Bought by my Nan brand new 1/8/96 and did 30k miles before giving up driving in 2005. She couldn't bear to part with the car so we've kept it on as a second car and she enjoys being taken out in it.

Now on 57k, HGF occurred last January and has been fully repaired. Currently been undergoing a programme of restoration with a completely new sill fitted and extensive welding done with lashings of underseal thrown in to keep the tin worm at bay! We intend to keep this car in the family for as long as possible.

That's great, it looks mint and a very timely post after the thread on the dwindling numbers of brit motors. Very nice

I haven't seen that thread yet

Has your hydragas gone pop yet?

No, its been refilled three times over the last 16 years.

Are Brit cars dying out? Or are they all on holiday in France

I have a soft spot for rovers..
My line up would be
220 coupe
216 gti Honda powered
620ti
And from mg era
Mg zs180
Mg zt v8...

My taste in cars is somewhat to be desired..

I had a yearning for a Rover 620i in navy blue back in 2003. I bought it to drive from Somerset to Lancashire at weekends. It was a nice barge to drive on the motorway. Comfy

I see nowt wrong there!

What was the ZT260 like?

A good list of cars, I go back before they were all called Rover as I had:
2 x Montego
216GSi (Honda engined)
218SLD
Rover 800 Vitesse
Lots of Minis (some 1275GTs) and Metros (including MG Turbo).

As asked, what was the ZT V8 like, I really fancy one of those but can't in any way justify one!

My first ever company car was a white Rover 214SLi and it wasn't a bad little car.

I did see 130 on the clock on the M45*, which suggests that the guy who wired up the speedo wasn't much good at his job

* Clarkson, "The greatest danger in speeding on the M45 is that you might hit a sheep grazing in the outside lane".

I have a history of Rovers too. MG Metro 1300 was my first car, then we had a Metro 1.3 Advantage, a Rover 420GSi company car, then a Rover 45 1.8 Connoisseur, the biggest bag of K series crap i have ever owned (2 HG failures and then a cambelt failure).
When the 45 failed we needed another car urgently so did an ebay search for cars sales ending in the next 24 hrs within 20 mile of home. Won another Rover 420GSi (lovely S series engine). This cost £450 with a full tank of petrol and 12 months MOT. Still passing it's mot with just a simple service 4 years later and has been a wonderful car.

Last year I bought a M Reg Rover Metro Rio Grande 1.1 for my daughters to learn to drive in. Just after we got it for £250 our neighbour gave us his W reg fiesta so they use that instead. I have been using the Metro whilst I sort my SORN'd Coupe.

I have to say we all love driving the Metro, it is great fun and sticks to the road like shit to a blanket. Last month it passed the MOT with only an advisory on Tyres getting old. So I got a new set all round for less that £150 The 1.1 engine is surprisingly nippy but the best bit is the direct non assisted steering and a handbrake that makes parking in wet car parks great fun The front to rear linked hydragas is a great improvement on the old A series range. The car has never been washed in our 15 months of ownership and I intend for it to remain so. There are dings and dents and some surface rust but it doesn't matter. It is just hassle free motoring, you can park it anywhere, often don't bother to lock it and not worry about it at all. There is little to fail on it too, no cat, has fitness windows and fitness steering and an old fashioned choke. We would have trouble parting with it now

My first car got refilled and popped quite spectacularly when I got in a few weeks later.

Rover 220 T Cat turbo..... Mmmmmmmmm

I loved mine,

Best Brit car memory of mine was my folks buying an early 'A' plate MG Metro turbo when I was in school, 10 turbo lights on the dash that went up as power was increased, At that time in my life, It was the fastest car in the world!

Then the front suspension collapsed after hitting a pothole, looked like a dragster!!

Such a shame the Metro is a rare thing these days, love them!

There is a Mint BRG Metro Turbo on ebay for £3.5k!! It's the Mk2 so has the newer dash which is a shame as the old mk1 dash gauges were far better imho.

Must not bid must not bid must........

Many years ago I came across someone in a white one who believed similar - trying to goad a race to impress the two laydeez with him. I was in a 6 litre trans-am.

Let's not talk about the Metro 6R4...

I havent had a zt 260 but would defiantly like to. I have driven on many occasion the zt160 v6 which was great.

"It's a Metro Lyn, they've rebadged it you fool"

Ironically when that episode was made the 100 was out and Alan wouldn't have been able to buy a Metro regardless of how it was badged!

My first car was a 1986 blue metro 1.0L which was a great little car albeit very slow. Towards the end it needed first gear to go up hill !!

The complete irony was it was then stolen and used as a getaway car!!!! I can imagine the burglars going up the local dual carriage way flat out at 50mph !! It was found by the police burned out.

The only other Brit thing was a rover 213 (Honda engine) great engine and much better than the rover 1.6 engine in the same series.

The insurance from the metro was used on a Volvo 340 1.7 (Renault engine). Cracking car...... Rusted in the end.

Thought the 1600 in the Rover was the Jap lump and the lesser cc lumps were the Rover ones? I had a 216 gsi bloody good car engine was a peach.

Gripped is talking about the Rover S Series 1.6 whereas the Honda D Series 1.6 was fitted to the later 200 Series.

I've owned 7 K Series cars and only 1 has burst its HG whereas the 1 D Series car I owned blew up at 60k.