I'm an American who was stationed in England in the early 1990s. While there I had an E- reg, 1988 Metro City. Mine had the 1.0 liter A+ engine so was not as well equipped as the one in this video. No headrests, no rear wiper, and a manual choke. I remember that loud gear whine and mine had a very bouncy ride. It also went through a lot of tires. On the motorway the engine seemed like it was screaming above about 60 mph with that 4 speed. It was a cool and quirky little car! I was in Cambridgeshire so used it to drive down to London frequently and further afield as well. In the summer of 1994 I drove all the way down to Spain (and back) in it. An inappropriate car for the trip but I was young then and it was an adventure.
Daniel Reigada not as impressive but I drove my Rover 100 from Southend to Glasgow and back in a day only stopping for fuel!! As you say the worst car for the job but as you say young and stupid these things have to be done!
The thing is; the Metro was British Leyland's answer to the Ford Fiesta and the Renault 5 . That's like coming out with "6" when someone asks what's E= MC2
A woman friend of mine - a lady novelist, living in Central London - bought one of these twenty years ago and is still running it. Drove all the way to North Wales to see me in it. Still going strong.
at 7:21 "who doesn't love a characterful whine"............... you should have heard my former mother-in-law she had a (constant) characterful whine ;)
@@andrewthompsonuk1 i had a fiesta it did drone but was much better to drive than the metro. Steering was much nicer and road over bumps better (not saying much metro's and bumps in the road did not get on well) also the fiesta's never seemed too burn any oil. All the metro's almost used a 50/50 fuel too oil ratio.
@@chrisredfield3240 I never drove a Fiesta from that period, people liked them. The BMC FWD cars were perhaps an acquired taste , I liked most of them.
My parents had a 1.3 metro in the late 80's. Same colour as my Grandad's hearing aid at the time. A source of jokes and possible embarrassment. Great memories though.
Depends on which one the 1100 had a long stroke and liked to go bang if u revved it hard. My personal cheap A series favourite excluding the 970 and 1071 Cooper S was the 998.
Hayden 2nd gear was the weakest the synchro would give up. In the 60s and 70s BL did have a Special Tuning division who sold to the public you could get straight cut fears that were stronger but whined and we're best off road.
Hi. I worked for Austin Rover when the Metro was in production they were great little cars .we loved road testing the MGs and turbo versions. The earlier ones had shocks they were deleated on later models . The factory didn't send out a memo and we thought the first one was a miss build. Great memories I had an 84 VDP loved it all electric ,leather steering wheel. Wood capping so ect. The one to find now would be the super rare VDP500 lovely black paint with Grey leather upholstery. 👍
The metro does have a wonderful Sound when your driving takes me straight back to the wonderful amazing 80s thanks for putting the metro on lovely car my dad had a bright orange one back in the day
Metro's were the doddery old man's car before they all moved on to the Micra, They were a constant menace on the roads you never knew what stupid trick they were going to do next
This is the first video I've ever seen of yours and I've subscribed. Informative and interesting. My uncle used to have one of these and it was great to hear the whine once again. I think you must be the closest RU-vidr to me I've ever found as I'm in Cardiff. Looking forward to seeing what other cars you've reviewed. Keep up the good work. Neil.
This takes me back , just a great video ! I've always loved these cars , you could always tell one was coming with the distinctive gearbox whine - I miss Austin and british Leyland cars ( build issues aside! ) I'd love to see a new affordable British car brand start up in near future - who knows ?
I was 17 in 1989 when I passed my test..and my friend had an MG Metro with..red seat belts, I was blown away! Look at the A pillars, so narrow.. you can hide a bus in some today..or motorbike.. My first girlfriend had a blue 1.0L Metro as her first car. I remember I spent a whole Saturday T cutting and polishing it! Lol Memories...
The day I passed my test in a newer metro 1.3..my instructor drove us the back home hitting 105mph top speed. I had a pretty quick 1.3HLE had fantastic brake system especially once bled and Handbrake adjusted correctly.. problems were always SU carb tickover, leaking suspension. As stated the expensive tyres with the wheels that prevented catastrophic loss of tyre. Also gearbox sharing engine oil (I think) resulted in oil shear 10W40 and engine life around 100k before wear really started to be noticable. Hydragas suspension was a dealer job and 40/ 50quid a time.. hydragas was never good because every re inflation could mean the car handled completely different.
Ah so that that was the Metro driven by a driving instructor that tried in vain to not let me pass in my Kia Pride at 105mph. I did pass him in the end and he wasn't happy.
HLS? You know what that stood for; Huge Lump of S**t. Oh, and the HLE. Huge Lump of Excr****t. Sorry, it all comes flooding back... 😉 Actually, the MG and the Turbo were pretty good fun.
I remember seeing a Metro in the West End, the day they came out. It looked impossibly modern for a British car. Under the bonnet it's still a ration book motor.
I had two Metros over a thirteen year period, the first was a 1980/1 (W) 1.3S, the second was a 1989 (G) 1.3L. A gulf of difference between them in terms of trim, build quality, etc. The G-reg had a nice light interior. Both however sounded like a Morris Minor when pulling away in first gear. I always felt there should have been a fifth gear, and often found myself trying to change into a gear I didn't have!! After borrowing my father-in-law's Escort I decided that I needed to look at something bigger, and part-exchanged the second one after seven-plus years for a Fiat Tipo.
Lovely! 15 - 20 years ago there were still a considerable number of these knocking around, all be it on their last legs by that point. They'll only ever appreciate in value now!
I'm not driving a Mini-Metro, I'm not driving a Mini-Metro, I'm not driving a Mini-Metro. No, no, no, it's different. It's called a Rover Metro now. They've rebadged it, you fool!
Preferred the Nissan Micra, which were a lot zippier. Owned a Jet Black and it was gash: wheel bearing, clutch cable snapped, suspension arms, brake issues, tyre wear, gas repump every 6 months. Cost me at least 400 quid twice a year. Didn't get 90k miles out of it and you couldn't thrash them. My Civic has 120k on it and costs me half what the Metro did to maintain. It is no wonder the Japanese cars became so popular, with only Ford making anything decent from the UK manufacturers.
For all these piles of shite were a long time coming, you can't help thinking that the final production model was rushed. And the impression I get of BL of that era, is that this car, like other BL models were 'adequate'. As we all know, there were many reasons why BL were churning out so much shite. But the biggest surprise to me, is how they managed to convince the public to actually buy them. The SD1 was the ONLY notable car from the BL stable in my opinion. Yet even they had their problems, with many buyers disheartened by the hit or miss build quality. But it was and still is a beautiful car, that should have been a world beater. Just a shame BL hadn't given the design to Saab, along with the 3.5 V8 block. BL could have licensed the design, and have Saab build it for them, and re-badge them as Rovers for the British market. But the Metro, along with the Maestro, Allegro, Marina, Princess, and Ambassador, All bloody awful ugly cars. What were people thinking when parting with their cash to buy these abominations?
HI from Canada.... the hubNut reporter for this segment is Ian, I think.... I love his segments... very calm, very methodical, and very respectful of the cars he reviews... he finds the positive things and puts a realistic perspective , that is balanced... many of the cars are , what some would call humble, but I would call interesting and entertaining in their own right. All cars have flaws, but a lot of auto journalists are too quick to fall into the “negativity pit”. (Yes, Jeremy Clarkson, I’m talking about you, LOL)... Ian shows that it is not all bad, even with many cars that are so maligned. Like the Skoda video, I watched several videos from owners in Czechoslovakia area, and thise owners go for family drives, picnics, keep them in garages, they get a lot of quality use. If we were to take all the negativity at 100% , we would pass over certain cars, when they are for sale, even at a great price. The car might not be a great rev machine, but it got lots of low end torque for cruising , maintains its speed in gear, zippy atound town, then for many of us, that is all we really need. Thank you Ian, for showing us another way 👍👍👍👍👍
Another great vid. So frustrating when I see car development and engineering in this country. In Europe and Japan they where so innovative in their approach, while we were raiding the shelves for old parts. It's hardly surprising that the car industry collapsed in Britain. My mate had an identical one to the one you tested in, last time I saw it the front suspension was collapsed. Nice to see someone keeping one going.
One of the ugliest British Leyland cars ever! I hated it with a passion. Driven (slowly) mostly by middle England, middle aged ladies or elderly couples. Park it next to a Fiat, Renault, Ford Fiesta or a VW and it looked like a box and 10yrs out of date. It had zero romance and was as drab as the time it inhabited, especially the interior. They rattled and leaked. The front was a wedge and the back like the wide bottom of the ladies who drove it. Impossible to feel sexy in. The Ultimate tomb stone of the British motor industry! Sorry I don't mean to offend but it really was a Jonah! In those days any foreign car was better than a British car built by strike hit factories and miserable curmudgeons run by the infamous Red Robbo (Derek Robinson) strike convenor who brought them out on strike if there was a Y in the day! (sorry Weaton25) (PS I drove one on its launch)
That looks and sounds like an MG exhaust (bassy rumble). MG engine too? I had an MG, did you know you could get a washing machine in the boot UPRIGHT if you fold the seats? Try THAT in a modern supermini.......
@@Allan9966 Although no sign (I think) of the anti-shunt tie rod or the anti-run-on valve in the vacuum line.....Was the standard 1.3 A+ engine painted red too?
The city version (automatic) was what the elderly all drove before Honda introduced the Jazz. Not sure what they drove in the late 90s, when their metro's had succumbed to rust, but the Jazz wasnt yet out. Rover 200's i guess. It was a terrible thing to be stuck behind a Austin Metro city in 1989, though, that I do remember.
I had a few metros in my time during the 80s. I really loved those cars. The split rear seat was brilliant. But I'm disappointed you didn't mention the factory fitted oil leak. EVERY metro I had developed an oil leak after 1 year. It was never very much, just a drop or two over 24 hours, but it was enough to ensure that my garage and drive always had a small oil slick!
Typical of British Leyland and latterly Rover though: Brought out a new car, but under the bonnet was the same old engine that had been in a dozen other cars since the dawn of time and was barely adequate. New engine becomes available, and they just shove it in the same old shell that (in car terms) has been around forever. Had the metro come out with an all-new up-to-date engine in 1980, and then when the K-series was available, they'd come up with a new car for it to be fitted into, BL/Rover might have stood a chance, but as it was they were basically trying to sell the same old dross they'd been selling for ages with barely-visible updates. Just about every other manufacturer was more advanced, hence the only market BL/Rover had available to them was the cheap end, essentially forcing them into a race-for-the-bottom, a race they were destined to lose when there were other cheaper (just as rubbish) cars available. A Metro is a piece of nostalgic fluff now, but in it's day was simply not a contender.
The suspension issue relates to the decision by Spen King to not link the hydrogas suspension units to simplify things, he wanted to do it away with it all together but it was too late to change it. This was addressed on the Rover Metro, apart from the Gti, which they hobbled with some additional dampers, which quite simply buggered it up. Sorry you just said this.
You can individualise the hydrogas cans ;) very easy to do. There is also a small rod inside which you can shave a few mm off transforms the suspension on these. I did this on my rover 100 I also pulled the 1.4 litre engine out and fitted a 1.8 out of a mgf :). I used to love hanging on the back of imprezas lol. But mine succombed to Rot. But you can convert and do the suspension in well one day
I had one. They're shhit. Peugeot 205 light years ahead. For example, what possible excuse can they have for such a feeble fan and heater? At least Montego style dash was def an improvement. It's as you say - basically had the build and finish of a 70s car.
The British analogue to the Chrysler K-car. Patriotically heralded at launch, lacking the single killer flaw that did in so many '70s cars, they both met customer expectations without moving them on a single iota which ultimately wasn't good enough, stayed in production far too long, and were absolutely everywhere until suddenly dropping off the face of the earth.
Just mentioning the Peugeot 205 makes me miss the one I had as a first car that I bought in 2004 for £110. J908 KNS. an 1124cc Style, 4 speed manual with a carb. I remember the cold mornings with that car, pulling the choke out only a smidge to get it started. The day I was going to fix the heater matrix in it, was the day that a woman in a Mazda 323F wrote it off by reversing into it. I was gutted to say the least. Got £350 back from the insurance though.
205 is my favourite car ... I still have a Peugeot antres ecosse body kit for one 😊 I owned X's 1.4 1.6git 1.9gti and a convertible cc at the same time 😁 I really had a pug bug in my youth ....Max Power!!a
My first car was a metro It was the worst car I have ever owned. It put me off driving for life. In the end I couldn't take anymore. So I drove to the hardware shop bought the biggest axe I could find then drove home. It took me about an hour To chop it into tiny little rusty chocolate brown coloured flakes of leyland crap. It was the best thing I ever did. I still have the roof of that car nailed on the wall of my garage as a warning to any visitors and the rest of humanity! Some people call me extreme. I call it self preservation. Getting in one of those cars is like being stuffed up a cows arse, they really are that shite!!! Sorry if this comes across as verbal harassment, I'm just trying to save people the agony & despair !
A very tidy example. The suspension is perhaps not on top form though, I don't remember the ride being quite that crashy but that could be the passage of time.
I bought new an early Uno 45. OHV engine - 4 speed gearbox - beat my brother in laws Metro on performance, space, economy....it was just such a better car
@@HubNut I seem to recall the rubber dash' mats were standard in the Metro van, but not all cars?? I certainly bought one from an AR dealer for my Metro. May not save Rubik's Cubes, but was just right for parking change.
Countryside housewives choice in the middle classes, in the 80s... until the dinky diesel Pugs took over... easier to service and parts than the Renault 5 iirc. I had a corgi toy of the metro, in light beige. A mate of mines future brother in law was nearly killed in one, black ice and a tree stump... severe injuries resulted
it did, and the sound, and we all knew how to fix anything on them, but they should have pushed themselves for a 5 speed box, and to improve the engine sooner (the k? series was way too late and a bad design) as well as suspension and rust issues, the overall design i dont mind, they werent cutting edge but also went 'out of fashion' a lot slower
@@jusb1066 The K-Series was a sound design but it was poorly executed. The idea of sandwiching the engine in this way was not a new thing as it had been used in racing and motorcycles before. One thing that killed it was the stretch to 1.8 - It was designed as a small engine programme from the outset and when the government and/or BAE refused to give money for the large engine programme (to replace O-Series derived units) they had to push the K-Series to do what it was wasn't really designed for. If they had been able to test the engine more, they would have fixed the headgasket issues by strengthening the bottom end and reducing it's tendency to beam and twist.
Awful cars...nightmare suspension , horrible brakes with eight bleed nipples, wiper blades worked occasionally because designers forgot to earth the wiper blade motors..and lots more
Ghastly rot boxes, my Girlfriend back in 1991 had one and it was a dreadful 1100 in a hideous shade of orange. One of the worst cars I have had the misfortune of being in.
I had a 1981 Toyota Starlet in the US which was remarkably similar to this car. It had the 5 speed manual transmission which was wonderful. Many of the little complaints that you had about this car were not relevant to the Starlet. It was a good car.
I had a ropey MG version for about a year which turned out to be ideal for the commute four junctions down the M6 and a bit of city driving at the end. The one thing that sticks in my mind about the Metro in general is the local media hype building up to the launch. This was in the Midlands so understandable. They showed sheet covered examples on the local news as a teaser and all that kind of thing. I was a child interested in cars too so remember it well. The week it was released I was with my parents at the then new Savacentre supermarket in Oldbury and there was one belonging to a customer in the carpark and people were standing around and rubber necking it because of the hype and newness. People probably would not do that for an exotic supercar nowadays.
I wouldn't go that far. British people ditched it in spades for the Fiat Uno, Citroen AX, Renault Clio, Ford Fiesta and Peugeot 205. And not forgetting the Japanese were making big inroads. The metro might be retroactively charming (I still have fond memories of it), but it wasn't competitive or well liked compared to the competition at the time.
In 1993 I probably could have bought any new one of the above at a stretch. In retrospect (or Metrospect) the Metro was the best built. I think build quality is actually very undervalued in reviews (especially when it is fashionable to BL bash). With a K series engine and 5 speed (3 door for me) I guess I could have lived with one. The huge drawbacks for me with the Metro were the driving position and heavy steering. I'm not too familiar with the K, but the A just wasn't as free-reving as offerings from it's European competitors. So, for the most you got a sit on driving position with half dead steering, handling reactions and a wheezy engine. The Renault 5 Campus would have been a good budget choice, or a last model Uno. Not sure about the 205. Was it gone by '93? The car I actually had at that time was a 1985 Fiat Regata. I done it's bottom end in and spent quite a lot it fixing it. Shortly after it's last repair sadly it caught fire. I strongly suspect foul play at the garage. The car may have lasted till 2000 - no particular reason to the contrary. One thing is for sure. Cars of the 80's to 90's didn't have huge amounts of trouble free years in them. With a budget car you could pay over 4 years (on a young person's salary), but by 6 it's all down hill.
Does anyone know what £7,500 would have got you at the dealer in 1993? - except laughed at. I think we missed the 106 and the Nova, Starlet, Ibiza, FSO 125p, Polonez, Lada Samara or Yugo Sana.
In the late 80s a friend had a metro 1.0 and i thought it was rather agricultural and nasty to drive compared to evem my humble nissan micra k10. The micra had much better mechanicals and a vastly superior driving position. It even felt quite refined compared to the metro. And the latter was a rust bucket too. Later, i saw an article in the Independent which said the k10 micra had a hugely better survival rate compared to metro, fiesta and uno.
I enjoyed that thanks! I grew up with BL too and learnt to drive in a metro. I still own a BL car (Triumph) TR7 drophead. People say they are s**t, I can't disagree, but say that's what I like about them. If it wasn't for these type of cars and the continual maintenance (corrective) required, then I wouldn't have learnt anything. Plus having to troubleshoot at an early stage in life bode me well for my later professional career, so thank you BL!!
Why stop there? Morris Marinas with BMW running gear and power train - reinforced roof pillars so that pianos could land on it all day, and revised body shape that Ital design would go mad for
The MG metro was really a polished turd . I paid 300 for mine and it’s first mot they wanted 350 to get it through , scrapped it and bought a rust proof Peugeot with the character of a French moul .
I never realized the Austin name was still being used even in 1985. Love poverty spec cars really. Less to break down and simpler to work on. Why do people who save these all original cars always ruin the interior with aftermarket stereos and ridiculous speakers? 😟 Great video.
It had an awful mw/lw push button radio. This car was being used daily and I needed a Bluetooth stereo for making calls etc. The other benefit was that the stereo could take my USB for those longer journeys. I still have the original and pop it when I go to shows etc
Further more, the speakers on the shelf are 'period' and suit the car really well. It only had one speaker from the factory but now has a whopping 4! 😂
Yeah they took the name off the cars in 1997 and sold the weirdly "marqueless" for a few years before they made the Metro a Rover and stopped making the 2 bigger cars.
Dudley, in 1986 they ceased branding the cars as austin as this was when rover group became the norm. Strangely enough though the austin logo remained on the grill badge of some cars with 'metro' over the top. By 1987, the cars had ceased all austin branding and the new rover shield badges were used on the montego and metro with their names on respectively. The maestro never had the shield badge and stayed with the oblong variant. By 1990 the metro was then known as the rover metro and carried the rover shield badge right up until 1997 when the rover 100 ceased production.
I'm usually kind and nostalgic about cars from yesteryear, but here I will make an exception. My girlfriend at the time (1993) had an orange 1.1 Metro and it was absolutely terrible. It was rust prone and extremely unreliable and I spent more time pushing it than in the passenger seat.
The Metro is terrible, for some reason my family kept buying the bloody things though! They had brand new base level Metros, L versions and an mk1 MG metro (which, to its credit, did have nice seats). A friend of mine actually bought a brand new MG Turbo version, which used to blow the turbo and warp the front discs all the time.They all leaked and the high door sill means there is the capacity for a good 3 inches of water after a good downpour. We used to drill a hole in the floor to let it drain out. They are noisy. slow, badly made and if driven any faster than your Nan drives gulp fuel like its going out of fashion. If you use the heater it makes the car smell of hot oil. Talking of oil, it will use loads, and the oil filler cap will most likely be full of white foam. The fiesta isa better car in every way.
I drove an Austin Metro once: it was a courtesy car. Fortunately, I only had it a few days as it was bloody awful: noisy and really unpleasant to drive. I was glad to get my Ford Fiesta back.
I owned a blue metro around the early 80’s I think. Sorry to slag off British automotive engineering, but it was shite. The worst problem was it’s desire to return to iron oxide in the shortest time possible. Everywhere. By the time I had treated the rust on one side of it, it had broken out on the other side. A box section at the front of the car I suspect was actually designed to rot out in a matter of months. Absolute rubbish, and I was happy to be rid of it before it completely disintegrated into a pyramid of rust at the side of the road.
I don’t think an auto maker in the 1980’s could insult it’s customers more than trying to sell them a car with an engine from a 35 year old car (that was considered outdated 35 years earlier).
Learned to drive and passed my test in a Metro.used to get the back window cut out or smashed and back parcel shelf nicked complete with speakers . Another trip to Halfords for speakers and a trip to the scrap yard for a parcel shelf .
Hi Ian, just discovered your channel, this will keep me busy for ages 😀 what a wealth of videos! My first car was a 1982 beige model with go faster stripes. I had 3 metros, ripped the crap out of all of them. 😅. Even the 1.0 was spritely given a heavy right foot 🤪
The one I had was a rust bucket plus the hydro gas suspension was a nuisance and expensive when it went wrong usually they would leak and the car would drop down too low and you feel every tiny bump in the road
I nearly died in one of these .Not the cars fault. All these old cars are well tired and don't drive the same .Not bad better than a Mini. Citroen AX well sexy .
*I have got a Rover Mini from 1992 and find the Metro to be a characterful car but it was just not as good as its competitors.'* The Visa, Peugeot 104, Renault 5, Fiesta and Polo al where just better built and nicer to drive. And when mid 80's arrived, it became hopeless against the 205, Vauxhall Nova, Uno, and the mk2 Fiesta, mk2 Polo or mk2 Renault 5. Don't get me wrong. The styling at is not bad, it was cheap and easy to drive. But at the time you could buy something even cheaper like a Renault 4, 2cv, mini, VW Beetle, Fiat 126 or you would save up bought one of its better competitors. _The Metro just didn't make sense to buy at the time, especially outside the UK it didn't sell well..._
yes people forget, it wasnt well priced, in todays money, a basic metro at launch prices converted to today would be just over 14k to 19k for top range...look at the cars available for a lot less,
I wonder how many 1985 Metros are still on the road in the condition this one is. I had a 1989 Metro GTA. I got it when I sold my 1992 Proton 1.5 automatic (nice car shame about the auto box) . As I remember it had a Birmingham reg. Great little car, looked great too, but succumbed to the dreaded tin worm on the inner wings, so got sold "spares or repair". I still miss it as it was fun to drive and didn't mind the motorway.
Finally someone Mentions the GTA! I had a G reg Austin 1.3 GTa And later on a a 1.4 rover Metro GTA both are now the rarest metro model about i think now!
nothing more was needed as a city/town car, insane load capacity due to massive hatch,weakest point was the damn indicator stalk, if someone was to take the metro 100 and remake it as an ev, with fast charge medium range for under £15k i suspect it would do rather well
A Mini Metro pulled out in front of my 1977 Cavalier many years ago. The Metro folded up like a cardboard box. My Cavalier suffered a twisted bumper and a slight dent in the front panel. I didn't even break a headlight.
The UVF parked a Metro in my back garden, full of grenades, after they robbed the local video store. That was a fun twelve hours...So as a getaway car, it seemed ideal. Sadly, after that I was never a fan.
Exactly the car I learned to drive in Circa1986 in BSM livery. I vividly remember thinking at the time what a piece of sh*t it was then. Thanks for posting.
for some strange reason there seems to be a Halfords and a Mcdonalds always next to each other..same in Edinburgh..i must presume that once you have been ripped off by Halfrauds then you go into Mcdonalds to calm down and have comfort food and get ripped off again .... thank you for the video...love it
Bodywork looked very good. Seemed to pick up well and was relatively quiet (nothing wrong with a bit of 80's transmission whine)! Also, looked to handle the bomb craters pretty well. All in all, yet another example of a decent British Leyland car; a company that many 'car enthusiasts'(?) seemingly love to have a dig at. Thanks for another entertaining test drive Ian.
I remember in year 9 or 10 in school ('96 I think) my friend who I sat next to in French had a Austin garage in the family who was forever breaking Metros. I asked him to bring in two headrests in Brown and a Lucas ignition switch, we exchanged a tenner and my French teacher was bemused to see car parts on my desk in class. I went home and fitted the switch with my dads tools and got it going again. My first repair. Kids won't have that sense of satisfaction with modern bangers.
Drove shed loads of these from first incarnation up to Rover 100. Not bad actually. You could chuck them around like nobodies business. My wife owned a 85 B reg 1.3, a 92 K reg and 97 R reg 100 Kensington. The B reg had the A series 1.3 whilst the later two had 1.3 K series and the head gaskets went on both at 90 to 100k. All our vehicles had the tdx tyres fitted and there’s wasnt such a good choice available, however a firm called challenger based over Wolverhampton way made them at a reasonable price.
I've restored my 1983 MG Metro. Thing to bear in mind about the Hydragas units are that they suffer from depletion of the nitrogen gas in the top of the unit. This makes the ride rock solid. If you get the nitrogen gas recharged it makes the ride 100 times better. Mine is so much nicer to drive compared to how it was
You are being far too kind to the dratted things. I had one for a year or so and I've never hated a car so much. I had a C Reg 'Vanden Plas' with horribly fake wood panelling inside. Most cars have at least one redeeming feature, the Metro has none.
I learnt to drive in (mostly) a 1300 Metro. A bit newer than that one as an F-reg, it was one of the run-out special editions so it had the 3-spoke steering wheel and the moulded plastic/rubber gear leaver with the square knob. But my driving instructor's father, also a driving instructor, had a red 1.0L 3-door, also a C-reg, which I did a few lessons in and that was just lovely to drive, by far the best of the three (my driving instructor's wife was also a driving instructor, also with a black 5-door F-reg Metro 1300 so it was a family affair.) So, although the red car had a grey interior rather than brown, that interior is incredibly familiar to me. Good times...
