new MG Rover Metro

[lamonto]

just read on ceefax that MG Rover are going to launch a new small car
to replace the Metro. going to be made India and about 50,000 shipped to Europe. Cost about £6000
Sounds a good move to me and will give the current small car market a run for its money and some Decent competition.
Ian

[CyrixDes]

Thats right, it'll be known as a CityRover. Heres a link for anyone interested:

CityRover (http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2003310617,00.html )

Cheers
Dale

[Wonko_The_Sane]

Back end vaguely like a Corsa/Focus/Fusion/Fiesta, front end like a Honda..hmm...this is one I'd have to try to like I fear...

Too much of a eurobubble for my liking..

[Jonathan]

Hmm... the jury's still out on that here I think. To me Rovers are big cars, luxurious, classy but understated, tasteful, just that little bit special. To have the badge on what at first glance appears to be "yet another microcar" doesn't feel right...

But on the other hand that sort of thing is in demand now and I'm just the sort of un-trendy traditionalist buyer Rover were trying to appeal to in the past with limited success. I hope they've got it right!

[D87 SMW]

Hmm :(:(:(:(

Metro:
http://images.thesun.co.uk/picture/0,,2003310360,00.jpg
Corsa:
http://buypower.vauxhall.co.uk/repositories/images/VehicleLarge/Corsa/c_gls_5dr_flamered_2002.jpg
Metro:
http://images.thesun.co.uk/picture/0,,2003310362,00.jpg
Corsa:
http://buypower.vauxhall.co.uk/repositories/images/VehicleLarge/Corsa/c_sxi_3dr_aztecgold_2003.jpg
Fiesta:
http://www.cardesignnews.com/autoshows/2001/frankfurt/features/ford-fiesta/images/ford-fiestarr5s.jpg
Punto:
http://www.carzonespecials.com/fiat_punto2/_rear.jpg

[tony]

end of the day thats what the public want ,it not it will not sale
euro bubbles:)

[Austin-Rover]

I really hope its the car that saves the company. MGR seem to have been out of this important sector for so long. It looks like it could be a real contender for the Corsa and Fiesta etc.

Time will tell...

:rolleyes:

[CyrixDes]

I agree, although I wouldn't personally buy one it's good to see them competing in this sector again after the original Metro's demise. I actually thought it would have been nice to wheel out the Austin brand for this one as that way if the build quality is suspect or problems arise from it, the Rover name wouldn't be damaged as such. Could have been an interesting prospect for people to be able to go out and buy a new Austin Metro in 2003! :) I think it looks as good as any of the other supermini's and with minimal outlay from MG-Rover to get things moving with it means that there's good scope for profit from it which is what the company need, to try and get back on an even keel. A sales booster was certainly needed and it also gets the company back in the news and people into the showrooms.

Good on you MG-R :D

[Simon]

I think it looks very nice and has been done for the right reasons. Its a lot more attractive a proposition than the Triumph Acclaim was in 1981. That car was an unashamed Honda clone, when Japanese cars had distinctly weird, well sort of Japanese styling really! I hope MG Rover can go from strength to strength with this Indian car and to that end I wish them all the best. In any case, it looks better than the Micra. Do you speak Micra? As one contributor to this forum put it..."Fugly!"

As a brief aside, Japanese people are known for difficulties pronouncing "L's" and "R's". So how come so many Japanese cars have those letters in their names? (Avensis and Sunny being notable exceptions)

[D87 SMW]

Originally posted by Simon
As a brief aside, Japanese people are known for difficulties pronouncing "L's" and "R's". So how come so many Japanese cars have those letters in their names? (Avensis and Sunny being notable exceptions)

Toyota Corolla, Toyota Starlet, Nissan Micra...

[Wonko_The_Sane]

4 exhausts on a PUNTO?!?!? Egad! :eek: Whats that then? Do you get the poles in the boot to shove up the outer 2 to make it into a wheelbarrow?:laugh:

At least the others don't have nasty bodykits...

I quite like the Fiesta..ish..if it wasn't a ford, I'd be even more tempted.

The Corsa..I've driven one..not bad, but it just seems to lack..something. None of them appeal to me quite as much as a Metro/Maestro/Montego/100.

I was looking at the Clio..but the new body..nah..just looks boring. The Micra though...:censored: Whoever signed that look off should be ashamed...and stoned.:laugh:

[e692wtt]

Might be a bit late for that, I think they were stoned at the time, but in a different sense...

The other other Rich.:laugh:

[D87 SMW]

If I had about £7000, I'd snatch a new Corsa from the showroom. Easily the best of the bunch. :cool:

[tony]

if i had 7,000 i would have a respray,new hood,t 16 ,new pannels and so on:)

[e692wtt]

If I had £7k, I would soon have the same Montego in better condition, some new clothes, a better sound system in the house and more than £6k in an ISA. Being polite, what possesses people to spend serious money on a depreciating asset - and to me £7k is an extremely serious amount of money. I don't get it.

Anyway, if this car were to be branded an Austin, I would expect it to be built every bit as well as an MG Rover - funny to think that when VW had just taken over Skoda, the Skodas were built better than the VWs during their 'dodgy early '90s build quality phase' (anyone remember the CAR mag cover of a big lemon with a VW badge on it, referring to the long term test of the VW Golf VR6 inside???). Stranger things have happened. If the Japanese can teach Rover (as was) how to improve buid quality, just as Nissan Japan taught Sunderland how to build good quality Nissans for Europe, then surely MG Rover can teach the Indians how to build this car properly?

The other other Rich.:laugh:

[Beaker]

Anyway the article mentions the management team bought the company of BMW for £10. Not bad considering there are still going.

[Rich]

I was reading "autocar" or a magazine with a simmiler name in ATS today while F48 was being failed in an MOT. Says the new metro is built in India, and it was slated already on the front cover for having of all things window winders!

Give it a chance press bloodsuckers, support your country and its companys a bit. How the British press can slate its own stuff is beyond me.

Besides that, the only bits i really dont like about it so far, is the exagerated name across the back, and the exhaust looks like an afterthought. But then again, I havn't seen it in the flesh yet. Will be intresting to see!!!

Rich

[e692wtt]

If you click on 'Links' at the left side of the Homepage on this very site, click on the 'Unofficial Austin Rover Resource' site, first on the list of Links. There you will find more info about this - BMW didn't lose as much of their cash as everybody thought, for example.

More cash changed hands in certain directions, but yes, it is good that MG Rover survived (wasn't it the 'Phoenix Consortium' that paid the nominal tenner, and don't things that are assumed dead then rise 'pheonix-like from the ashes'?). MG Rover expect to return to profitability 'soon', which is even better. Read it all on the above site (it'll take you a long time, there's so much stuff to read...).

The other other Rich.:laugh:

[Wonko_The_Sane]

e692wtt- We think the same way with regard to money! :D The most I've ever spent on a car was buying H870 for £1000. My Previous Maestro cost £250, and My R11 cost me £100..

I justified buying H870 because of the excellent condition, low mileage, the PAS and wheelchair lifts (Alone worth £1200!). Plus I had another Maestro for parts.

If I hadn't bought her, she was literally unwanted and was 2 days away from a call to the breakers! :eek: The owner was amazed when I took one look and said "Gimme..". She only wanted £800 for it..but I told her it was worth more than that, and I wouldn't insult her..besides..it was a house clearance..and she needed the money.

My money is all in banks, and building societies..and I have a "car fund" I pay into every week. H870 never actually breaks though, so its never needed.

A teacher here just bought an MGTF, and has his name on the list for the new beemer...for £30k!!:eek: I LOVE laughing in his face...

Nothing against a TF, but I'd rather have a Rover 216 cabrio for a tenth of that..better in the wet too..:D

[MaestroMatt]

It strikes me that cars are getting progressively more expensive and I am having to spend more and more to upgrade. I mean, I got my first car for free (1.3L - G417 LYA) and it it lasted a respectable two years but then I had to pay £100 for my next car (another 1.3L G699 GOJ). When that gave out, again after two years, I was forced to splash out £300 on my current Vanden Plas (A82 WHR) and this is after someone had driven 45,000 miles in it first. I could have taken that £400 and used it for one monthy repayment on a new VW! We should all think carefully about where we spend our hard earned money in future...

;)

[e692wtt]

I think many (if not most) of us already are...:laugh:

A month's downpayment then the embarrassment of having one's car reposessed. Then wearing your shoe leather out...

No thanks.

The other other Rich.:cool: