Faults:

I replaced the radiator and crown gear soon after getting the car for cheap transport to university (£90!) and ran it for a year. At that point the drive-shaft sheared, taking out the brake line. This meant that there were no brakes and no gears to slow the car down -- resulting in a wild ride down a hill late at night in the center of Brighton! Yeah, the parking brake probably would have worked, but I didn't think of that at the time -- just held on and prayed. I still miss that car...

General Comments:

This was probably the most fun car to drive I ever had. Dirt cheap to run (petrol costs of £5 a week unless I went on a trip) and it would keep up with the big boys on the motorway. Totally unpretentious.

For a small car, I found it comfortable even with my height of 6'2". The opening rear window was a plus and the engine in the rear meant it had good traction in snow.

Faults:

Broken wire on condenser took a while to find as it was intermittent.

Replaced one drive doughnut.

Exhaust.

Water pump due to sheared Woodruff key in pump drive shaft.

Clutch bearing broke.

General Comments:

Much better than a Mini! Mine was one of the last models and hence was pretty well sorted.

Fantastic handling especially in the wet and could be four wheel drifted at will.4.

Reliability OK generally and over 42 mpg average which was pretty good.

Climax slant 4 was a fantastic engine if looked after properly. I never had any head gasket problem.

Generally easy to fix. We changed the clutch on the drive at home.

Comfortable to drive, but the standard heater was a bit lacking in power.

Judged by today's standards I'm sure it was awful, but it was better than a lot of the cars that my university contemporaries were driving.

Back window opened which was great in summer and could be useful carrying long items.