Anyone got (or had) the new Mini Cooper or an Elise?

[beorhthelm]

New Beetle? They come with some sporty engines, a turbo and a V5. bit dificult to find them second hand though, but new turbos are around 16K iirc

 

[Bwian]

Views appreciated from anyone with experience of these cars in the real world, ie not the stuff in car mags.

The Elise has the Rover K series engine in it with a few tweaks. Absolute crap engine. Well known for head gasket failures at low mileage. Modifications to gasket haven't helped that much either.

I wouldn't touch one (in the trade and see dozens of K series disasters every few weeks). Thank god for the K series though-means I sell loads of stuff to sort 'em out