3000 miles in a classic Mini: Why it’s all over for my little Rover

Minis are great, until you have to live with one as your only car in Britain. But it’s not always their fault…

For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved Minis. I wasn’t really fussed whether it was a Morris, Austin, Innocenti, Cooper, Cooper S… just as long as it was a Mini – the classic-shaped one, not the later BMW-era cars.
Four or five years ago, just before I could drive, I desperately wanted one to have as my first car to learn in. Unsurprisingly, my parents said no. We had no garage space and they would have had to be at least partially responsible until the point when I was finally able to drive it. 
But in 2023, the stars aligned. By that I mean I’d borrowed my aunt’s car to pass my test, and the nice vicar down my road was happy to let me use her garage. Bingo! Except… while I had been busy being a not-so-well-to-do adult, the prices of Minis seemed to have ballooned. No longer was a nice late Rover MPI £3000: it was more like 10k. Not the kind of money I had to throw abou