The Austin Rover of 1980: a British car to take on the world.
- Lewis Mackland
- Nov 9, 2021
- 6 min read
Updated: Nov 11, 2021
The Austin Metro is a car that is often mocked and laughed at, but I have a soft spot for it and this blog post will attempt to explain why.
British Leyland launched the Metro under the Austin brand on 8th October 1980 with the intention to replace the Mini which was now 21 years old. The Metro was designed by British Leyland’s (BL) Chief Stylists, David Bache and Harris Mann. Bache was part of the team who designed the fantastic Rover P6. The European Supermini market was booming the 70s and the Mini, as brilliant as it is, was starting to feel a little outdated and too small. Models such as the Renault 5, Ford Fiesta , Volkswagen Polo and Vauxhall Chevette were more and more popular. Metro was BL’s answer to this growing market. Development for the Metro started in the early 70s but due to numerous strikes and eventual bankruptcy and government bailout in 1975, development was slowed. British Leyland racked up debts of £200 million, equivalent to £1.6 billion today.
1980 Advert for the Austin Metro.
The beating heart of the Austin Metro was the recently updated BMC A-Series engine, called the A-Plus, the updates included higher compression ratios, a stiffer block, new cams and manifolds, better valve materials, and other details as the air filter, the redesign cost £30 million. These improvements helped the Metro to boast a 12,000 mile service interval, which isn’t far off the modern offerings from Ford and Vauxhall today, with their Dual Overhead Cams and fully synthetic oils.
The updated A-Plus series engines kept the famous gearbox in the sump design as the original Mini, those who have driven one will remember the lovely sing that the engine made. This innovation was mastered by Sir Alec Issigonis as it saved space, meaning more interior room for the same footprint of car.
The Metro could be had a with either a 998cc (1.0 litre) or 1275cc (1.3 litre) sizes, Over the first 10 years of the Austin Metro , there were various different versions of the 998cc and 1275cc engines for different years and trim levels. Below is a table detailing each variant:
1980-**: 848 cc A-Series I4, 34 bhp (25 kW; 34 PS) at 5500 rpm and 44 lb·ft (60 Nm) at 2900 rpm (** = Date last car officially sold is currently unknown)
1980–83: 998 cc A-Series I4, 45 bhp (34 kW; 46 PS) at 5400 rpm and 53 lb·ft (73 Nm) at 3000 rpm
1983–88: 998 cc A-Series I4, 41 bhp (31 kW; 42 PS) at 5500 rpm and 54 lb·ft (73 Nm) at 3250 rpm (low compression option)
1983–87: 998 cc A-Series I4, 44 bhp (33 kW; 45 PS) at 5500 rpm and 54 lb·ft (73 Nm) at 3250 rpm (Metro City)
1983–87: 998 cc A-Series I4, 46 bhp (34 kW; 47 PS) at 5500 rpm and 54 lb·ft (73 Nm) at 3250 rpm (Metro Standard/City X)
1980–84: 998 cc A-Series I4, 47 bhp (35 kW; 48 PS) at 5500 rpm and 54 lb·ft (73 Nm) at 3250 rpm (Metro HLE)
1987–90: 998 cc A-Series I4, 47 bhp (35 kW; 48 PS) at 5500 rpm and 54 lb·ft (73 Nm) at 3250 rpm
1980–83: 1275 cc A-Series I4, 60 bhp (45 kW; 61 PS) at 5250 rpm and 72 lb·ft (98 Nm) at 3200 rpm
1983–90: 1275 cc A-Series I4, 62 bhp (46 kW; 63 PS) at 5300 rpm and 72 lb·ft (98 Nm) at 3100 rpm
1984–89: 1275 cc A-Series I4, 71 hp (54 kW) at 6000 rpm and 75 lb·ft (99 Nm) at 4000 rpm (Metro Vanden Plas)
1982–89: 1275 cc A-Series I4, 72 hp (54 kW) at 6000 rpm and 75 lb·ft (99 Nm) at 4000 rpm (MG Metro)
1983–89: 1275 cc A-Series turbo I4, 93 hp (69 kW) at 6130 rpm and 85 lb·ft (115 Nm) at 2650 rpm (MG Metro Turbo)
1989–90: 1275 cc A-Series I4, 69 hp (54 kW) at 5450 rpm and 75 lb·ft (99 Nm) at 4000 rpm (Metro GTa/MG Metro)
The interior of the Metro was similar to the rest of the car; simple, functional but with a nice level of charm. The large bus-like steering wheel, clear gauges covered in beautiful brown plastics that are trimmed up the brown carpets with gorgeous brown seats on top. If you have driven other British Leyland and Land Rover cars from the 80s and 90s, you may recognise the indicator and wiper stalks, Austin Rover used the same stalks and other small parts in most cars, this is something that is often unfairly criticised as the Volkswagen Group uses the same indicator, wiper and light controls on many of their models today. Parts sharing makes more business sense, lower development costs and lower production costs, due to economies of scale.
Undoubtedly the Metro’s party piece was its hydragas suspension first found on the Allegro in 1973. Instead of conventional metal springs and shock absorbers filled with fluid, the set-up used nitrogen gas and hydraulic fluid separated in with a diaphragm in a displacer. This design helped the Metro float over bumps and grip round bends, the chassis and suspension set-up was perfect for Britain’s bumpy streets and bendy B-roads, it was clear that the Mini’s magic formula was carried over to the Metro.
Ten years after the Austin Metro was launched, in 1990, it was updated and changed to the Rover Metro as the Austin marque ceased to exist. The biggest change to the Metro was the introduction of the new K-Series engine. This engine was first introduced in 1988 with the new Rover 200 (R8), hopefully, a story about that one day.
The K-Series lineup used a more modern cast-aluminium block and head, this was to aid lightless and make the car as responsive as possible. One design feature that was retired was the gearbox placed into the sump. The gearbox was now placed at the end of the end , when mounted transversely, like nearly every other front wheel drive car.
The K-Series Metro was available in 1.1 litre and 1.4 litre form, with carburettor and fuel injection versions. Fuel injection variants were fitted with a Dual Overhead Camshaft with 4 valves per cylinder, 16 in total and the carburettor variants were fitted with a Single Overhead Camshaft with only 2 valves per cylinder, 8 in total.
The PSA (Peugeot Citroën) ‘TUD3 and TUD5’ diesel 1.4 and 1.5 engine was available also, both this engine and the petrol K-Series were fitted with PSA gearboxes.
The 1.4D produced 52bhp and the larger 1.5D produced 56bhp.
The Rover Metro 1.1C and 1.1L models were available with a 4 speed manual gearbox and a 5 speed manual as an option, the rest of the range (1.1S, 1.4SL, 1.4SL) had a 5 speed manual as standard. Metro GTA and GTI models came with a 5 speed ‘close-ratio- gearbox, this was to lower the drop in engine revs when up-changing gears, to always keep the engine in the rev band that delivers the most power, aiding acceleration.
The suspension in the Rover Metro was also updated, keeping the hydragas design but now connecting the front and rear ends, this improved the already fantastic road-holding abilities, when the front experienced a bump, the rear displacer primed so to take the impact in a more gentle way.
In 1994, the Metro nameplate was retired after 14 years, and replaced by the Rover 100. This was partly due to the name ‘Metro’ being tainted with rust and reliability issues, and to consolidate the Rover range, now the 100,200,400, 600 and 800.
The 1.4 PSA diesel engine was increased in size to a 1.5, increasing power output by 4bhp to 56bhp, and increasing torque from 83 N·m to 95 N·m.
The Rover 100 front grille, and wings were updated to bring it more in line with the rest of the Rover family, and some minor tweaks to the interior, to try and hide its age. The Rover 100 slowly died in 1998 as sales dried up after a horrific Euro NCAP test, where the car, a design dating back at least 18 years at this point, crumpled to pieces and the car was deemed unsafe and journalists called it a “death trap” . Poor old Rover.
Congratulations and thank you for making it to the end of this post telling the story of the Austin Metro, Rover Metro and 100. Please let me know your thoughts with the comments below. See you next time! -Mackland.
Sources Cited: https://www.in2013dollars.com/uk/inflation/1975?amount=200000000 https://www.aronline.co.uk/engines/engines-a-series/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Metro#Engines https://www.aronline.co.uk/cars/austin/metro/ https://www.motoringresearch.com/car-reviews/retro-road-test/1983-austin-metro-review-retro-road-test/ https://www.aronline.co.uk/facts-and-figures/buying-guide/buying-guide-rover-metro100/ https://www.heritagecarinsurance.co.uk/vital-stats/austin-metro-1980-1990/
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