Austin Metro Review (Top Gear 1991)

England expected the dear old Metro to take on the world and while the world may not have gone for it you see a few in France and Italy the car meant to replace the minis certainly took the home market by the ears the British motoring public bought it in their thousands a British car to beat the world a sensible little car is what most people think of use metros an unintimidating small hatchback a motorized shopping trolley ideal for trundling round the garden centers or squeezing into little spaces at the supermarket metros may be easy to park cheap to insure and run on fumes but are they any good for more demanding motoring not really the new metro launched last year is a much much better car it may look the same on top but it's vastly different underneath but the old Metro is simply too rough too temperamental too aged and too unrefined to be taken seriously as a second-hand car and this is our point that the old Metro has all the finesse and the subtlety of a thumb in the eye and that for more or less the same money there are much much better second-hand cars take a look at any similarly aged yester polo nova Peugeot 205 our not only will they look fresher and be less rusty they will drive and ride infinitely better this year's which car buying guide puts it like this all 83 to 88 models were below average for rust on reliability they said that the Metro 1000 is looking poor and the Metro 1300 is worse than average other small cars however didn't fare quite so badly I suppose the the leader in the field you would have to say probably as a result of good build qualities probably the Polo the Volkswagen Polo but the Fiesta and the Nova are both very close behind there are others of course but all three of those the Polo the Fiesta the Nova pound-for-pound they're going to give you better value and more reliable motoring I would say than the same age Metro now the motor trades say that the only thing an old Metro does well is rust and they do right take a look at the appalling condition of the front wings on this 85 50 thousand mile mg now you just don't see Peugeot 205 s and Fiesta xr2 s at the same age with this sort of advanced that's not to say most of them look this bad Austin Rover did offer a rust warranty which had to be inspected every year and many owners simply didn't bother thus avoiding their warranty newer cars have problems too like this deer edge with its bubbling front wings and even this 88 e registration is starting to look a touch scabrous in some rather surprising places the Metro does have a name for being probably the rustiest of the small hatchbacks it's probably deserved as well because the front wings do rust the front valance that's the panel below the front bumper also rusts and both areas are quite noticeable even at quite a young age however it's not the end of the world the front wings are bolt on so they're quite easily changed the front valance panel is fairly easily changed by body shop the whole job can be done probably for less than 200 pounds including a good paint job so it really is not the end of the world it's not all rosy with the mechanics either crank shafts can fail at as little as 30,000 miles which means big bills gearboxes particularly on pre 88 cars can cause problems again at quite low mileages and on all the metros watch the rear radius arms they're part of the rear suspension there are more problems with the hydro gas suspension units themselves uneven tire wear is the clue in extreme cases you can get this rather drunk and body lean but you can punt the suspension units up again to sobriety at about a 10 or a go but equally you could be faced with replacing one or maybe two of the suspension units at 130 quid a corner and don't expect any rushes of adrenaline from behind the wheel this driving position comes straight out of a double-decker and for a bloke like me the dinky little seats would keep an osteopath in work for months on the motorway it's a buzz box and on anything less than a billiard table it rattles like a tin tray full of crockery but perhaps I'm being a bit too beastly to the dear little metro there are plenty of people who love the group one insurance the economy the front-wheel-drive handling and are perfectly happy just bumbling about but one surprise is that pre 1989 versions won't run on unleaded without a pricey 400 pound conversion there's even an automatic Metro as driven by all the best blue rinses but unless you've got a sense of humor the demented wailing of the little box that sings up and down the gears could well put you off the auto box also makes the front end very heavy so there's an awful lot of steering effort required that was second gear that's third gear and fourth gear at 28 miles an hour so really it's got all the performance and agility of the Albert Memorial price-wise reckon on use metros being around 400 quid less than a similar Fiesta or nova but think hard it might be a false economy it's not a nice car to drive and it takes a lot of maintenance to keep it running properly having said that it's a practical Town Car it carries a lot in the back that the seats fold it down and it nearly always does 40 to the gallon I accept that there's going to be the odd stain chip on the front but um rust is erupting all the way up the bonnet and along the doors I certainly wouldn't have another one I've had two already and that's enough it's falling apart at the seams we've had trouble with the sunroof leaking the battery keeps going we've got holes in the wings where the rust has been become a great problem we've had a new spoiler on it it keeps breaking down and always having to phone work in the morning to say I'm going to be late in it's not much fun and when you're driving a young son around it's not much fun either basically I wouldn't buy another one if you paid me so if you really want to drive the flag we say go for the latest metro only problem is the cheapest secondhand ones are still around the five grand mark and if the budget won't stretch to one of those we recommend you go for a mini instead chances are it'll be more fun hold its value longer and stand a sporting chance of starting in the morning

Channel: kazimann

Views: 262,917

Rating: 4.7753882 out of 5

Keywords: Austin, Rover, Mini, Metro, Maestro, Montego, Allegro, British, Leyland, Longbridge, 213, 216, 100, 110, Geo, Advert, Classic, Top, Gear, 1991, Quentin, Wilson, Jeremy, Clarkson, Chris, Goffey, William, Woollard, Rust, Bucket, Ford, Fiesta, Nissan, Micra, Vauxhall, Nova, Opel, Corsa

Id: Qc2kFJRc5AQ

Length: 7min 22sec (442 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 17 2010