Talk:Rover Metro

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By 1980, the legendary Mini was 21 years ago. Although it was destined to continue another 20 years, British Leyland needed to launch a more modern alternative in order to stay afloat.

The solution to BL's problems was the launch of its three-door Austin Metro hatchback. It used much of the Mini's drivetrain and suspension but a far more modern bodyshell. The 1.0 and 1.3 A-plus engines were upgraded versions of the A-series units used in the Mini, the 1.3 was also used in the larger Allegro.

The Metro soon became the best selling car in Britain and in 1983 a five-door variant was launched. In the same year, an MG-badged Metro with a more powerful 1.3 engine and a top speed of 100mph was launched.

But the ultimate Metro was the MG Metro 6R4 which was launched in 1985 as a rally car although it did find a few homes as a roadgoing car.

The Metro had a good amount of interior space despite its compact bodyshell, and the hydragras suspension gave class-leading ride and handling. The asking price was also reasonable.

After 10 years of production, the Austin marque was shelved and the Metro was rebadged as a Rover. It also received a major facelift which brought it nearer to the top of the supermini class. The 1.0 and 1.3 A-plus engines were scrapped in place of the impressive 1.1 and 1.4 K-series units. The MG variants were discontinued.

The original Austin Metro had suffered from rust, corrosion and unreliable mechanicals. The 1990 Rover version was an all-round improvement which had a quality feel.

1994 saw the Metro nameplate discontinued but the car lived on as the Rover 100 - little more than a facelifted version of the Metro.

In 1997, the Rover 100 was slated in the motoring press after a poor showing in crash safety tests. It was hardly a surprise the following year when Rover announced the end of 100 production - and the end of an important chapter in British motoring history which had lasted 18 years.

There was no direct replacement for the Rover 100 (Metro), but in 1999 the Rover 25 was re-positioned as a supermini - it had been facelifted from the larger 200.

[edit] Article text in Talk space

The above text appears to have been mistakenly added to the talk space by user:213.122.37.28. This is the case for a number of pages possibly including:

Since these appear to be good quality edits, please merge the new text and delete both it and this notice when done. I shall try and do some too but don't have much time. Thanks. akaDruid 13:54, 25 Jun 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Cabrio

I guess we all know there was a "factory" open-top version of the Metro/100, but unless I missed something (which is very probable), the article does not mention it at all. It would be very interesting to find out when it was launched, how it was developed and who actually built it - BL/Rover or some coachbuilder? BTW, where was the Metro actually built - Longbridge or elsewhere? Bravada, talk - 13:04, 30 August 2006 (UTC)