Faults:

Head gasket did need some work on it at around 98000 miles.

A little rusty in places, but nothing that can't be fixed.

General Comments:

My car is very reliable and a comfortable car to drive.

She looks good and should be respected since she is now 23 years old and is still going strong.

She isn't very noisy and is very affordable to run.

She is very easy to drive and very adaptable regarding weather and road conditions.

The car is a joy to drive, even after so long, and still looks rather modern, brightening up the roads with her lovely yellow colour.

Faults:

The bodywork began to rust as the Metro approached 100,000 miles, but the engine was still running as smoothly as ever.

The interior was always fragile and things got easily broken, but they were easily repairable with glue.

General Comments:

I bought a 14 year old 81X Metro in December 1995 for £350. My previous car was a 1973 VW Beetle 1303 which had lasted 5 years, but the Metro was ultra reliable.

The mechanicals were as solid as gold and completely faultless, but the bodywork began to show its age when the car reached the age of 20 years.

The Metro was a basic car with no stereo (the previous owner had taken it out) and the seats were as hard as rock. Interior space was quite good for such a small car.

The Metro was slow and spartan, but it was also extremely reliable and for the most part well built.

I finally sold it for £15 in 2003, by which time the Metro was 22 years old. I now own a 99T Vauxhall Corsa which is fairly reliable and more luxurious, but it's not as satisfying to own as the Metro.

Faults:

The whole concept. Somebody threw a mini from the top of the ugly tree!

The body became detached from some main chassis joints (or so the MOT man said while laughing out loud).

General Comments:

Not only did Austin release possibly the worst small car in the world, they made it impossible to destroy.

In all fairness mine was incredibly nippy, very well handling and had the best brakes I've ever seen.

Oddly this thing had better brakes than my giant old Honda! Evil things that would cause my head to smack the windscreen on many occasions.

The interior was basic and uncomfortable.

The trim level was rubbish. Even some of the column stalks snapped off in my hands!

The only positive things about this car are its mini-like handling and the fact you could fill it with a teaspoon full of petrol and drive it all month.

If only they had concentrated on updating the interior and drive train of the existing mini, rather than chucking money away on this insult to British motoring.

Great fun to race around in, although try as I might I just couldn't kill it!

Faults:

Amazingly little for a 20 year old car.

The only major repairs to the car have been a new steering rack and a new radius arm.

Mint condition inside and out, no rust or paint fade. It does however suffer from more then its fair share of stone chips.

It can be difficult to find some parts (such as Headlights, rear wiper motors etc) because they are different on my MK1 Austin Metro to the far more common MK2 Austin Metro.

General Comments:

Brilliant handling and grip, helped by the Metro Turbo alloys being a lot wider then the standard skinny wheels.

Quite fast for a 1.3 and low insurance.

Easy to work on and looks good when modified, it's surprising how many people say to me what a nice car it is.

Overall I am very impressed with the car, it has been so much more fun to drive then I expected, I wouldn't buy any of its competitors because they just don't handle like a Metro.