Metro 6R4 video review by autocar.co.uk

We test the memorable Group B rally weapon

[@jamessmith6532]

One of my favourite cars ever.

[@idpfilm]

A PURE Legend - The 6R4 - remember seeing her at the Lombard RAC Rally with McRae Jimmy - Grindrod Ian at the helm - just pure Magic !

[@davidkennedy1077]

Love the 6R4!!! The best sounding, best looking, most brutal and mental Group B racer!!!

[@Madrat-tw2in]

@ixx no every group B car was brutal and mental

[@richardburns5925]

@@Madrat-tw2in the Metro thrashed them all, BL rules!

[@Madrat-tw2in]

@@richardburns5925 I wish but it's first rally was very impressive

[@evans808274mc9la]

My tutor at university (Geoff Goddard) designed the engine when he was chief engineer at Cosworth. He had been at Cosworth since day one and through the DFV era. After he moved to TWR, the project followed him as the original v12 and 4wd planned for the XJ220 would have been to heavy. The Le Mans version had around 880bhp and was a bit of a handful. Just like the XJ220 transit.

[@Spargo]

You guys are so awesome for doing videos like this. We've all seen enough boring new car vids to make our head spin, every car that hits the market will be reviewed by dozens of reviewers, but you've got the balls to go drive classic Group B cars, and answer the questions we've all asked. Please please please don't stop doing these they're so great, you can't find first hand experiences of legends like this very often.

[@johnmcluskey]

I also liked the 6R4. The car was really just being developed when they pulled the plug on Group B.

[@SozzledTerror]

The 80's rocked. Best music, best Rally cars and best hairdo's...... ;-)

[@sloopycat1954]

I drove a MG metro turbo, that wasn't close to this in performance but it Was still lovely to drive and rapid, complete weapons, pocket rockets 🚀.

[@gurtsmunta]

the sharp bark of a 6r4 echoing in the forest miles before it gets to you is a memory that i shall always treasure .God only knows what beasts would be stalking the forests if group b was allowed to continue?

[@porsche911CarreraRSR]

I just looked it up. The XJ220 had a modified version of the 3.5 twin turbo V6 in that metro. The one in the metro was designed by cosworth, TWR heavily modified it and put the engine to use in the XJ220.

[@marineboy6033]

I had the scalextric version in 1986 - it was very very twitchy around the track in my cellar....

[@themorganator]

just awesome! Keep 'em coming Autocar!

[@jujuledruide6385]

favourite car ever , and favorite v6 ever !

[@jaxx831]

Did you know the engine from this car ended up in the XJ220? Austin Rover withdrew from the rallying scene at the end of the season, but in 1987 all the parts and engines were sold to Tom Walkinshaw Racing, whereupon the V6 engine reappeared under the bonnet of the Jaguar XJ220, this time with turbochargers added

[@WiltshireByways]

It wasn't banned at all. It was stopped by the FIA because of crowd safety issues. I know this because I was there.

[@ccttv5206]

Really love these 6r4s.

[@liverush24]

It depends if you want a clubman, Group B or full ex works. If you wanted one of Tony Pond's ex cars, for example, it would cost a lot more.

[@thereallybadcarcompany6108]

The idea Austin Rover had of making it naturally aspirated to give good throttle response and reliability was essentially wrong and lead to the car not really having quite enough power against the opposition - If they’d of turbocharged it and it was likely to have happened in its course of development had group B gone on it would have been a serious contender for a world rally championship - given the limited funds Austin Rover had to develop it, it’s a remarkable achievement and essentially a really very sorted car that just needed a little more cash and time to make it truly great

[@johnmcluskey]

When Group B was banned, the 6R4 factory cars were sold off and a lot of them were used in rally cross. They had to be competitive, 6R4's like Will Gollops car had twin turbo fitted and ran 900bhp. They were insanely fast and quicker than RS200's in rally cross.

[@paultaylor5502]

Wills car ran at around 600BHP, i was involved in Group B for a short period and i still chuckle when the ill informed comment on the HP during this era - keeps the intrigue going i suppose

[@jujuledruide6385]

> Paul Taylor : not exactly :) the wills car have Electronic Boost control allows the power to be turned up from 600bhp to over 800bhp at the turn of a dial .

[@theant9821]

The delta s4 only had 480 bhp but could still accelerate from 0 - 60 in 2.5 seconds. On gravel, they couldn't accelerate as fast on tarmac as they required higher gearing to prevent the torque from shredding the rear diff.

[@MeTube3]

After the Group B ban, one of these was put on display at my local railway station. I stopped to look at it and missed my train.

[@mikefranky]

Love watching these old 6r4,i remember watching will gollop in his black 6r4 in rallycross days...omfg what a animal of a car!!

[@johnmcluskey]

I love the S4 and the 205T16 in evo2 spec was also a seriously formidable weapon. The T16 had slightly more top end power than the delta with it's F1 style turbo, but the delta was an amazing design with the engine being both super charged and turbo'd. Just constant power response from the delta.

[@12valvepower4]

on my old ps2. colin mcrae rally 3. my 6r4 was my favorite car.. what a monster to drive that thing hard. always sideways always arguing with you. what a monster.

[@ALXBurnett]

Best thing is, you can make out the exhaust note from a 6r4 from over 3 miles away... :D

[@Gimmazz]

I was lucky enough to be brought up in the Northumberland hills n I used to LOVE watching these little beasts annihilate the cossies, the scoobies and even the twin engined cortinas in the pennine rallies. Good times :) Awesome car.

[@stephen88hox]

haha never realised the dash had been swapped over,looks like hes in the pasenger side! love metros,mate runs a 1800vvc

[@richarddutchholland4780]

Austin Rover were selling these brand new out of the factory for 13k in 1987

[@mac6away]

I'd heard they were going for £10k at the end. Can you imagine that? Brand new, just off the production line for £10k? ...You're looking at ~£90k at auction now.

[@McLarenMercedes]

Group B Rally was insane. The most powerful cars had 600-700hp, and some claim they had more power than the contemporary Formula 1 racecars of the mid 80's. For the consumers Group B was good too since the rules stipulated a certain number of roadlegal versions had to be built. That's why we saw the Audi Sport Quattro, Peugeot 205T16 (mid engined) and several others.

[@Rogermelly01]

@35yearoldboy I do believe that a group B Audi S1 popped over to show the Yanks how to do a hill climb in style over at Pikes Peak. Destroyed everything

[@GwyndafS2]

The full group B one had 440 bhp! :)

[@F1Oversteer]

what a legend, nice to see a review on it. every bit the monster expected and more!

[@johnsullivan937]

are those independent throttle bodies on the v6? damn it must be LOUD!

[@markpriestley7812]

Connot beat that sound better than music

[@peterjones6321]

That review goes to show just how good a driver Tony Pond was. If you watch footage of Pond in the 6R4 he makes rapid progress in a seemingly unhurried way, which given the twitchy chassis, must be no mean feat.

[@12valvepower4]

my wrx has 227 hp and awd and the torque of a turbo four. which is not terribly much really. its only a 2l turbo. off boost i have no torque,..however a STI versus a metro 6r4 on a rally road would be close. high tech awd and suspension makes up for overwhelming power

[@johnmcluskey]

Rohrl's S1e2 at Pikes Peak in 87 was the ultimate Group B car for me. There was the mid-engined 205T16's and delta S4's competing at the race and Rohrl's front engined Audi was over 20 seconds faster than the second place T16. The 205's at Pikes Peak had over 600HP, so who knows what the power output was in the Audi??

[@theant9821]

johnmcluskey 8 seconds, and ari vatanen peugeot was leading halfway up the hill.

[@paultaylor5502]

The E2 was giving around 600PS

[@granttaylor8179]

Same they did not drive the 410BHP Grouo B version.

[@JayeOFarrell]

I'm building one of these at the moment! Its going to be awesome!

[@S.Nordang]

+Jaye Oliver O'Farrell-Stevens are you moving the engine?

[@ellicopter1]

+Jaye Oliver O'Farrell-Stevens Did you finish the car yet?

[@sichere]

In your dreams zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[@cheyennedogsoldiers]

I remember hiking through Kielder Forest many years ago and almost freezing to death to see these things in action, along with the RS200 and what was that little Peugeot thing?

[@alfiecochrane1061]

205 T16👍🏼

[@porsche911CarreraRSR]

Same engine in the XJ220, no?

[@theant9821]

One of the pikes peak quattro's had just over 850 bhp if they turned the boost up but they wouldn't do it for long periods as everything else couldn't really cope.

[@paultaylor5502]

No sadly not close

[@theant9821]

Paul Taylor not close to what?

[@ITFNBiteBayKon]

My uncle owns 3 of these beasts!

[@navdrum001]

The diffs lock off power?? Other than the rear locking to stabilise, i.e yaw damping.. can't think why the diffs would lock otherwise...

[@Nimmo1492]

Just a wee bit more power than the A+ 1 litre engine.

[@Jprincemassey]

ths would be good as a sedan rover metro no offeince that mean making it longer and a special verion called rover metro xxl meaning rover metro limo. i not keen on the v6 layyout but a 3liter inline 4 or 5 would be good tho as well as the v6. the metro had been in btcc as well back in the 1970 called group a or somethinge like tat to late 90s where they was out dated but was called rover 100 later on.

[@sunnydaygina]

Lyle are you around? I sent you the parts!!! 🤗 Did they work out for you?

[@SammyJ21]

What an amazing machine!!!

[@giriphotography]

cant wait for the M3

[@VantageCigarretes]

I've been on the show in la coupe days ago, and spot the Jaguar Xj220 supercar. Is that true that engine in XJ 220 is from this car? That was written on the data sheet.

[@arkhsm]

As far as I know, the xj220 engine was a development of this engine !!

[@911gt333]

autocar rock`s! thanks!!! keep up

[@tttpietje560]

Where can I buy this insane machine?

[@cutterbacon]

One is on ebay.

[@WiltshireByways]

Yes.

[@kippo]

how about a ford rs200 next?

[@Goproflying]

Hard to believe that Jaguar used this engine in the XJ220.

[@anotherone10]

Group B rally was insane

[@pakkinen]

in that rothmans livery it looks awesome!! the 3 look awesome actually, brilliant but lethal :)

[@InitialDAmine]

the video is about cars in which prodrive had participated....

[@jy2592]

Best sounding group b car

[@SWatchik]

love the pure white rims on rally cars

[@stardawg9964]

I think most of those cars Dyno at closer to 400-450 PS not "about 380 hp" 🙄

[@liverush24]

The full works cars were 420+. Some were 380 for certain snowy rallies.

[@12valvepower4]

jag xj220 is a amazing car. i want one . mclaren f1 lm too.

[@stratac30]

Pity they didn’t get somebody who could drive the 6R4 properly, somebody like Craig Breen rather than this wally.

[@ErikGPL]

Why does it have a license plate? Is this car street legal? :O

[@Chris2010H]

in the world of rally many manufacturers actually use license plates from their own country or the team that created the car, such as prodrive, they put license plates on from their home country, check out subaru impreza WRC cars, although they are a Japanese manufacturer, prodrive (the designer and manufacturer of the impreza WRC car) they are a British company :) hope this summed it up for you! haha

[@ErikGPL]

Thanks, for the info!

[@Chris2010H]

+Erik2Ammo no problem buddy! :-)

[@JonB83]

rally cars need to be street legal, they run on public roads time to time. When going between special stages - the regular stages, you don't see these on TV - they must be able to drive with civilian traffic at the posted limits and make it to the next SS for their start time or incur time penalties. Which also makes them unique in the elite racing world. There was an instance a few years back a police officer didn't allow a driver to get to the next SS because he couldn't allow it on the road due to the damage it had. Forgot who it was, but the driver was like, "I know I can get it there," and the officer agreed but still couldn't allow it on the road.

[@chrisdavis1209]

It is street legal.

[@dailyforman]

if it is extreme fast, so why don't you show us?

[@gwhizz8705]

If my numbers came up on the lottery........this is my dream car...metro 6R4........(Escort mark 2 rs2000 a very close second)

[@Porsche996TT]

This reviewer is cold for a car lover, but not bad.

[@vipersj413]

Look like "Renault 5 Turbo/Copa Turbo", the most popular rally's car used in Europe's land. Was know like "El creador de viudas" ("The Widow's Maker"). Drivering across France, you can see a lot of "Renault 5 MaxiTurbo", a bigger and powerfull evolution of first one: a collector's desire. Great video: congratulations!!! SaludoX.

[@hayksamvelyan]

Can't wait for the M3!

[@outbackautomotive]

You seen to forget the RS 200, Stratos, Quatro, ETC....

[@TAMBOREBRIO]

pretty cool car

[@FenderUsa]

would be cool if they could test the ultimate and most crazy group b car, the lancia delta s4

[@santclause1]

Thumbs up to bring back group B.

[@willthornton4391]

the fast car drives quickly around the corner

[@pretty00lights]

I thought all Group B cars were forced induction??

[@gmain1977]

No this was only one that was not or one of the only one .

[@Greig300]

Group B. Could watch it anytime any car am hooked.

[@poppomatic]

We got one too :)

[@lewis72]

That'd buy you one tyre, possibly. Try again.

[@MasticinaAkicta]

Woooo :) now that was fun.

[@PKmode]

Group B FTW!!!!

[@huwgsxr1000]

uurrmm...no. jag XJ200 was a twin turbo ally V8, 6R4 had a mid mounted V6 with a basic 4wd set up.

[@paulthomson9709]

gixer turbo no it doesnt the xj220 has a the same v6 as the 6r4

[@ClaudiaShifferLA]

XJ220 is 3.5cc Twin-Turbo V6 and the 6R4 2.9cc V6, by the way you have the Jaguar XJ220S TWR (a super version of XJ220)

[@theant9821]

it was based on this engine but was different. like this v6 was to the rover v8 on which it was based

[@sonofkikkoman]

ooh wanna see that bmw

[@eddohan]

@daedalx Joking or not? lol

[@ge3edy]

Can't w8 for the BMW

[@liverush24]

Yes it is true.

[@MrDwhphotography]

Sometime's it's best if the presenter shuts up and lets the car do the talking

[@stephen88hox]

still racing in ireland

[@ClaudiaShifferLA]

Great car but it was not a super car as Lancia Delta or Audi Quattro

[@theant9821]

carrionfernandez the delta s4 and 205 t16 were the big dogs by 1986, the quattro was only competitive in certain events due to its layout/design and compensated by the 5 cylinder engine.

[@YETICOPTER]

now do the m3

[@luissfalz8822]

Tony Pond car inni

[@Brascofarian]

"Being an Austin..." Light clusters aside, this car had more in common with a Jaguar XJ220 than any Austin. You can tell because everything Austin touched turned to shit. That's why Rover no longer exists.

[@r200ti]

Brascofarian Austin rover had some excellent engineers. The fact it all failed is more to do with British politics than anything

[@Brascofarian]

The fact Austin assented to control so much of the British car industry is more due to British politics than Austin's engineers. They can't hold a candle to the likes of Rover, Morris, Triumph or even Wolsley.

[@Ratsinthereticles]

Worth £300,000 today

[@jamesgoodwin2450]

Did you really need all the rally outfit just to poodle around the track hahahahaha

[@andrewhowden5826]

why is a girl driving?

[@No.Handle31]

You can't beat BL Magic 🤪

[@Molo9000]

"Brilliant but lethal" lol

[@Emppu_T.]

Box full of bang!

[@joeles69]

that car was the shit in dirt2

[@BPJJohn]

this car worth close to $100000 dollars

[@simonl1785]

Shame this car cant be resurrected for the modern day