1987 Rover - Austin Metro L from UK and Ireland - Comments

Not including normal wear and tear, gearbox needed replaced costing £400 (3rd motion bearing apparently "famous" for packing in), alternator and starter motor needed replaced, exhaust downpipe broke twice (apparently a faulty batch), rear subframe mountings needed replaced, tracking constantly needed adjusting as did the hydro-elastic suspension, hyro-elastic pod needed replaced, clutch cable snapped and replaced twice, front suspension knuckles seized (unseized themselves after a few months of spine shattering driving), front valance constantly needed rust treatment, handbrake never quite worked properly, erm.... I think that's it.. Oh, and any Metro key could open and start mine! And once the full beam even jammed on.......

This was my first car, supposedly a cheap runabout. Decent tires cost £50 each because of their strange size. This car was so unreliable I used to park it at the top of a hill each night in case I had to bump start it in the morning. I fought an increasingly desperate battle to keep rust at bay, jet-washing under the wheel arches was a trusted weapon. Performance was okay for a 1.0L, approx 95mph if you were brave. Cheap parts could be obtained easily at most breaker's yards, which, frankly, was just as well. One of the few pleasures I had with this car was ripping off such luxury items as a glovebox and a parcelshelf from higher spec models at the breaker's yard. Another was finally convincing someone to buy it from me.

I totally agree with you.

I know you are talking rubbish about the clutch cable snapping - Metros for a fact have a hydraulic clutch!!

Well my one's got a stuck gear-stick in reverse.. any ideas on how I get it out and how much for a cheap box? It's only done 26000 miles from new, the interior is immaculate. Exterior???

Hammer it out! If you have no joy, get a box from the scrappy.

My current Metro has a cable clutch, yes on an A-series motor, previous one had hydraulic clutch, so your "for a fact" is only right half of the time. MG metros seem to have mostly cable clutches, the rest seem pick and mix. My Metro has starship mileage (168,000) original engine, which needs nursing now, oil pressure is a little slow to come up in the morning, but doesn't smoke! Keep changing the oil guys! Gearbox broke at 59,000 , but this ones been going since...

I have an E reg automatic metro and it has never let me down so far (touch wood).

Mind you, it does have trouble starting in wet weather, but other than that I have no problems :)

Just stick some red-ex in the petrol tank and it goes like a whippet on speed..

" I know you are talking rubbish about the clutch cable snapping - Metros for a fact have a hydraulic clutch!!"

I suggest you check your facts.

My Metro FOR A FACT had a long, spring-loaded, sheathed cable that ran from the clutch pedal, through the bulkhead, to an arm that protruded from the gear box. When it snapped, a replacement could be obtained by going to the dealership and requesting... a clutch cable.

Hi just a quick message.

From 1980 - 1983 metro's had hydraulic clutches.

From 1983 on, BL decided to experiment with cable clutched and have been used from 1983 on.

I have a metro same spec and year and yes it does have a clutch cable, but my Metro is brilliant never had a spot of bother from it since we did it up 5 years a go.