fan blowing on inside of windscreen does little. Need the dehumidification of an AC. Dream on.

wiper blade swept area/visibility and is insufficient, but unvoidable with small glass. Wiper speed is slow

then again, the only time I have driven it in the rain on purpose was to meet Steve (CTR) last week and do two full days of repairs: cones, shocks, HiLos, brakes, and more

I paint mine or buy YELLOW for safety.  Loathe having to parallel park...I always choose the most remote empty spaces and park up against the edges of islands in mall lots.

Fortunately, I have never been tapped while parked.  Yesterday I was parallel parked in front of a 350 duallie on steroids...looked like a big black bird of prey about to eat the Mini.

Having done a number of long trips I tell those who ask, preparing the Mini for what you are asking it to do is a must.  Frequent cold starts and short trips in city driving should see more frequent oil/filter changes.

By way of comparison, we changed oil/filter and used run of the mill 10-30 oil on the One Lap in Australia, because the Minis were warmed up slowly and saw mostly steady state driving for up to 700 kilometres/430 miles per day.  So oil/filter change every 5,000 kilometres/3,000 miles.  Mini did not burn or leak oil.

As for the oil pressure line hose from engine to firewall piping, I carry a spare because once they crack & leak it is all over but the crying.

Rain Away or equivalent is good for relieving the wiper system of extra wear and anti-fog on the inside of the glass is a big help in dampish/cooler weather.

When acquiring a "new" mini, I think it is prudent to simply replace all of the wear components as a matter of course. Unless you know the history of the car, that is...

New points, plugs, rotor, flexi brake lines, rear cylinders, alternator, belts and hoses will go a long way in making your "unreliable old car" a great little daily driver. i had a mini that I bought a few years ago and fixed things "as required", until i got fed up and did everything over a couple weekends, the car never let me down after that.

A lot can be said for having hydraulics you can count on , as well as tidy electrics with clean grounds and nice new components.

Weird/Adam

If l can help you out with any parts just let me know

I am cleaning house and after Ancaster this Easter Sunday there will be some major bargains

BIG AL

That is why mine has a 12 volt air horn! people around town soon learn when you hear the horn just stop cause that little yellow thing is coming thru!

I am as loud as a fire truck! 

Mine has been off the road for almost  2 years. just got some "new" parts and will have her back on the road within 2 weeks (really waiting for the salt to be washed off the roads) can not wait! I check oil at least once a week. usually that is what Saturday mornings are for.

Rust prevention.   Waxoil the cills.  

When i last used the Mini daily.... the oil pressure line, rubber section, would crack and spray oil at least once a season.  Makes lots of smoke and a hell of a mess.

My fix was an ever shrinking oil line!!  Just slice off the cracked end!

What killed my DD Mini was rust :(

Other than that it was an exremely reliable car once the bugs got sorted out.

My Moke has been even better. 

Now in my fourth decade as a motorcyclist, I've learned to ride and drive as though I am invisible. I do not rely on being seen, and I do not drone along, absent-mindedly next to a semi on the freeway, just hoping for the best the way so many complacent drivers do.  Obviously you can mitigate risks to some extent but ultimately, the physical universe won't allow two objects to occupy the same space at the same time.  If the two objects are a Crew-cab dually and a classic Mini, well, I hope it's not your Mini!

IMHO, the biggest fault with a Mini as a daily driver is the wrong kind of driver. It simply will not survive at the hands of someone inattentive to what the car is telling them.  You can't be multi-tasking with your various devices expecting the Mini to take care of you and itself the way a modern car does.  You must devote attention to the sounds and smells and vibrations, constantly look for leaks, smoke, fumes, flames, a myriad of things the Mini might do to tell you what it need before it hurts itself or you!

It can be done though! Numerous members of this board have the right stuff!  I don't anymore, but as a child, our 66 Mini Van 850 was THE family car, and the ONLY Mini in the country. Banging around Baghdad, Iraq (back when it was semi-civilized!) for nearly a decade, we only had one minor fender-bender. Ultimately we drove it back to Wales, had the 850 rebuilt, then drove it back to Baghdad! The British newspapers of the 70s thought we had very much the "wrong stuff", a family of FIVE, making that trip in a Mini Van!  There was no back seat, let alone seatbelts!

Though i dont have a mini, i can definately agree with the visiblity issues as i used to ride a vulcan 750. There are some people whom cant even seem to see my 96 Dakota on the freeway out here in NC. The best advice I could give is keep an eye on anyhthing and everything that requires fluid or wears down. I do a full look over about once a month and check my trans, oil, and radiator at least once a week. Though, i do have 316k miles on it. Good luck with the mini, one day i hope to be a proud owner of a 1.3i sports pack. Just to pose a question, how hard is it to find tires for the older mini? I kinda have a tendancy to go through tires, since i tend to corner hard.

The front grille impacts that happened to George above have cost me one grill, bent the second, and trashed two 1969 amber Cibie Iodes.  Both were hit and runs.

So I'm parking about two feet out from the curb, and also try not to park behind anybody.

I put my headlight relays on the ignition tumbler after leaving the lights on twice.  When the battery is really really dead, you have to get AAA because the Pertronix still can't fire if you try to push it.

Putting a little Radio Shack beeper under the dash because I still leave the turn signals on.  And those of us at 50+ have a certain sensitivity to being caught doing that

Certain speed bumps around the kids' school have multiple layers of Maniflow green paint on them.

 

You are marginally more visible than a motorcycle and EVERYONE will cut you off.  You will need to drive very defensively and aware of all traffic, coming and going  (Isn't that the way it should be//)

 

And, your puny horn is not heard, and your meager lights don't really warn anyone.  But as someone that drives 6,000 miles a year in a Mini, it's priceless!

The time it takes to accomplish simple tasks such as going to the grocery store after work. More often than not random people want to chit chat about the car.  When daily driving one doesn't always have the time to BS with folks.

I would say that you need more time for every trip as at every stop everyone asks about the car. It really isn't that much different than cars of that era you just need to remember it isn't a Toyota, yes you need to check the fluids and no it isn't stick the key in and go.

Most common fault that I can think of is complacency. 

Many modern drivers tend to forget that older vehicles require 'matter of course' maintenance, such as periodically greasing the numerous suspension zerk fittings, adjusting the brakes and ignition points, checking fluid levels, suspension bushes, hoses and fan belt tension and condition at regular intervals and using uprated components when replacing them can certainly keep many reliability gremlins at bay. 

I think if you use the car daily, all faults get sorted, and it becomes very reliable.

I've noticed sometimes the radiatior blows water from the overflow, which I notice only when I check the rad. Otherwise, I'm running low!

 

I wasn't going to post, as my car's not quite a daily driver, even though I put a lot of miles on it. But then Chuck had to mention parallel parking, and here's the result of a crew-cab 4x4 pickup with a big trailer hitch backing into a space in front of my Mini. Never again! Luckily the hitched poked through the grille in the space that misses the dizzy, the starter, the coil.....all it cost was a new grille.

Air2Air??  

Could their be a better "aly-yoop" set up for you?  You are one of the few people I know that ENFORCE the daily-driver part by avoiding having another car or six, like most of us Mini types!

I would say pretty much mandatory that a daily-driver not be a hot-rod, or people may start to recognize you on the side of the road!

Leaving the headlamps on when parked, I have now installed a buzzer between the door pin S***ch and the headlamp curcut to resolve. 

Common fault? Parallel parking. You never parallel park a Mini. Those that park by Braille can make a mess of a Mini in a hurry.