So who actually uses a Mini as their daily driver these days? In the 60s and 70s the answer would have been pretty much 100% of respondents. There were Minis as far as the eye could see parked outside the local Mini Car Club meetings venue. Thirty years later you are lucky to see any. Of course practically all the members still have a Mini (or two) tucked away at home or in the process of being restored, but very few members actually depend on them as a daily driver anymore.

Not that they can't be used as such. I drove mine round Melbourne and Adelaide for more than twenty years everyday, and it was a much modified Cooper S with a hot cam and Weber. It was quite reliable and a very quick way of getting around, especially in Melbourne where it would fit in between the trams and cars parked on the sides of the many narrow streets, whereas almost all other cars couldn't squeeze through. I still reckon they're one of the quickest ways of getting from point A to B in densely populated urban areas, except for a motorbike of course. And parking is child?s play.

Of course we all have face the demands of practicality and family sometime and the Mini eventually gave way to a bigger vehicle which was nowhere near as much fun nor as nibble or quick in city traffic. The other big impediment to driving a Mini everyday was that it made it difficult to do any maintenance or modification work to it that involved taking it off the road for any length of time. You really had to have another vehicle to depend on when the Mini was on downtime. And if you were into competition on weekends then you definitely needed a back up vehicle, preferably one that could tow a Mini on a trailer (mine was an Austin 1800 ute, the favoured tow vehicle among Mini racers in the late 60s early 70s).

In a sense Minis have moved from being a relatively cheap utilitarian form of daily transport to achieving something resembling over-protected pampered pets who don't get let out too often and rarely if ever in inclement weather. I think it?s called achieving classic car status. Sure, you still see a few around town everyday ? here I see about the same number of new BMW and traditional BMC Minis during my daily grind to and from work (more ?oldies? since the price of petrol has skyrocketed).

But what percentage of enthusiasts on this forum actually drive a Mini these days as their regular form of transportation?

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Slide
1965 Mini Van (1360)
1970 Mk2 Cooper S (1310)
1978 Rover SD1 V8 (4.6)
1996 Land Rover Discovery V8 (4.0)

i would use it for a daily if it was a little quieter inside, if had disks, and it was rust free

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mine is a daily driver...modified webber ect...its quite reliable too...and when it does break its not that bad....i feel sorry for all the people who sell there pride and joys when they get marrid .....i told my fiancee i was never selling it and she said she would never ask me too iether as she knows how much it means to me....wouldnt drive anything else...and when i do have a bigger family of my own ill just get something else to do the carrying of the kids and use the mini as a weekend car for my self...

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started a new project...there goes all my free time....

i use mine as my daily hack, but i have no other car

My mini is my daily form of transport

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http://photobucket.com/albums/v515/chasg/

I use mine when i am going for a "drive"... I use the Cressida when i need to get somewhere.

It all depends on how tired i am and how long the trip is... Power steering, power brakes, whisper quiet engine, nil road noise and climate control are just too nice to pass up most of the time. The mini takes a lot more effort... kinda like go-karting, heaps of fun but you wouldn't want to do it day in day out.

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- Simon -

Mine *was* a daily driver.
It was good when it was.

And yes, my Deluxe will be a daily driver, too.
I just dont understand how people can spend all the money on a car, and not drive the damn thing.
Driving the completed thing is half the fun... well actually ALL the fun (cos building it isn't exactly fun )

We drive em' long distance-it's the Best.
Nothing bits sharing the experiece of a 3000km trip to meet other Mini Enthusiast on
the otherside of the Country-We are devotee's to "fix'em and driv'em"........

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Absolutely!

So are you coming to Adelaide for Minis at the Mill then?

Well Willy-We have just come back from Hay this year
Next planned trip over your way is for the BIG 50 year celebration's for the
"Mighty Mini" I think that's 2007?
Still trying to decide which and what event to come over for??
It will be HUGE!!!

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I used to use mine as my daily transport,
but didn't enjoy walking the rest of the way to work/uni in the rain

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Too many cars, and too little time.

i use mine as daily driver, unless its raining, or recently if its night time (my headlights werent working) but all good now and i even had a good drive in the rain the other day (until water started coming into my windscreen, lucky i had a hankee in my pocket )

the only real problems ive had with it are these and once the breaks stopped working and other than that just a flat battery... oh and a flat tyre, but other than that its been a good year

I use my well modded 1360 to drive to work and elsewhere, but if we go far we take the wife's AU Ford...

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

my mini is my only car and everyday car drive it everywhere and nearly everyday

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1152cc turbo A-series now with 125.7hp at the wheels !

AUSSIE Turbo mini forum >> http://boostmini.justboard.net/

https://www.facebook.com/boostmini

My moke has been my daily for five years come this december. It's pretty reliable but needs a new front subframe and discs .

Looking to replace it with a daily mini by the end of the year...

Shard