I miss Quentin he always made me giggle with his sarcastic humour as a kid. I found him much funnier than Clarkson. The Metro was fun, especially the MG Turbo but a rustbucket and that autoomatic one was absolute torture. The Fiesta was a good tough little car and the Nova was even better. The 205 and Uno were in a different league to drive and had more space but the early 205s were prone to rust too as did the little AX Citroen. My first car was an Uno and was great to drive but rusted. The Polo was the one I should have bought but was heavy and slow but built like a tank.

Quentin Willson was the best. If a car sucked, he didn't beat around the bush and go all pc, he just came right out and said it was horrible. I reckon the Metro was the equivalent of the Chevy Vega here in the states, which had alot of problems too.

@FAT8893

5 жыл бұрын

That is what I call "real journalism".

@saxongreen78

3 жыл бұрын

Probably better than a Vega...if only marginally - at least the engines didn't disintegrate in Metros.

My first car was (bought in 1986) was a silver and blue 1.0L and boy did it rust. My driver's door was a nightmare - but it was fun and got me from London down to the South of France through Switzerland (and back)

my money would be on a Polo.

my mum use to have one as a car they were good the only issue she had was body it rusted out everywhere but good on fuel and smart little car

they were far worser cars out there than the metro. yugo 45 lancia y10 etc. if i were around in the 80's i would of gone for a 205

I had one these, cheap to run and cheap insure. Basically the same 1960s mechanics as a mini. only draw back was having to repair it all the time, problems with electrics, SU carburetor and distribuater getting damp. British Leyland should have put there prototype 3 cylinder fuel injected in the metro instead of the morris 1000 engine

@Samspianopage

11 ай бұрын

BL management couldn't work out their behind aese from their elbow half the time. Any new or promising innovation the engineers came out with pr9b went through comites until it was blue in the face and ultimately scrapped in favor 9f the cheapest, most conservative option possible in light of a far better looking future prospect starin em in the face c7z they were either too arrogant or too scared to take any sorta gamble. Oh well we all know ehere that got em in the end 😃😃😃😃😃.

My mum had 2 of these. An 83 hHLE and a 90 Clubman. Both kind of crappy but they were part of the family and I have good memories of them.

Crankshafts can go ? why is this when it used the same A series engine as fitted in the mini ?

@ambivalentonion2620

Жыл бұрын

they didn't

@mikemartin2957

Жыл бұрын

It was mostly down to driver's not checking & topping up oil regularly & failing to change the oil at 5000 miles. Even in 1990 when the A series engine was retired in the Metro the design had been around since 1949/50 ! That is a good production run for any small engine. The engine was well tried & tested by the time it first appeared in the Metro in 1980.

@Samspianopage

11 ай бұрын

​@@mikemartin2957 Exactly. Antiquated it m8ghta been at the time but newer designs like Ford's CVH had probs aswell plus n9b9dy ever points out the ca 1950s era Kent design which lasted almost until 2000 too 8n the Fiesta albet in updated form, so was the A+ 😃. The mechan8cals 9f the Metro were pretty sound niw 8f 9nly theyd sorted out the body integrity and bad build quality it mighta stood half a chance abroad. They seemed to get it halfway right with the Allegro dunno why they couldny here unless it was just sloppy, 8f any at all rustproof8ng or just trying to save money in the wrong places 😃.

I had an A reg metro in 1993,plenty room inside

My first car was an Austin Metro, great looking cars. Wish I kept it.

They do rust the panels were really thin steel shame,but so do the Ford's

They missed out the Vandan Plas version. That was actually a pretty well equiped supermini at the time. I agree it wasn't the best car considering the competition they really missed the boat on the likes of putting a diesel into the metro and giving it decent build quality which they could've done easily if they wanted. I keep saying it everytime I talk about the Metro the basic design was fine it was the bad rustproofing and shabby interior build,lack of a 5-speed gearbox (something they could've done btw with the A-Series as the later Mini's apparently had one as an option) and the awkward driving position, all little things they could've fixed during the production run but didn't because Austin/rover were too stingy to fund anything.

@jaggass

8 жыл бұрын

+Samthebam4044 the problem is that BL/Austin Rover built them for far too long virtually no radical changes done to them like they always did to most of their cars. MG/Rover was exactly the same. the metro was a 1980's car with 1950's running gear. it just wasn't up to date unlike its other rival not enough investment was made to make it better but it did sell well due to its price, running costs, low insurance, simplicity etc. the Metro is much more reliable than Quentin says. Metro's always started from cold unlike its rivals and was cheap to fix. I don't blame BL Austin/Rover I blame the people that owned BL Austin/Rover for not letting them spend any cash and it remained that way who ever owned Rover until they collapsed in 2005

@Samspianopage

8 жыл бұрын

+Souled Out Yeah I know it had real promise I actually liked the Metro (so did many people) but like most things Ausin/Rover/BL made it was marred by all the little things, rust, shabby build quality, stupid design decisions (lack of a 5-speed gearbox, old A-series engine, lack of a diesel and other things). Yeah the Rover Metro was a big step in the right direction but as others have said they kept it going far too long without changing it enough or keeping with the times. There were alot of things they already had that could've been incorporated into the Metro if they'd bothered (power steering, leather seats, digital dash, newer engines and probably ABS). Real shame but hey that was Rover management, fuddy-duddy and didn't do things unless they or BA had anything to gain out of it, they obviously weren't that interested in helping the common customer.

@Samspianopage

8 жыл бұрын

+Souled Out Which is pathetic seeing as they were probably losing a ton of money to the competition how difficult was it for someone to see sense and go "hang on maybe it's worth our while putting abit of effort into this and getting a one up on everone else, let#s go and do something different to give us a cutting edge and to do that we have to put some dosh in to gain the business"

@Samspianopage

8 жыл бұрын

I know, I bet they now wished they'd listened most of em are probably are draining money and can't continue to grow their wallets from the poor guys slaving below em and who actually see the mistakes of their superiors. Sorry that's a very flowery way of saying they're dumb.

@Samspianopage

8 жыл бұрын

+Souled Out Yep, I reckon the Rover 25 and the Rover 75 were Rover's biggest achievements not that that's saying much but I reckon it was the right move, I liked the 200/25/45 and especially the 75 yeah they might have been mostly Honda derived but they were still the best things Rover did in their time, in addition to the Rover Metro but as you say even when they got somewhere they were hampered because the Metro, 25 and such could've been much better.

Ah those were the days buy it on Friday regret it by Monday, a pile of crap and never to be repeated, thank god

If I had paid full price for any car, and in 6 years it was as rusty as that MG, I would be incensed beyond words.

@chrispenn715

2 жыл бұрын

Not the only car to rust at 6 years old in those days - eg the Fiat 127 and Ford Fiesta were as bad.....

The wired thing is that cars in thoses days look very british

@jaggass

8 жыл бұрын

+the brownman 900 they were plain and simple

Over £3, 000!

This is why Britain doesn't have a car industry anymore, nothing to do with unions.

@actros1100

8 жыл бұрын

+Zero Ninety The reason we do not have a car industry anymore is the same reason we do not have any british industry anymore greedy shareholders/ government`s all sold to foreigners for a fast buck , who in turn shut most of our big factories down to keep their own jobs safe thats why this country is on its knee`s . Fact .

@hothatchfan472

7 жыл бұрын

Why the fuck was this video allowed to be shown. The damage this twat did to British car industry was dreadful. He could have picked on any car of that era and found faults. but he picked on the British one my dad had a 1986 metro and it was a great car. Much better than the mk2 fiesta neighbours had. This quentin wilson prick is now trying to sell over priced bullshit extended warranty's that yes car credit were selling in the early 2000s what a twat.

@Zero_Ninety

7 жыл бұрын

HotHatch Fan Yes that's right, he NEVER pointed out any flaws with ANY other car. Just the British ones. Nothing to do with the fact that British cars are junk that rust the second they get wet.

@jh565bb

3 жыл бұрын

It was a lot to do with unions and management, but also shitty cars like the metro.

@jh565bb

3 жыл бұрын

@@Zero_Ninety Well there are some great british cars, many in fact. Metros just weren't one of them.

Wait till Quentin sees the crash test footage, yikes! If you wanna see a front car grille meet the boot on a journey through the middle of the car & where you sit, well watch a metro crash test...Death Trap!

@mrafeht

Жыл бұрын

Saw metros after they crashed on the M1, death traps.

@abingleyboy

Жыл бұрын

@@mrafeht I bet, add the bad crunch factor to it's joyous ability to rust and you are driving around like a strawberry sat in some folded bread just one bump and you're jam. Mind you the Fiat Sciecento was as safe as biscuit tin under an anvil and that came years later.

Nob