Faults:

Oil line split and painted the engine compartment black.

Three front wheel punctures.

Steering column broke on a mini-roundabout.

Passenger floor and foot-well rusted through. You could see the road through the hole in the carpet.

Alternator broke.

I gave up replacing the head gasket, it broke so often.

Battery box rusted away - had to build a new one out of fiberglass.

The brakes were abysmal when newly replaced, but kept on working even when there was no lining left on the pads at all.

General Comments:

This car was a lot of fun to drive, but completely unpredictable, even in the dry.

It had the wide 16cm alloys, which did mean it took longer to reach the break-away point. However once the car started to slide, it went very violently.

The engine was wonderful. The power after my previous Citroen was fun. However I had to stop replacing the head gasket (it was getting to the stage of me doing it every 3 months) and simply glue it shut and tighten the bolts.

Until I permanently fixed the head gasket problem, I was replacing over a liter of oil a month... no need for oil changes when you own a mini.

The brakes were interesting. Basically, you had to push the pedal and wait for something to happen, which often took a second or two. Emergency braking required first gear and the handbrake.

The club-man just looks so much better than the normal mini shape. Also the black and white checked roof is much more unusual and stylish than the white bonnet stripes on a cooper!

I wouldn't touch another mini. I wouldn't recommend buying one to anyone I cared about, because they are dangerous as anything on the road. I am happy to have had the experience though.

Faults:

Brake master cylinder leaking.

Electrical short on the blower switch (nearly a fire!)

Choke cable stop broke (used a clothes peg).

General Comments:

THE ideal first car. Peanuts to run, peanuts to insure, mechanically bombproof and more fun than you can imagine.

Nothing handles or steers like a Mini. Thankfully nothing is so uncomfortable or brakes as badly, but what the heck? A brilliant little car which oozes character. I still miss it ten years on!

Faults:

Head gasket x3.

Front wheel fell off (but did hit an Escort so that's OK!).

Oil leak.

Spark plugs broke down.

Throttle cable fell off while doing 95 on the M6.

Lights stopped working (bad connection at the fuse).

General Comments:

I loved this car. Something went wrong every two weeks, but it was brilliant.

Handled superb, went like stink with the new engine, was great fun and everyone loved it. Very noisy but that's just Minis and added to the fun.

Biggest mistake was running lead replacement petrol - this is what blew the head gaskets. If you buy a Mini run unleaded with proper additives - LRP is crap. Massive improvements in performance as well.

Most the problems I had were down to my poor mechanics skills when I put the MG engine in and modified it all round. It had disc brakes which were good and 12in Minilights all round. I want it back!