THE EXPERIMENT is over. Another of the Life Of Cars fleet has flown the nest!
Regular readers might recall that through most of last year I ran around in an original Mini, which was so comically unreliable that I sold it. With it being the ultra rare Mayfair Automatic, flogging it was my first mistake. Replacing it with another example of Longbridge's finest, I reckoned at the time, was my second.
Yet after finally selling it this weekend, I've come to a completely different conclusion. Two cars made in the same factory by the same people in roughly the same period of history couldn't be more different. If the Mini were a play, it'd be Blood Brothers.
My K-reg Sprite might not have been as sought after as my old Mayfair Automatic but it was everything the older car wasn't: fast, frugal, tight, confidence-inspiring and beautifully finished. Above all, it was one thing which I absolutely wasn't expecting to be after my months of mishaps in 2009 and 2010.
Reliable.
Dorothy, as I called her, might have been a little rough around the edges, she might have needed a bit of boot floor welding to get through and MOT and she didn't care much for heavy downpours, but not once did she let me down. She was also, thanks to a manual gearbox and a bigger engine, much more useable on motorways and on the tricky roads of the Lake District. She was - as I pointed out to the couple who've added her to their own fleet - a Mini you can really can use every day. As long as you look after her, of course.
The one thing both the Minis I've owned did have in common was the heart of every Mini's appeal; that it's ridiculously good fun to drive. I've driven the best pocket rockets Citroen, Renault, VW, Peugeot, Suzuki and even the makers of the modern MINI have to offer and none of them offer the smiles per mile a properly sorted classic Mini does. I have yet to get behind the wheel of a front wheel driver that's more fun.
Why then, did I get rid of it? Because Life On Cars is a broad church that revels in all things automotive, and there are so many other driving experiences I'd like to try. The MGB GT which got so many admiring looks at the Ormskirk MotorFest, for instance, isn't really finished yet. There's also all manner of old cars which keep getting my attention. One chap after my Mini even offered me a tidy MX-5 as a straight swap. I said no, but I was sorely tempted!
So I can end Mini ownership on an upbeat note, because I now know you can buy one that won't let you down. I don't reget selling it because it frees up the funds to get the MG up to scratch, but boy I'll miss it.
