Quite a good little car! (Rover Metro)

Member Name: GAThrawn1

Product:	Rover Metro
Date:	14/11/00 (279 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very low mileage, decent amount of room, good handling

Disadvantages: Its looks don't appeal to most people, lots of bangers about

I have a Rover Metro and after reading the other reviews in this section I decided I had to defend my little Rover!

I have had mine for a year now, it's K reg so it seven and a half years old. When the car was bought it had a 8000 miles on the clock and no, that's not a typo, it had only done eight thousand miles. The car had been a demonstrator for the first year, in which it had done 4000 miles and then an old lady bought, who only did 4000 miles in 6 and a half years. Not only that she regularly serviced it at Rover and kept in a garage.

This meant that the car felt brand new, despite the fact it was six and a half years old. My Metro is a 1.1S and it's a fairly dark metallic grey. There aren't many options on it but it does have a fairly decent stereo plus a sunroof. It's the five door model which is very handy for carrying several people. I haven't driven any sportscars so maybe I am don't know what good handling is but I find the Metro to have good handling, the suspension is quite stiff and down twisty roads the Metro holds its line. I would say it handles better than brand new Clio, which seems to suffer from too much bodyroll. On faster A-class roads it feels quite stable for a small car. The engine is not fuel injected so its not particularly fast at motorway speeds but its very nippy about town, which if you're buying this car its probably what you're going to do the most. It's certainly reasonably quiet and quite smooth but then again it's only done 11000 miles so you would expect it to be. The 1.1 litre engine doesn't get the tax reduction because it is about 38cc over the limit which is annoying. However, it will obviously come under the new tax scheme which will be good, as it is a saving of £55. The model I drive has no power steering which can be a pain when reverse parking but otherwise you don't notice it. The gears change smoothly (my Mum wasn't very impresse
d when I suggested they changed smoother than her Zafira!) which is good because in a car with a smaller engine you generally need to work the gears to get the most out of the engine.

The accomodation in the car is good, I quite often carry 4 people in it and no-one complains, it has easily more room than a Fiesta (The new one), a Clio, a Nova or a Corsa. The rear seats fold down eassily giving plenty of room for loading up. I managed to get all my stuff from my University flat back home in it and if you saw the amount of stuff I had you wouldn't believe. I certainly couldn't after unpacking the car!

The car's just had its first service and the only problem was a punctured tyre, which I'd driven 150 miles with and not realised. This meant the tracking was out and had to be adjusted, which added £20 to the bill, bringing it to £80. The mechanic was impressed by the car, initially he thought it had been clocked but realised it wasn't after seeing the condition of the car. The car sailed through its MOT with nothing even slightly advisory. The MOT cost £17 from Halfords which was very good.

The car cost £2000 and came with a year's Rover Assistence which I have used twice. The first time was when I punctured the tyre (The first time, I've managed to do it twice this year) and I wasn't very happy about driving home with a wheel I'd put on (I once drove a car which the front wheel almost fell off because the wheel nuts worked loose) so my Mum suggested phoning them and within an hour someone came to see me. He changed the tyre for me, without questioning anything, I thought he might be a but annoyed at being called out to change someone's tyre. The second time I locked myself out and again they came round and unlocked the car for me.

My car is not unique, when my Mum was buying her car there was a low mileage Metro for sale but a mechanic snapped it up before we could. The same was
going to happen with my one but my Mum was friends with the wife of the Manager of the Rover garage, so he stepped in and let me have it.

If you can find one in as good condition as my one, it is an excellent little car. I can't comment on the more banger range of Metros but I am perfectly happy with my one.

Summary: