Rover 100 Metro

[Cowley]

My dad had both the VR6 Golf and the Audi coupe* as company cars during the 90s. The golf in particular sounded great.

The Corrado is a classic and good ones can be up to £10k:

https://www.pistonheads.com/classif...rrado-2-9-vr6-3d-188-bhp/5977569#&gid=1&pid=1

A lot for such an old car but on the other hand it's unlikely to depreciate much and may even go up in value as numbers continue to dwindle.

*I've confused the coupe and 80. Didn't princess Di drive the Audi coupe in the 90s? Memories!

Very nice. I’m not sure what Princess Di had but the one I was thinking of was this beauty, basically the 80 coupe.
Still looks good I reckon. Especially the S2, mmm.

 

[Bromley boy]

Very nice. I’m not sure what Princess Di had but the one I was thinking of was this beauty, basically the 80 coupe.
View attachment 41595 Still looks good I reckon. Especially the S2, mmm.

That's the one.

Agreed. Still looks the dog's b******** 20 years on!

 

[cactustwirly]

If you're looking for a decent daily runner, then why not look at a 10-15 year old BMW 3 series?
You can pick up one for a few thousand, if it's a low mileage example it should be quite reliable.

Or if that's a bit much, you can't go wrong with a Golf!

 

[Ploughman]

Try this site - https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/

• Just inset model name.
• A few surprises as to just how many cars are left of some previously high build quantities.

 

[birchesgreen]

Princess Di's Metro is now in a museum! (Coventry Transport Museum)

 

[gazthomas]

My dad had both the VR6 Golf and the Audi coupe* as company cars during the 90s. The golf in particular sounded great.

The Corrado is a classic and good ones can be up to £10k:

https://www.pistonheads.com/classif...rrado-2-9-vr6-3d-188-bhp/5977569#&gid=1&pid=1

A lot for such an old car but on the other hand it's unlikely to depreciate much and may even go up in value as numbers continue to dwindle.

*I've confused the coupe and 80. Didn't princess Di drive the Audi coupe in the 90s? Memories!

Yes, she had a convertible

 

[Cowley]

Princess Di's Metro is now in a museum! (Coventry Transport Museum)
View attachment 41626

Well I never. Did she actually use it?

 

[Darandio]

Well I never. Did she actually use it?

Certainly once, they managed to photograph it too.

 

[Cowley]

Certainly once, they managed to photograph it too.

She looks like she’s going joyriding.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk is interesting for numbers of models left.

My parents had a Fiat Panda 1000CL when I learned to drive. When I came to buy my first car some years later (having driven plenty of other cars in the meantime), I test drove one, thinking it would be cheap and cheerful. It was awful - talk about rose tinted specs! I drove it round the block and straight back to the garage. Ended up getting a Capri which I loved, and only sold because my wife found it too heavy. I just wish I'd had the means and space to have kept it and look after it.

I'd agree to look at much newer cars unless you specifically want to buy, restore and maintain a classic.

That website is quite the rabbit-hole!

Surprisingly, there are fewer Renault 5 Campus Primas (my first car) listed than there are Reliant Kittens (The rare 4-wheeled version of the Robin/Rialto), though I've only ever in my life even seen ONE of the latter!

Regarding the Rover Metro/100, at the time of the launch they were generally well received by the motoring press (particularly the 1400 GTi model) due to being an ideal "budget" hot hatch which was considered to be great fun to drive by mid-90s standards. This of course was before time (6-12 months!) took its toll and it was discovered that beneath the modern-looking sleek panels, the usual British Leyland build-quality issues remained.

 

[Kite159]

I can remember learning to drive in an old Austin MiniMetro, we my family some private land at the time and the old girl got dumped as a MOT failure due to heavy rust, so was a good way to getting behind the wheel to learn how to drive in the safety of private land, before taking out to the public road [in another car I need to ask] on my 17th birthday

 

[Busaholic]

'Sales pitch could have been '0 to 60 in...... Now why would you want to be going at that speed?'

 

[Cowley]

Where I grew up in Topsham there was a garage that sold Metros and it’s fair to say that the village had a higher percentage of elderly people than most places (but not Budleigh Salterton).
I don’t know if the garage was unscrupulous and had a load of MG Metros to shift but at one point there seemed to be countless 80 year olds driving the things around.

 

[pdq]

I was thinking the other day how much more long-lived cars are these days. Before getting the Panda I mentioned earlier, we had a 1978 Renault 5. It was scrapped at less than 9 years old and 80k on the clock because of rust. I think I took the attached photo on the day it went. Likewise their previous car, a 1973 Hillman Hunter died of rust at 9 yrs.
My parents now have a 2003 Fiesta which they've owned from new. Admittedly it's only done 60k but there's not a spot of rust on it.

 

[dgl]

I suppose a lot of old people brought them because it was the patriotic thing to do, flying the flag for Britain and British cars. Despite plastic cutlery being of higher quality.

If only the germans and Japanese had never brought cars to Britain then BL might have survived, we really were taking knives to a gun fight.
American cars were never a problem as they are the only developed nation that can even make our crap look good.

 

[gazthomas]

I always thought they were quite good looking cars, albeit with shoddy build quality and a fondness for rust. No wonder Italiansi liked them!

 

[Cowley]

I suppose a lot of old people brought them because it was the patriotic thing to do, flying the flag for Britain and British cars. Despite plastic cutlery being of higher quality.

If only the germans and Japanese had never brought cars to Britain then BL might have survived, we really were taking knives to a gun fight.
American cars were never a problem as they are the only developed nation that can even make our crap look good.

Very true. As a kid we had three Minis in a row. The last one which we bought new in the height of BLs troubles was an absolute nightmare. It was in the garage every month for some kind of repair. Not bad going for a brand new relatively simple car.

 

[nlogax]

Certainly once, they managed to photograph it too.

Lady Di there, wearing my old Golf GTi's seating trim.

 

[507021]

My Mum's first car was a red Rover Metro (1.1 litre), although she didn't have it for long after she passed her driving test. When we moved to South Wales from the Isle of Man, it came with us. It ended up being sold not long before my sister was born in mid-2001, with the proceeds (probably not very much) put towards a much newer R-reg Hyundai Accent.

Thinking about that Metro has brought back some fond memories of my Mum's ex partner teaching her to drive in it, with The Beatles and dance music mix tapes in the cassette player. I know my Mum was very fond of that car too.

I also remember going up the very steep roads of Abertillery in that car, which was actually quite fun. It made it all the way up to the top of the estate where my Mum's ex husband's grandmother lived too, with relative ease if I remember correctly.

 

[Bromley boy]

I suppose a lot of old people brought them because it was the patriotic thing to do, flying the flag for Britain and British cars. Despite plastic cutlery being of higher quality.

If only the germans and Japanese had never brought cars to Britain then BL might have survived, we really were taking knives to a gun fight.
American cars were never a problem as they are the only developed nation that can even make our crap look good.

If you've got a spare 40 minutes the below is essential viewing for anyone interested in the demise of Rover.

 

[MonsooN]

A friend of mine had one in the mid 90s. It was in British Racing Green, which he used to claim took a whole second off the 0-60 time!

The biting point on the clutch was so low that it was almost impossible to start without stalling unless you really knew what you were doing with it. He even used to dare people to try and steal it knowing they they wouldn't be ale to start it!

I used to joke that they changed the name from "Metro" to "100" because that's how many £ they were worth after a couple of years!

As car design and reliability has improved over the years, will any of today's cars be looked back on like we do with the Metro?

 

[nlogax]

It was in British Racing Green, which he used to claim took a whole second off the 0-60 time!

Little known fact that British Racing Green reduces drag coefficient

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Little known fact that British Racing Green reduces drag coefficient

Which makes it the opposite of Dynamic Lines...

 

[vrbarreto]

Ah the Austin Metro.. My first car was a W reg I acquired in 1992 in 6th form.. Oh how I loved it's ability to crawl along the motorway.. It was interesting to note that someone once broke into it and ignored stealing it or the stereo and instead went for the clip on clock stuck on the dashboard.. And how it felt like a complete death trap driving along the coast road on the way from Falmer to the ASDA in the Marina... Memories..

 

[47802]

I had a Both an Austin Metro and a Rover Metro. Both Cars were OK for there day, the later Roverised version was a lot better with the new K series engine, improvements to the suspension and a bit better build quality. Unfortunately the improvements didn't run to a new body shell so by the nineties with a body shell designed in the late 70's its hardly surprising it didn't do very well in NCAP.

I think its fair to say I wouldn't buy one now as cars have moved on somewhat, although I would probably take one over the god awful TATA Indica which was badged as a City Rover.

The first car I had was the original Mini, and getting an Austin Metro felt like a big improvement to me at the time and felt a lot safer than a Mini given the Mini was 20+ year old design back then.

 

[heart-of-wessex]

Ah yes I was going to say, was there not a City Rover built after the Rover 100, didn't realise it was TATA built, I remember seeing a few around then they disappeared of the face of the earth and I've never seen one for many years, was it absolutely awful then?

 

[Bromley boy]

If you're looking for a decent daily runner, then why not look at a 10-15 year old BMW 3 series?
You can pick up one for a few thousand, if it's a low mileage example it should be quite reliable.

Fully agree with this.

My E46 330Ci sport has just reached the age of consent...! That’s when you really know you’re driving a modern classic!

I’ve know the car since it was brand new - previously my uncle’s. Still drives like it did when it was new, and quicker than most cars on the road, with a silky smooth straight 6.

I’m in no hurry to change it! Although 140/240s are tempting brand new for a massive step up in performance (and cost!).

The current 3/4 series has gained a few pounds!

 

[Cowley]

I showed the picture of Lady Diana’s Metro to Mrs C last night and she said “I had one exactly like that as my first car, same colour as well!”
One night she was giving a friend an impromptu driving lesson around the back streets of Bangor in Northern Ireland, but as he was taking a corner he got completely confused with the pedals and crashed into a lamppost with an almighty clang, the lamppost then toppled over into someone’s front garden.
They swapped sides and got out of there quick sharp as all the bedroom lights in the street started switching on.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I showed the picture of Lady Diana’s Metro to Mrs C last night and she said “I had one exactly like that as my first car, same colour as well!”
One night she was giving a friend an impromptu driving lesson around the back streets of Bangor in Northern Ireland, but as he was taking a corner he got completely confused with the pedals and crashed into a lamppost with an almighty clang, the lamppost then toppled over into someone’s front garden.
They swapped sides and got out of there quick sharp as all the bedroom lights in the street started switching on.

For a car made mostly of tin foil, spit and hope, I'm surprised it survived a run in with a lamp-post!

 

[Cowley]

For a car made mostly of tin foil, spit and hope, I'm surprised it survived a run in with a lamp-post!

I don’t think it survived too well. That may have been it’s final day of operation .