Introduction to the 1996 Rover 100 range

Showroom sales video of the 1996 Rover 100 range

[@maxmaxwell2180]

These little cars were actually really good, given their small dimensions, they were surprisingly roomy inside, quite quick and good handling and good economy. They were much better than some people would have you believe.

[@tjfSIM]

A Rover 100 Cabriolet sounds absolutely terrifying

[@Mahoney8T7]

yup my mother had a knightsbridge SE model in nightfire red...i can still remember the smell of it inside!

[@Gabbianone94]

@matsui2001 A 1980 Metro with a facelift, plus a new engine, new gearbox and new suspension :P To be honest, the only thing R100 had from the old Metro is the bodyshell and part of the dashboard. I'm not saying this is trifling thing, but you must consider that a new bodyshell was designed and British Aerospace denied funding it... (try to Google "Rover Metro R6X")

[@Nombredeusuario1030]

I think Rover engineers were very skillful. Even with tight budgets and some dated models (such as this 100, or the 200/25 which is based on the R8 200), they managed to make pretty decent cars that lasted on production much more time than what they might ever expected.

[@grandmastarflash]

the engineers were fantastic, the management of the company sadly wasnt!

[@rallychamp2003]

@Genius83 Yes, by 1996 the Rover 100 was outdated. But it was cheap, starting at around £6000 and also remember that the Rover Metro was What Car? "Car of the Year" in 1991.

[@ash7990]

Are you mad? Britain has produced some of the finest cars in the world. Jaguar, Rolls Royce, Rover, Bentley etc.

[@oli720-oli]

I had a purple one. 1.4 cvt 5 door. 😊 ...amaranth!!

[@gandi69]

There seems to be loads of video for standard rover 100s and metros but where are the videos for the GTi? It was quite a different car to the ones shown here

[@johnsinclair4111]

You know that the game is up when you rename your old Metro and try to present it as a new car. Would have done better upping the engineering and quality control and keeping the name!

[@JACQUES330]

My dad brought a near new 1994 Rover Metro GTA in british racing green with red seatbelts and red gta stickers

[@theothertrainee]

@discocreator76 On the 100 or Micra? I did say the Micra was more reliable. If your engine wore out at 50k then you either thrashed it or never serviced it, as I know of many K series engines and standard gearboxes that have reached near 200k, some on original head gaskets.

[@maxmaxwell2180]

I've owned and worked on many k series engines that have covered well over 250000 miles on original head gasket. If they are correctly serviced and maintained, they seldom give trouble.

[@paianis]

I'm surprised they used crash test footage given how outdated the Metro's design was by the mid-90s.

[@sheepysailachannel6982]

It's now 2015 and the metros are still all over the place I have 2 of them but both are running 143 bhp vvc and people don't like the fact that a 1997 rover is over taking them my rover is in show room condition iam a so called boyracer u can't beat a metro

[@conradlangley]

@rallychamp2003 i wouldnt let him get to you mate. he will be an armchair expert of everything. he wont know the first thing about engineering. he may say one of the worst cars in history, but sales figures would say different. great A to B cars and practical for many many people! Metros(slash rover 100s) and Allegro are great cars. He clearly has no experience with either!

[@theothertrainee]

@discocreator76 On the 100 or Micra? I did say the Micra was more reliable.

[@davidlister370]

'They've rebadged it you fool!'

[@mjsdecember1990]

It's made out of the same stuff as starbug

[@ash7990]

The Metro after Rover got their hands on it was actually a decent small car that actually drove quite nicely. Things like the seats were far nicer than what you would find in a rival car such as a Saxo. Believe it or not they sold well, even the later 'Rover 100' version (like in this video) right up until they stopped production in 1998. By this time the interior was of course dated. As far as rust is concerned. Mercedes of the same age rusted very badly - and they are a premium motor car!

[@rallychamp2003]

@Raune88 well, since I am an English engineer and since you can't write English, you can come back when you grow up.

[@JACQUES330]

@Mahoney8T7 Was the smell nice LOL

[@theothertrainee]

To be fair the 1992 'bubble' Nissan Micra did very marginally better in NCAP and rusts like mad also and people don't moan about that. Ok, they are more 'reliable' but some on the early models have god-awful interiors.

[@Jamesss123456]

@Genius83 I have to admit you are right. But I have to admit (which I never thought I would say) the car does look nice. Especially the nice red one seen throughout the video. If the car was a bit more reliable and less prone to rust, and more safe in a crash.. I think I would make sure it was my first car.

[@BiloLCFC]

Lynn, I'm not driving a Mini Metro.

[@dannyrobinson9725]

Old car recycled so many times! I'm not criticizing, just applauding how many times the British car industry can facelift a car that was already 17 years old! Maybe on day BMW will bring the metro back just like the mini😊

[@tevers6812]

A 1978 metro with different lamps. Lol @ the designer drawings!

[@Chris-ln6so]

It was almost an entirely different car by 1990/1 to be fair and much better for it. It just kept the same design language.

[@llynellyn]

@AnthonyUK Well the test confirmed that the car killed the front passengers and paralysed (at best) the rear passengers in a 20mph collision, that's not the kinda press you can run with, that's a product killer plane and simple, nobody with more intelligence than an amoeba would feel safe in one after learning that, hell I would never accept a life of somebody with one, rather walk in the rain and risk pneumonia :P

[@anthonyperkins7556]

They did it on the cheap, using the old 80s floorpan, using the old metro plans to build and develop a brand new body, fish in the rover parts bins for whatever they could find, put the thing together and equip it with Rover 200 seats in the front which gobbled up the rear legroom and made it tight to sit for any length of time, and to add insult to injury, only for driver airbags to be available as an option and even then, with an airbag fitted it wasn't safe in a crash, gaining 1 EuroNCAP star for its crash safety with fatal leg torso ankle face and chest injuries in frontal impact, while the head never touched the airbag and rolled off hitting the door.....

[@mexicodriver]

i assume the level of crash protection is somewhat like a carrier bag

[@cambs0181]

Love the way they show the designers illustrations which he probably spent months of effort on, only for them to go "fuck it! Change the name and put a new grill on it!"

[@ca11isto]

Looks like a smaller 25 in the designs

[@04smallmj]

Yep, it has a 1 star EuroNCAP rating... search for 'EuroNCAP rover 100' to see it crushing like a can :P

[@immortaltyrant2474]

That's what makes it a proper man's car.

[@Bruce-vq7ni]

A convertable version! Imagine driving through your home town in that.

[@TregTube]

When you say "finest", do you actually mean "wallowiest"? You are right though, we have produced some of the finest LUXURY cars, but other than that, a shambles.

[@TregTube]

I hate to say this... but we've never made a good car. And this..... well it's about as desirable as genital warts, but bless the Rover engineers, all they had was some tinfoil and 84p to produce a new car - I think they did bloody well!

[@kevinbrighton80]

Proof you can't polish a turd.

[@RoadCone411]

The Rover 100 was a veil-thin rehash of the 1980-era Metro, and by the time this video was produced was in its final year or so. The Euro NCAP certainly killed the car but sales had been in a decline and Rover had not spent the money to update or thoroughly modernize the car for current safety standards. Best features about the car was its economy, cheap price, and decent content for the price. In reality, it was rustprone, unreliable, and outdated.