.. Same engine (albeit in A+ guise), same gearbox, same suspension etc...
The Triumph Acclaim was just a rebadged Honda Ballade.. As were Rover's 213/216..
The Maestro/Montego could have been good, but were also woefully under-developed.. Leading to them being just about adequate in 1983, but bottom of their class by 1988...
This Metro never received a 5 speed transmission, until it’s 90’s Rover Incarnation. Fit by Ray Charles, finish by Stevie Wonder. Ugly, ghastly, noisy rot-boxes.
Chris Goffey was probably biased because BL had given him a free anorak although judging by his screwed up nose, his cat had peed on it earlier.
Boomer humour is so strange.
I've come here hoping to catch a glimpse of the new Metro, but they kept it under wraps. I'll just have to wait for the Earl's Court Motor Show.
I wouldn't bother going mate. I heard it's rubbish.
If you ask me those older cars were years ahead of the Metro- all much bigger and more complete looking
In 86' I was deciding between the Metro and the Fiat Uno. Chose the Uno for its better spec 5 speed box, much better 1100 cc engine. Never regretted my choice. I'm afraid the Metro just couldn't compete.
My dad had an Uno, loved that car and it was spacious too. Any BL cars except for the mini that were for sale he skipped past.
My first car was a jet black uno 45. Loved that car. Lovely engine and the ashtray was on a rail so you could slide it to the other side of the car. It made me want to take up smoking 🤣
The Uno was no fun to drive though
@@zenbudhism I disagree, racing around the Kent lanes in mine, pretty much in third gear which topped out at over 70 mph had me smiling from ear to ear.😁
Best seller by far in Greece was the 127 ,but the ones that are still around is the Starlet(by far) and the Fiesta
For anyone wondering, in Greece 🇬🇷 there was actually car industry: some small carmakers that sold only within the domestic market, more or less like SEAT in Spain 🇪🇦 until it joined VAG group and started exporting, but since the 80s it's been declining drastically (in favour of central European carmakers, I guess).
It may be one of the reasons why the Starlet, in any of its generations, is still around in that country (apart from a bulletproof reliability, of course)
The 'expert' being interviewed lost all credibility once he uttered 'Leyland did a very good job'.
Guess you never drOve one
Renault 5 was a decade old and still better than the Metro
No doubt
@King Brilliant ... until they turned it into the ALL NEW Rover 111, of course! Muhaahahaha...!
almost a decade old (launched in 72)
owned both. the Metro was WAY better. still shit, but WAY WAY better.
You wouldn't have thought that if you had to work on it
That’s a lot of brown going on.
So regular these cars.
Peversely, while being rubbish, the metro was probably the longest lived (I saw one yesterday!) because Leyland etc were always incapable of understanding life-cycle and kept going with the same design until the company collapsed.
Oh, they understood life-cycle alright. They were just spectacularly bad at financial management, and could never afford to fully invest in a replacement. There were designs and prototypes made as early as 1983 (The AR6 project) for a replacement, but the money was never there to see it through to production. I recommend checking out aronline.co.uk for some very interesting articles and pictures of the proposed Metro replacements.
How was the Metro rubbish? They sold loads of them and most of the Learner schools ran them as well especially BSM and they even reported that they were excellent reliable cars. The Nova/Corsa was outsold by the Metro by a mile back then and it was only when the Rover facelifted version came out with higher prices that the Corsa managed to get ahead in the sales charts especially after Rover killed off the Rover Metro/100. The Metro outsold all of these other cars as well apart from the Fiesta and the Metro handled far better than the Fiesta especially in the wet where the Ford was almost dangerous with the back end giving you a fright the speed it lost grip. I worked in garages back then and the Metro was just as reliable as any of these other cars and rusted just as much as all of these cars did back then. Like Nimmo1492 says it was a lack of money that BL, Austin Rover etc was suffering from because it was government owned. When they did have money they came out with excellent engineering such as the K-Series engine which was an excellent engine and they only had problems with the head gaskets on that engine when it was re-engineered as 1.6 and 1.8 engines using the same blocks when it was only meant to be a 1.1 and 1.4 engines in the first place. They are still excellent engines when the upgraded head gaskets are used. And yes still plenty of Metros around so goes to show that looked after cars will survive a very long time if they are looked after and serviced as they should be.
The van division did the same, sherpa van in 2006 anyone? Didn't think so, convoy was a house with a moped engine that drank fuel like George best did beer.
@@williamwoods8022 They got it right in the end but the first few years of production were pretty dire (great Top Gear video on 3yo cars with terminal rust). And that's what's rubbish. The British car industry just never managed to get things right. K series engine is a good example. Lovely thing but let down by skimping on dowel pins. SD1, great looking but rust. Jaguar: nice cars but poorly made and eventually losing the plot trying to sell cars aimed squarely at 1956 (Brits have a lot of nostalgia for the past but they won't buy retro.)
@@williamwoods8022 The Metro was rubbish because it was based on engineering from the 50s....
Just a Mini with a more upright stance and a hatchback... But mechanically it had been superceded by the competition 10 years earlier.
It was pretty much dead on it's feet 3 years after its launch..
By then Vauxhall had the Nova, Fiat had the Panda and Uno, VW's second generation Polo was forming it's own niche in the market, Ford had the Fiesta now in Mk2 guise, Peugeot released the awesome 205, Nissan brought the Micra...
Of the 'serious' contenders in the market, only Renault and Citroen were relying on fairly old designs by then...
They had to cover up that metro, as it was RUSTING AWAY under that cover ,lol
The future was bright for the Metro, wasn't it? lol
They sold tremendously well, almost as well as they rusted
@@betaman7988 Yep they rusted the same as EVERY car did back then - just the rose tinted spectacles of people who just think that it was BL that rusted when FIAT or anything Italian, Japanese etc and even Ford were worst. Allegros actually had wax protection as I used to have a 1980 Allegro 1750 Equipe that was an excellent reliable and fun car that I looked after and serviced myself and when I was checking it for rust so that I could waxoyl it I found that they already did wax most of it at the factory. I presume they did that with other cars but not with the Minis and Metros and most of the rust problems with them like most cars were the build up of muck on the wheel arches etc that the owners never bother to clean off thus causing the rust.
@@williamwoods8022 Yeah everything back then had rust problems. On the other hand Peugeot got into galvanizing quickly and most of the German makes put them together properly so the chances of getting a good one were much higher.
I would say Fiat were worse than BL for rust but then thery were at least as poorly built and made of metal half as thick in a lot of cases.
The other thing a lot of people forget is that engines and especially gearboxes back then simply didn't have the life of newer stuff. Back in those days 50k miles was high and by 100k there were very few still going strong so while a lot rusted away it wouldn't have made a lot of difference to the lifespan since a lot of major mechanical components would have been worn out anyway.
I remember the A series (and A+) being especially fond of eating 2nd cear syncros if oil changes were delayed or if you were a bit clumsy with it.
These days you're more likely to scrap a car for a crash or emissions based MOT failure than anything else. The great irony of safer and (apparently) cleaner cars.
Yes, it was tremendously bright, a spacious, peppy, good handling, road holding, tried n tested, reliable A series engine, then the quick K series engine propelled British car........with an 18 year production run, very bright indeed.
I had a Metro City as a courtesy car. Drove far better than the Nova I had at the time. I went on to buy a Maestro Diesel. That was seriously economical. I got just short of 80 mpg on a motorway run from Cumbria down to Coventry and back, The lack of power steering was its downfall. VERY heavy to park.
Metro a family car?? Yeah, particularly with those squeaking, leaking hydragas suspensions! No wonder British Leyland went bust so many years ago (while all the other brands shown, are still in existence!)
Funny the Metro suspensions did NOT leak just like all of the other gas suspended cars they made as well - Yes maybe when the cars were old and not being looked after the same just like all other cars needed their suspensions repolaced or fixed. I used to have a 1980 Allegro 1750 Equipe and I never had any problems with that cars suspension and NEVER had any squeak or leaks from it - a very reliable and excellent car but then again I looked after and serviced my own cars and none of the Metros we looked after and serviced in the garages I worked in had squeaky suspensions either.
@@williamwoods8022 I had a Metro and the suspension leaked in one corner. Mine was a decade old by the time I got it though; as a 17-year-old it was all I could afford. The problem was easily solved by sitting one of my mates (who was rather large) in the opposite corner.
Apart from the rose-tinted aspect of it being my first car, it was a good car to drive and always started first time, even on cold mornings. Ultimately though, it was a rust bucket, mostly through poor design and build.
Those early Fiestas and Polos were such fun to drive. The mantle from the mini had passed to the Fiesta, without BL knowing.
MK1 and 2 Fiesta handling like a Mini (or Metro) - NO Chance! Someone spitting on the road and the back end of the Fiesta would try and overtake the front. Quite dangerous at times so much so we have to warn any mechanics who were road testing them or whoever was returning the Fiestas to the Health board after we had serviced them to watch out for the back end when they were driving them because they were bad. There was no way any of these Fiestas could match a Mini or a Metro especially in the wet.
@@williamwoods8022 My mate graduated from minis to a Fiesta. He had a normal mini 1000 first, then a 1275GT then some kind of hot rod mini with a fibreglass and space frame front end and a 1380cc motor. When driving home from work late one night in the wet in his new Fiesta at a speed he thought was 'normal' he spun it on a bend and ended up going backwards down an embankment and into a river. Car was mostly ok though but he put massive wheels and tyres on it and to help with the non existent grip from the standard skinny wheels. Basically he created the XR2 before Ford did. Good little car though, lasted well and survived its little off road reverse excursion.
Wot wally rote "Renaut" rong on the Blak Bord? :D
I wondered if anyone else had spotted that!
J clarksons first day
@@RussEdgar445y7tlfj Clever!
I noticed that too!
Ha, ha, ha, had to get back and check, didn't noticed :-)
Ford fiesta still looks good actually
127 or Pug for me in that order. Had both - they were great
That model if Starlet is worth big money now.
Must have been hard times when car buyers in the UK looked for high quality and sturdiness in a french car.
Different times. Peugeot was a builder of tough cars back then.
My family had a Peugeot 104 from 79 to 88. Except some overheating it was a good little car.
Outside the UK the Metro was never as popular as the Fiat/Seat 127, Ford Fiesta or Pug 104 however was still one of the most seen and sold UK made cars apart from the Mini. This year, 1980, was actually a transition one. In only two to three years the Opel Corsa (I reckon the Vauxhall Nova for the UK market), Nissan Micra, Fiat Uno and the Renault 'Supercinque' would be the game changers, larger, more modern and with a much wider range of trim levels. P.S. Peugeot 205 for 1983 replacing the 104 range. Citroen Visa gradually replacing the LN/LNA models till the AX in 1986.
I remember being pretty excited about the launch of the Metro and shortly afterwards learnt to drive in one. Sadly it wasn't the best supermini though, and suffered a lot of rust issues (and friend had a brand new car taken back by the dealer due to severe corrosion).
Fun to drive though, especially in MG form.
All cars rusted bad back then and there is no way any new car would be suffering from corrosion never mind severe corrosion no matter what manufacturer.
@@williamwoods8022 sadly that's incorrect. Several manufacturers including BL stored cars outside for many many months in damp conditions before selling as new. In some instances they were left in fields that became flooded. I can tell you as an absolute fact that my friend's Metro was eventually rejected and bought back by the dealer within months of supply due to excessive corrosion appearing bubbling out from under the paintwork. I saw the car myself, and the subsequent car (a Maestro) it was "replaced" with.
Chris Goffey, he was great on Top Gear!
Legend
Loving the triumph jacket 🧥😍
I love these uploads, they're great.
We should've exported the Zastava 102, it would have done great in the very early 80's, it was basically a better made, predessesor of the Yugo
I tend to run cheap old higher mileage cars - Renault ( Clio and Megane ) - Fiat ( Panda, Uno, Punto ) have all been great - PSA Citroens and Peugeots of 10-15 years ago are similarly tough - I have found Fords and Rovers to be bloody dire - VW trades on an image that no longer applies ( look at the front wheel arches on a VW/Audi from say 2003 to 2010 ) and Japanese cars are mostly only sold at a low mileage because an expensive fault is imminent otherwise they are kept within families. There are some stellar bargains from Korea in the Kia/Hyundai/Daewoo ( and fake Chevrolet ) ranges too
Interesting. My first car was an Uno it was practical and mechanically reliable but fell to bits. I have had three Fords and they have been almost faultless (yes I am a bit surprised too!) Two BMWs. The old early 90s 3 series was great the late 90s 5 series too complicated and died.
I agree with you about VWs and Japanese cars. I asked a mechanic years ago what he thought and he said something similar. He liked Vauxhalls becuase they were simple, robust and easy to fix. He liked the reliability of Japanese cars but they were too expensive to keep running due to the cost of parts and the European cars were both poorly made and the engineering overcomplicated.
I never owned a Metro but drove them on a number of occasions and remember them as good to drive but bouncy.
The worst car I have ever driven by miles was a late 90s Hyundai Excel - just a horrible car in every way.
The Metro and the subsequent M cars that followed, Maestro and Montego were BL's last roll of the dice. They were supposed to be the start of what Michael Edwards called a product led recovery, the profits generated were supposed to put BL back into the black and fund a wonderful new dawn for the British car industry. There was an enormous amount of publicity, hype and to be honest good will from the public. Everyone wanted them to succeed. Unfortunately the cars that arrived simply didn't live up to expectation and were pretty mediocre at best. The buying public having initially given BL the benefit of the doubt then walked away. The great product led recovery had failed badly and Austin Rover with no profits simply had nowhere to go other then back to the taxpayer and then into the arms of Honda. BL turned out to be a mess that billions of pounds of taxpayers money simply couldn't fix.
They weren't terrible, and often times even a Montego was better than say the Cavalier equivalent. But as Goffey said of the Metro, all using tweaked but still very old engines. Probably should've signed a deal with Honda 5 years earlier, but for their drive trains not rebadging whole cars.
@@GaryJohnWalker1 As I recall Gary the Montego actually had a new 1.6 S class engine that was rather punchy and on paper quite competitive. Unfortunately it was blessed with a clever but rather unreliable electronically controlled carburettor and persistent oil leeks. The Montego was definitely the best of the uninspiring trio but let down by the usual poor build quality and persistent reliability issues.
The engine wasn't too bad - but it was a development of the old B. I had a couple of Maestro EFI's as it happens on lease ( :-) ) - and they were pretty good even if not taken seriously. IMO the best Montego engine was the 2l Perkins co-dev diesel - absolutely filthy but good punch for the day and an early direct engine engine. The estate version even looked OK (again IMO!) and could carry vast amounts of cargo. Maybe the real problem in the late 80s was that AR could only do so much, good ideas from time to time but not go on to really develop them. Too small a company by world mass produced car stds even then.
@@markrl75 You are talking DRIVEL! The Maestro and Montego were actually very good reliable cars so much so that when they came out near the top for this Jeremy Clarkston at the time came out with the comment that they must have been the diesel ones which was a load of DRIVEL as well. They came out as more reliable than all of the cars in their class apart from a Volvo and they also came out ahead of them all in the crash tests with only the Volvo ahead of them as well. We looked after and serviced Maestro and Montegos and they were very reliable and discovered that they had sills twice the thickness of their Ford and Vauxhall rivals when one of our customers slid his Montego sideways into the kerb of a roundabout when we had to cut the old sill off to replace it. Didnt stop them from rusting the same as the other cars mind you as they all rusted bad back then.
Didn't really occur to me until recently how great the design of the Fiesta is really. These were the best days of car design.
The metro was a foot shorter and had a bigger interior and boot
There is a certain feel to the metro that non of the others had and it could certainly out handle them all , yes they did rust but so did so many cars back then . As for reliability I never had a problem with the one I drove and it was 10 years old at least by then.
The usual anti-Metro comments. Fact is, it was a sales success & saved the company. Job done. Car magazine voted the updated K-series one the best small car in the early 90s (I remember reading it) & Rover were riding high at the time with the Honda collaboration (a sign of things to come across the car industry). The big mistake was ditching Honda for bloody BMW. If they hadn't done that, Rover would still be here today.
Gavin Irvine Rover was already making good (& profitable) cars with Honda. They were also making Hondas. That would have carried on growing & being successful. BMW mis-managed the 200 in the market by hoiking up the price & pitching it against rivals in the class above, so its sales suffered. It was supposed to be the Metro replacement but the Metro was made to carry on and on (still sold well...) until its safety reputation killed it & sullied the company's reputation. BMW then sabotaged the launch of the 75, grabbed Mini & took the Land Rover technology they wanted before disposing of it. I don't think Honda would have done that.
Not anti Metro- just realistic. It was already way behind the competition at launch- all the cars here were superior. The Metro was way too small, poorly built, and lacking technology (no 5 speed box for example) to offer real competition
m k But it was competition - it was a top seller for years. Nobody was forced to buy it. It did its job. Its interior space put others to shame (Polo I remember being criticised for poor rear space). Rusted no more than any FIAT of the day. Renault 5 was 8 years old by this time, based on ancient Renault 4 underpinnings. Rear wheel drive Toyota way off the pace for 1980.... I'm not saying the Metro was the most marvellous car ever, but the level of criticism & blame it gets for everything including the demise of BL/Rover etc. I feel is always over the top and depressingly predictable. It was a popular car at the time and remained so for years. Let's for once have a break from 'Leyland bashing'.
simon hoare Clearly you never had to work on a French car from the period. Lots of European cars had terrible reliability back then. Hence the conquering Japanese with their simple, tinny fare.
@@shugthehornyhaggis the only reason rover invested in BMW was to steal the new mini design which was virtually entirely rover, along with some land rover design for the new X class of BMW SUV's, and look, they've made millions from it.
There certainly were a lot of Metros about, back in the 80s. I had a second-hand X-reg 1000cc Metro.
What's a "Renaut" on that odds board?!
Fiat's 127 was a major success .The MK2 here was very popular,as well as the MK1.Unfortunately the MK3 saw the demise of the 127,too much plastic added.
The Mk3 was just a rehash of a then 10+ year old design, pretty sure it was an interim model until the Uno came out.
My mother bought a new Metro in January '82. She told me the clutch and gearbox failed just before it hit 15,000kms. After a year she was completely sick of it, and said she'd never buy another British car again. She got a used Civic and drove it until 1990 with no issues. The Metro is a truly hateful car!
Fun fact, Chris Goffey's son Danny was the drummer in Supergrass.
Oh 1980's Chris Goffey, you tease. I thought we were going to get a sneak peek of The Metro,
Can't wait to see the Mini replacement
I would have opted for the Peugeot back then.......but certainly not a modern-day one!
The 208 is a cracking little car!
@@ScotiaDiesel Must be luck of the draw then. My Sister-in-Laws' 208 rattled with a badly fitted interior after a year (and drifted around bends/roundabouts). Meanwhile, a guy at work had his engine partly disintegrate after 50k. My first car was a Peugeot Estate in the early 80's - so I do have a soft spot for Peugeot.
@@BarryAllenMagic Yeah, might just be bad luck. I've ran Peugeots for years and never really had much bother. To be fair, I've heard horror stories about most car makes, from a Hyundai ix35 that had first gear synchro fault after 10k miles, to a MK7 Golf GTi that had the timing chain lunch itself after 47k. I think it's just the luck of draw with any car manufacturer.
But Peugeot have definitely improved from the x07 days. Most of the x08 cars are spot on, and hark back to x06 days. My 306 DT is still going strong at 21 years old, and my 106 just completed a round trip to Inverness at the ripe age of 25.
My only objection is the 108... far too budget and way behind the likes of the Hyundai i10 and Volkwagen up!
@@ScotiaDiesel To be fair, I haven't got a lot of time for most new cars. Better bodywork; mechanics generally last longer, etc. However, as soon as expensive diagnostic problems kick in, it's often the death of the car. Modern cars also have very little individuality - most looking as if they've been popped out of the same jelly mould. The bland, plastic interiors just epitomise their utterly boring, mundane feel. I'll stick to my (cheap as chips to buy and run) 17 year old Jag. Never lets me down and for an old girl, still possesses some degree of individuality and class. 👍
@@BarryAllenMagic I'm the same as you, stick with the older tech... At least you can fix them with ordinary tools! I've always had a soft spot for old Jags, lovely big cars. I actually think the S-Type was an unfairly underrated car; may be a classic in the not too distant future?
Anybody else notice that Renault was spelled Renaut on the blackboard?
They also got their facts wrong about the engines, they were 1000cc (998 actually) and 1300cc (1275), not 1100cc.
That said, I'd give anything to see this kind of Top Gear programme again. Nowadays, it's all such a big ego trip for that idiot Clarkson and his two hangers-on.
There was an 1100 A+, brownie points if you say which model had it
Hillary Trump Late model Mini Clubman estates.
@@hlund73 mini 1100 special
@@pauljeffries The 1100 special was a bit earlier & A Series. We thought they were using up the leftovers before replacing the Mini with the Metro as it also had Clubman bumpers (actually rear ones fitted to both ends). The Estates were 1098 and a 1098 Allegro as late as 1980, but I don't think they got the A+ before the final Mk3 edition which dropped the 1098 for the 998 A+ 😖
@@hlund73 some of the 1100 specials had the 1098 A+ engine with the DAM 2886 gearbox, my old special was one of them.
My sisters first car was a metro s, someone in silver marker pen added the letters, HITE. Shortly after that the axle cracked the wheel was hanging off and she had to scrap it.
Metros dont have axles - so I smell bullshit. And if any of this was true it sounds like most people who bought an old unlooked after car without checking it out first and then blaming the car/manufacturer instead of the previous owner and themselves for being dumb enough to buy a heap in the first place.
It will have been on of those that was built. On a day ending in y
Did she ever make a third journey in it?
William Woods ok willy. That is what her mechanic told her. I guess I could track him back to 1987 and find out his number and ask him just to please you. What is with your aggressive comment?
Richard Dzien the day she got the car I asked to sit in it, pressed the horn which stuck on. She didn’t have the car very long. A turd journey was always on the cards. I was waiting for the car to be robbed! That way we could call in turd burglars.
I'm Not Driving A Mini Metro!
I'm Not Driving A Mini Metro!
I'm Not Driving A Mini Metro!
Ashley Holroyd 😁 They’ve re-badge it you fool!
You'll have to if you don't get a second series.....
I had a couple of second hand dirt cheap Metro's in the late nineties and both had issues that could be cheaply fixed. They were fun to drive and handled well. The K series version was nippy. I'd have another.
Not a fun car for a crash though.
Sweet rims on the Reno!
Were they in Reno driving the Renault?
@@ScotiaDiesel Was it Jean Reno doing the driving?
@@TheYorkMan nah, it was O-Ren Ishii
needed a Datsun Cherry in that lineup
I would have thought a Cherry was more of a Golf competitor.
In 1 year Nissan would show up with the Micra MK1
And a Vauxhall shove it (Chevette)
or on the top.
@@mickles1975 The Cherry was Nissan's entry-level model though not really in the "supermini" style like these, but by 1979 the car sold in Europe as the "Cherry" was actually a Pulsar, which was more of an alternative to the Sunny which would have competed with the likes of the Golf, Corolla, etc.
Fiesta ghia for me😁
It was a good looking little car. Engine sounded like somebody shaking a bag of spanners but it looked nice.
Think I'll take the 127
@@theaccidentalcaravanner5404 memories ..crashes holidays nice
starlet for me beautiful car
Lane Hogger - MK1 and 2 Fiestas had crap handling especially in the wet where the back end would just let go quickly and leave the road if you were not quick enough to react to it. We used to look after the Health Board Fiestas and other customers ones as well and had to warn the guys picking them up or delivering them back or doing road tests to watch out for this.
As so often happened at BL, what became the Metro started as one thing and ended up as another. It should have really been on the road three years earlier, so by the time it did arrive, it lacked refinement compared to much of the opposition. The public were much easier to please in those days!
This is how far back one has to go to hear Peugeots talked about as sturdy and well-made.
I ad a 306 and it was brilliant. Well made, stylish and great to drive. But the 307 and 308 were not so good. Likewise, the 406 Coupe was a mini-Ferrari, but the 407 coupe just looked odd. Fortunately, after a decade or so of mediocre cars, from 2000-2010, Peugeot seems to have got their act back together and is making some cracking cars again.
Its a young chris goffey from old top gear
Say what you see eh?
It is wheels, not top gear.
Best small car back than was the Vauxhall Nova/Opel Corsa. 😉
Every car still in production except layland lol
Great marketing strategy, even I'm excited! 😃
"Well that's the Metro, and from what we've seen of it, it looks like a winner". We saw SOD ALL!
The Peugeot 105 looks like a slightly modified Citröen Visa, while the Renault 5 was close to its life end making way for the much modern Superfive.
Peugeot acquired Citroen and the Visa was based on the conventional 104 rather than the Citroen 2CV/Dyane/Ami.
Those starlets were light years ahead. They had 5 gears and would hold 80 on the motorway. The others would barely reach that speed and that was with the tinny bodywork booming and engine screaming. Metros were doomed from the start because it had all its running gear from the Mini. Fifties technology!!!
Polo reliability? That’s sure was not the case with the US version.
My favourite is the starlet, rwd for the win!
It's funny at the NEC 2014 I went to there was a very early Metro. In the car park another 1st year metro in the carpark. Quite surreal.
Look at the door panel gaps on the 104, 127, and Starlet...
I noticed it on the Fiat. It almost looked like the door wasn’t closed properly.
@@RoadCone411 I thought the 104 was even worse... nowadays one just wouldn't sign them off the forecourt.
According to today's standards ecvery car in this review looked at least 5 years' used. Some even looked used for 10 years!
Metro is still a hit with so many on the road right now.
The Gordini was a serious motor outclassing the others as Renault's "hot hatch" and setting the stage for the Gordini 2 and the insane turbo version with all the body kit that ruled the roads until Metro's VR6 nicked the crown.
Even in 1980 it was pretty woeful to review a new car that is neither seen nor driven while some other cars drive in circles around the deserted Bookies' pitch of a racecourse. Still, R5 Gordini for me, great little motor.
It hadn't been released
And the passenger side mirror was an optional extra on the 'L' model :D
I think the fiesta mk1 was the last design from Ford that used an external designer.. despite ford europe trying to put the kybosh on it
Toyota Starlet , FTR
The very best car in its class, of course...
I do like the styling of the VW Polo Mk 1. If my memory serves me correct the brakes were not servo assisted & the brake pedal required more pressure to operate the brakes & stop the car!
The VW Polo Mk 2 which I had in the Derby saloon version had the same brake system set up & it wasn't until the VW Polo Mk 3 & future Mk's that the brakes gained a servo at last!
Chris Goffey hasn't really changed much over the years, I remember him on Top Gear & this particular program was aired in 1980, the year I started school lol!
The original Mini wasn't nearly ugly enough to compete with these boxes. Leyland's designers had to get out their rulers and protractors to create something that didn't let you forget you were in the 1980s.
Cars of my yoof. I had a 127 special with nylon seats and cigarette lighter 😂
The Metro was not a bad car. In many ways it was rather a good car. This video is indicative of the pre-launch hype... A review that was really a trailer for a review.
The Fiesta was really typical Ford of the era... Massive range, absolutely covered the market sector.
Toyota, back then, was fairly niche.
Peugeot did not by then have their reputation for small cars. The 104 was good, but was originally a saloon and that somehow marked it.
The 127 and the R5 were both by then also old... Bit both excellent designs.
The Polo was a masterpiece, but very expensive... And in pre-pattern days the parts were.costly too.
I wonder how many of the people that slate the metro actually had one even drove one, and several of it's contempoaries?
I think the Starlet was RWD. Most of them ended up as stock cars and hot rods.
I had the same year Fiesta. Miss it. I think The Starlet was Toyota's last rear wheel drive economy car sold in the US.
They were to embarrassed to show it. Give me the fiat 127
They were ok for those new car buyers who chucked it after 3 years because by that time they were rusting anyway. Parkers used to do an 'older car' guide in 2001 and it was one of the few cars to get 1 out of 5 stars (the lada niva got 2!). Still 83mpg at 30mph still better than some small petrol cars today.
I liked the Fiat 127 bit of a forgotten car now though
Out of that lot I had the Renault 5GTL and learned to drive in the horrible Starlet and horrible Metro.
They missed the key point, the 104 was 5 doors and just 2 years later the 205 and Uno hit the market, and after that the Super Mini market was 5 door not 3 door.
Graham Ariss wouldn't have known that without a crystal ball though would they
Not quite sure your point here. They didn't have a crystal ball re the future 5 door market when it was launched in 1980, and Leyland DID react when this emerged by producing a 5 door Metro from 1985. The Fiesta didn't get a 5 door till 1989 btw.
That said, I still don't think it was the best supermini. I found it pretty easy to learn to drive (and park) in though, with all that glass area.
@@robertmarsh3588 Part of the art of motor manufacturing is picking up the trends in the market, PSA and Fiat had signed off the 205 and Uno by 1980, Leyland give their limitations needed to be thinking ahead not focusing on Fiesta which was by then coming up for replacement.
@@Thecrazyvaclav But PSA and Fiat did, BL biggest failing was letting others steer the market, alright when you are big like Japanese and Ford and can compete on price, but BL needed a price premium for their products and for that you need innovation and quality something the Metro had little of the first (its packaging was class leading) and all too little of the second.
Thanks to all these license plates, I check in the DVLA registry when the cars left the roads.
In retrospect the Metro was not only a failure but BL is the only manufacturer of the lot to disappear entirely shortly after...
Don’t show the car? That’s weird!
Hadn't been officially released by then
Pfft. He told you a bit about the engine, and mentioned that it had a large glasshouse and deep sills. What more could you possibly want?
mipmipmipmipmip Great stuff!
Leyland were waiting for the Motor Show and everybody to gasp and go 'wow!' Not!
What does it look like though???
I still dream about my 1984 Austin Metro. I draw pictures of it and gaze at photos of it. Best looking car.
Iain, professional help is probably available for your condition mate.
Yes, I may need it :-)
Hey Thames / Freemantle - when you say copyright..is this due to music? people?
Poor little metro didn't have a chance really. Still want one though.
Peugeot was the best car in that line-up
The Metro was a Rust Bucket with its squeaky suspension
Luv these old cars,,,,
The A series engine. Oh dear.
A-Series engine was and still is an excellent engine and plenty of the other manufactures engines back then were old designs as well - Ford being a perfect example. A lot of MG metros got scrapped because of people wanting them for their Minis which is still one of the biggest cult cars in the world today and they were woirking on the K-Series engine back then which was way ahead of anything Ford had at the time when they eventually brought it out.
In my early teens in the mid 1970s I helped one of our neighbours doing engine rebore and crank regrind overhauls for his workmates in Plymouth's Postal service. All postmen seemed to have Austin or Morris 1100s and they all seemed to have knackered knocking smoky A Series powerplants. Basil Fawlty had it right.
Fiesta still looks good. Metro =Crappo
Had 2 fiat 127 rustbuckets a fiesta or three and a Pug! Those were the days!
A 40 year old engine used in 1985...no wonder BL Failed.
Actually the A plus engine wasn't that bad. The problem was the gearbox in sump arrangement which was unrefined and whiny. Not at all up to the standards expected by the 1980's.
Austin metro brought nothing new to the market, Ford et al had been doing it for half a decade plus and were well established
well they had been sitting on the design since about 71-72...
Where was it ??????
🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
My metro just fell to bits rust rot everywhere lol
In my early 20s six months nightmare of a disastrous 4 year old Rover SD1 sent me into a new Peugeot 205 Diesel and not a new Metro. No regrets whatsoever over the following six years of reliability.
At 1980 the Panda would have been out, and would have probably won the test!
He didn't show the Metro!! Had a 1986 Metro City X with an A+ engine.
They could not, it was not launched, although they were then showing it to the press in preparation for the launch. Imagine anyway under that cover is an Ado88 and not a genuine pre production Metro, simply to protect the image of the car till launch.