...for those who grew up in the 80's and 90's

Wicksta · 29 Sep 2010 at 12:59

ElectroBlaster · 29 Sep 2010 at 13:10

Mate of mine had a white mg metro which was quite nippy until he ran over a deer on the motorway, wrote the car off doing so!

Where have all these cars gone? I know they rust like there is no tomorrow and mini freaks steal the engine but I havent seen one for years now.

Westyfield2 · 29 Sep 2010 at 15:24

My parents had one of them. A-reg MG Metro, bought it in 1983 as their first brand-new car.

ElectroBlaster said:
Where have all these cars gone? I know they rust like there is no tomorrow and mini freaks steal the engine but I havent seen one for years now.

Some friends of the family have a classic MG (sorry, I forget which one!) and have just gone and bought a MG Metto now too. Looks mint from what I've seen of it

.

LEK-89 · 29 Sep 2010 at 16:09

My grandad also had one... in a horrible sickly pale yellow colour! He had it for a good few years and sold it on in around 2000.

Liam

Uriel · 29 Sep 2010 at 16:48

I assume the early Metros would have done even worse than this: http://www.euroncap.com/tests/rover_100_1997/11.aspx

kippermitten · 29 Sep 2010 at 17:26

They were so bad they were funny!
I had 3 MG's that all ended up mangled or as doner engines for my minis:
- a silver one which was lowered due to no fluids in the spheres and i destroyed the engine by going 4th to 2nd at about 75 racing stylee round a corner
- black one which spun out with my GF at the time driving and made her cry(lol) and ended up tanked slapped into country road embankments and looked like an odd paralelagram
- a Black turbo that tried to kill me on the A3 by the bonnet coming up at about a ton(the *******s engine went into a mates mini and I enjoyed watching the MG shedro get crushed.

Awful, cars funny memories.

Scania · 29 Sep 2010 at 18:35

WJA96 said:
I think most folks knew it was an extremely highly polished turd. But so many performance cars were then. The Fiat Strada Abarth, The Escort RS1600i, Vauxhall Cavalier SRi130 and Calibre versions were all spectactularly hot cars in the 1980's and they were all not very good really and based on proper sheds.

Whilst I agree with your comments re the Strada & Cav 130 & Calibras, the RS1600i was a cut above.

Very different to drive from its XR3i base, an extremely sucessful competition car (GP A Racing iirc) and a lot better than the later RS Turbo. imo.

Plus, if you have an original one sat in your garage (if only) they fetch silly money these days.

It was a proper RS Ford and I sorely regret smashing mine up!

WJA96 · 29 Sep 2010 at 19:02

R420LA6X2/4MNA said:
Whilst I agree with your comments re the Strada & Cav 130 & Calibras, the RS1600i was a cut above.

Very different to drive from its XR3i base, an extremely sucessful competition car (GP A Racing iirc) and a lot better than the later RS Turbo. imo.

Plus, if you have an original one sat in your garage (if only) they fetch silly money these days.

It was a proper RS Ford and I sorely regret smashing mine up!

I'll bow to your first-hand knowledge. Certainly, they were very fast by the standards of the time, but then, so was the Fiat (in a straight line

).

One thing that REALLY shocked me looking back was how fast these were with so little power. My SAAB 99 Turbo from 1980 was only 145bhp but it was VERY fast by the standards of the time (0-60 in about 8 seconds). 130bhp was enough to make a car very quick and cars like the Sierra RS Cosworth were unbelievably fast at the time.

Duke · 29 Sep 2010 at 19:05

Firestar_3x said:
These MG metros are like a bad case of the "runs" just when you think the worst is over, it pops back up, slaps you in the face and makes you run for the toilet.

I hate them with a passion and wish they would all die.

Agree, don't like them at all.

stigggeh · 29 Sep 2010 at 19:08

I dont like them at all, I was in to Sierra's and Escorts as a kid

eatcustard · 29 Sep 2010 at 19:13

They were fun cars in there day.

but now they must rot

Disco Boy · 29 Sep 2010 at 19:24

My mum had one very similar to that on an F reg and it was red. It had the uber cool red seatbelts too!

Demon · 29 Sep 2010 at 19:29

My brother had two, an A Reg as per the OP, and a B Reg with the rounded bumpers, it was quite funny really, he nailed it everywhere and seemed to just about keep with XR2's (mainly down to the driver no doubt).. It handled OK well enough, and was sportyish in the day..

I bought one for £5 with 2 months MOT just to get around in whilst my car was in the garage. It drank nearly as much oil as petrol, but it was a lot cheaper then hiring a car!!! It went straight to the scrapper of course for £30, so I made a profit

And kind of related, my first car was a mini clubman, just as I wanted to put the Metro Turbo Engine in it.. which was the 'mod' of the day back in 1988..

chipperhead · 29 Sep 2010 at 21:40

My first car was a yellow A reg 1.0l Metro, it had a reconditioned Gold Seal engine, good memories

Shortly after that I got an MG Montego Turbo, that was great fun.

unclelonghair · 29 Sep 2010 at 22:22

Had loads of Metro's and a Rover 100 as they were cheap to insure when I was young. Included in that was the obligatory red MG Metro - E236CTN if I remember correctly. My 114 GTa was the best of the bunch. Unfortunately couldn't afford the GTi at the time

Housey · 29 Sep 2010 at 22:26

Old girlfriend had a 1.1, it was awful. I had a proper Mini, none of this Mod Urn rubbish, proper home for the A series.

Jamous · 29 Sep 2010 at 22:31

Spent way too much time working on these things to like them, but if I seen one like that on the road it would catch my attention.

Scania · 30 Sep 2010 at 10:10

WJA96 said:
I'll bow to your first-hand knowledge. Certainly, they were very fast by the standards of the time, but then, so was the Fiat (in a straight line).

One thing that REALLY shocked me looking back was how fast these were with so little power. My SAAB 99 Turbo from 1980 was only 145bhp but it was VERY fast by the standards of the time (0-60 in about 8 seconds). 130bhp was enough to make a car very quick and cars like the Sierra RS Cosworth were unbelievably fast at the time.

The shock is down to the lack of weight.

Modern cars have the power, but are saddled by the extra weight of side impact bars, emission controls, etc etc etc.

Anyway, back on topic, cars like the MG Metro underline to me why Rover is no more.....

merc190 · 3 Oct 2010 at 01:45

my grandad bought 2 - red Y reg and a blue A reg both brand new. He was over 80 though at the time...

I actually quite liked 'em! But a bit of a come down from the jags and big fords he normally bought...

SkeeterUK · 3 Oct 2010 at 02:06

I like metros tbh be nice for starter cars to practice with and just dodging about to the shops in. Might get one like the OPs shows if i ever have the money to afford and run a car.