Have the 08 meta.. its fantastic.. Stick with a 140mm Fork though, 160 is too much. Suprising how well it climbs technical ascents, can really keep the power down better than my old Blur LT… which shocked me. Downhill its a real blast.. bottomless travel feeling is true. The Maxle rear end is a nice addition if your doing a lot of rocky stuff, to keep that cheep do what I did, dont buy the £50 maxle drop outs. Just use the additional drop outs that come with the Meta and stick a nut on the end of the Maxle.. OK takes 2 secs to undo the nut, not a “proper” Maxle but you save £50 and get a stiffer rear end.
BTW, there prices compared to many many other brands are still really good this year. Saw a Meta 6 WITH Joplin post advertised at £1145 the other day.