The Rover Metro
"Rover have broken the mould of the
small car, setting new standards of engineering excellence"
Rovers
new Metro continued the success of the Austin Metro into the nineties.
It
was in essence the same car but with two major changes and many cosmetic
revisions. The car had new suspension. This was the same system using
the Hydragas displacers. However the suspension had been redesigned to
connect the front and rear units on each side. The units were mounted on a new sub frame.
The result of this was a much smoother ride that was exceptionally effective at
soaking up road bumps. The second major change to this car was a
completely new front end. It was also made 170mm longer. The reason
for this was so the new engines and gearboxes could be fitted. It took a great deal of work to get them to fit. The result
was a slightly bigger engine compartment and a repositioning of all other components.
Other exterior changes included a new tailgate and rear lights, new side strips,
mirrors and wheels. Inside, there were new seats and trims. The dashboard remained
largely the same other than a new drivers console with smoother switches and a new steering
wheel.
There was a lot of excitement around the launch but not as much as ten years
ago. The range was launched with a good selection of models. There
was no longer a MG version, but a GTi was made. 1.1C and 1.4CD
1.1L/1.4LD and
1.4LiAuto
1.1S/1.4 Si
1.4 SL
1.4 GS and GSi
1.4 GTa
1.4 GTi 16v (103PS)
Cabriolet
There were over the following few years as with the Austin Metro several
special edition models launched. There were so many of these as Rover was
trying to fight its competition. The reason its sales began to drop in
1992 only two years on was because Vauxhall had brought out the Corsa, a
completely new car that bettered the Metro in its more modern
design. Ford had also produced a brand new Fiesta in 1989, Ford were
selling twice as many Fiestas as Rover were Metros, all because of the
advantages of the more modern chassis design. Rover managed to keep
its market share despite falling sales by constantly introducing special edition
models:
Quest
GTa SE
Tahiti and Nightfire
Rio/Rio Grande
Impression
Casino/Casino Royale
Manhattan
