"Like the Metro, the late model Mini is a blend of the new and
familiar, the big chunky seats being the most noticeable feature"
Red seat piping complementing the colour of the carpets and seatbelt webbings were all standard MG Metro trademarks. A more naturally positioned steering
wheel and less offset pedals were a huge improvement over the classic Mini's set up, as was the useful large rear hatch and folding rear seat back.
48 Classic Car Mart Spring 2016
over the original it was abandoned, the
compromise being the development of the more
mildly modified A-Plus engine.
Underneath the new car though, the brief
was to give the new supermini a ride to equal
much larger cars and to that end the Hydragas
system was installed instead of the Mini’s
bouncy rubber cones. The fluid suspension
also came with packaging advantages which
the designers took advantage of to create a
spacious interior for the new car.
Development was rushed. In fact, as new
chairman Michael Edwardes discovered during
a management ride and drive in 1978, rather
too rushed. Compared with the opposition
from VW and Ford, ADO88 was judged to be
unrefined and utilitarian but with insufficient
time to begin again, a programme of detail
improvements was established which brought
victory from the jaws of defeat.
The rather van-like styling of the ADO88 (early
prototypes look a bit like a larger Lancia Y10)
was revised with every panel changed and the
tailgate made less vertical, emerging from the
process with a neat, thoroughly modern shape
which would prove timeless.
The name was changed at this point from
ADO88 to LC8 (for Leyland Cars) and the Austin
miniMetro was launched in October 1980.
Marketed as ‘The British car to beat the world’
the Metro was an immediate success despite the
labour relations issues at Longbridge.
Initially the line-up consisted of just the 998cc
and 1275cc engines with the range-topper being
the 1.3HLS but a go-faster version was already
on the cards. No sooner had the Metro been
launched than the tuners of the day were having
a go applying their decades of Mini fettling
experience to the new car. I can remember
reading the special issue of Autocar which
included Metros breathed on by Janspeed, Turbo
Technics, Wood & Pickett, Tickford and of course
John Cooper which renamed its own version
Monaco after trademark disputes.
No doubt taking inspiration from some of
these, the MG Metro rolled in on its pepperpot
alloys in May 1982, its red seatbelts trumpeting
the return of the MG brand, the Abingdon plant
having been axed only the previous year. The
powerplant was the same 1275cc A-Plus unit
found in the 1.3HLS but essentially to Mini
Cooper spec with a hotter cam, big-valve head
and bigger carb. The result was 72bhp and with
the Metro weighing in at only 800kg performance
was definitely in warm hatch territory: 0-60mph
in 11.3 seconds and a 101mph maximum.
With its bold MG side stripes and alloy
wheels, the MG Metro is actually more
extrovert than the original Cooper and in
standard form the Metro’s throaty exhaust note
is much more noticeable. As someone who
started their driving career in the ’80s I can
still tell the sound of an MG Metro apart from
an Escort XR3i several miles away.
Driving an MG Metro today is a curious
combination of surprisingly modern and old-
school Mini. The Metro dramatically improved
on the classic Mini’s driving position with a more
conventional steering wheel position and the offset
of the pedals reduced, but as soon as you turn
the key the soundtrack is all very familiar, from the
drop gear whine to the A-Series engine note.
Much work was apparently done on the
gearshift during the Metro’s life in order to reduce
its rubbery quality but one thing which couldn’t be
changed was the lack of a fifth gear, a legacy of
that carry-over Mini drivetrain. At launch it seemed
a minor issue and certainly the extra torque of
the MG version was enough to do without that
extra ratio, but as time went on the Metro was
handicapped more and more in the marketplace
against more modern five-speed competition.
From standstill, the MG Metro feels agreeably
lively, revving more eagerly than the original
Coopers, with the carb-fed engine offering more
immediate throttle response than that produced
by many brand new performance hatches.
One thing which is immediately noticeable
in urban driving is the ride quality of the Metro
which is a world away from the rubber-sprung
classic Minis and which endeared it to many
customers in its early ’80s heyday. Like many of
the best performance cars, the MG proves that
a rock-hard ride isn’t crucial to decent handling
and although it’s firmer than the shopping Metro
models, it’s still very civilised. As for handling,