Pffft bike racks aren't for Mini's. I'd have an estate to carry my bikes in and use the Mini for my daily driver.

 Bikes pack into minis really easily once you get the knack

 My Aggressor would probably, but don't know about a DH bike, maybe just close.

 easy peasy

 I think if you had a nice comfy estate as well as a mini you would quickly find yourself using the estate as your daily as well as to carry bikes. While they are fantastic fun on the road they really aren't comfortable or practical as a daily car for commuting or shopping or anything like that. Would probably struggle to get a bmx inside it anywhere either if i'm honest :L

 I had to Google what an "estate" was, as I knew it as a large piece of property(my Great aunt has one in Glasgow).....providing my Google is correct, it's a station wagon?

 I can get a bmx in a mini with one back seat up and both wheels on,..

 Yep, station wagon, but estate's just a european term for station wagon.

 @samwel, what's uncomfortable about the Mini's?

 well I dunno how the roads are where you are, but in cumbria they are pretty rough, so the little amount and relatively solid suspension makes it quite a bumpy ride.
This is also the case with the lack of power steering coz it just tends to follow lumps in the road and there isn't a lot you can do about it.
The inside is small... when I say small I mean tiny. Its my girlfriends car so she doesn't have as much of a problem, and it would probably be better with bucket seats (though bumpier still) but being 6 foot I have my head pressed against the roof even with my back arched on the genuine seats. That roof is also bloody hard.
It's an 80s mini 1000 with a straight through exhaust, pretty well sound proofed, but may as well not have the radio coz all you can hear is car (you may think this is great but it really starts to grind on journeys longer than 20mins)
It doesn't warm up inside in the winter, and fogs up almost instantly. You have to have the windows down in the summer coz it doesn't cool down then, you cant win in that respect :L
And this is all before you get a roll cage...
Now don't get me wrong, its a fantastic car and great fun, I would have my own if I could justify it to build and rally. But it is by no means a daily.
It also gets rather unbearable at over 65 mph.

I'll stick to my defender. big, comfy, warm and can go anywhere :L

 My plan is to buy a Mini, then convert it to a track car. Not sure if you've heard of them, but they make a subframe (pictured in link) and RWD convert it. Can either get a twin GSXR version or a Type-R version. I'll eventually have one. I'd have another as a daily driver, but it sounds from your experience they don't suit one.

farm4.staticflickr.com/3364/3289994003_29f5a801da_o.jpg

 You could run one as a daily, I would run the caddy as a daily, but it's like using your dh bike as a commuter encase you see a rad line on the way to work... The rest of the time it's shite. Also rwd mini is blasphemy... If you want rwd go big and hefty, it doesn't suit a mini. I don't get why you don't buy one after all these years? £1100 and you could have an ok one.., less than a bike for sure!

 Haven't seen the rear wheel drive conversion before, would have thought it a bit short a car for it to be any advantage.
There is a front engine vtec mod that I looked at and they even give the option to use bits from a cr-v with new rear frame as well to make it 4WD.
I quite fancy the 4wd mod for proper rallying with light weight panels and strip out as much as possible.
And as James says, if you want one as a track car spend around £1k and spend all the rest of the money on engine, suspension and brake mods. Ihat's where the advantage is. If it was me any bad rusty panels would be replaced with the lightweight composite replacements anyway.
But yeah for anything other than racing they really aren't for me on a day to day basis :L

 Can also see some sketchy wheelies coming on with rwd and a 250bhp+ vtec sitting right on the back axle :L

 Watch the videos, they drive perfect, a bit powerslide happy due to the short wheelbase but that adds fun. They can take on powerful cars which cost loads more on a track. It's a Mini which you can race on tracks for £15k-£20k, perfect for me.

 You can buy an evo in that price range... No brainer

 I don't like AWD for tracks and you get everything race tuned in the Z-Car for that money.

 stock evo vs race tuned mini? stock evo hands down! if you want nostalgic racing get an old 944 or something no a pile o ass reshelled mini. If you want to drive it on a track your missing the point. you want a front wheel drive raleigh (spelled like that because cyclist) beast you can throw about, not a highly tuned machine with too much power to handle and all going through the back end

 Ok to "pile o ass reshelled mini." So why are they so popular? Watch Youtube videos of Z-Car Mini's, the driver hardly has to counter steer them and they handle like a dream. It's basically a go kart with a Mini shell on it. My favourite looking car with a subframe, mid engined and fast as hell for peanuts compared to the price of a race tuned BMW or other cars. I don't see how I'm missing the point if I want a Z-Car Mini for a track? They're made for tracks.

 because for the money you can get a much better car. Mins are popular for the nostalga factor and its cheap motoring. you put a 20k price tag on it and it ruins it

 Not realy. I haven't seen any decent track cars for £15-20k which are as good as the Z-Car Minis. I could get a Lotus Exige which comes close to it for £20k, but it's nowhere near as powerful on a track, and I would probably pay £10k+ on top to get ti to a similar power.

Let's put it this way. If I won the lottery, I'd have a load of decent track cars like a Corvette C6.R etc. BUT I'd still have a Z-Car Mini, and it would probably be my favourite car out of all of them. I just love the cars and for what they can do for the price is good for me.

You say they're shit, but look how well this one handles on a track, there's quite a few videos of Z-Cars on tracks and they really are go karts with a Mini shell on them.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8_oDSkgK0M

And check out the rapidness in gear change on this video:

www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=279933682140712&set=vb.100003722476567&type=3&theater

 You got to hit [Reply] then type in the box.

 Me too, although I have more of a chance to get one over here seeing as they're more popular.

 Beautiful little car

 I would love a Mini. Maybe one day!

 Yea you should have one - I had a yellow ones ha

 Do you miss it? If I ever get one it'll be my car until the day I die.

 Genuine mate.

 Minis are cheap as chips? What are you on about?

 Mk1 Mini's are going for £6k plus, yes cheap compared to other cars, but not cheap as chips.

 When did that happen?

 Check the classic cars website. Cheapest I saw was £6k.

 I love Mini's? Like Tifosi (Ferrari) fans or McLaren fans. What's not to understand???

 You just seem to like all of them even the rotters. And minis are so limited, literally to one car. I mean i love them, but im not such a one car guy. also mad neg props for that comment haha. Also do you have a driving license? at your age a mini should be pretty affordable? Probably cheaper than riding tbh

 Well, the album is called MINI radness. I love lots of cars dude, mainly track cars, but I'm mainily into Mini's and like to share nice pics with the site. There's a few people on here who own them too.

 Personally i find mini guys to be the nicest on the road. I dunno though. I kind of feel too many people have them, and that annoys me (people who arent car guys with classic cars). Due to the commonness over here i dont get all the hype for them. They are rad little cars, I just dont understand the level of hype they continue to get, from non car people. It wasnt an attack at you, i worded it wrong, it was more a general vent of me saying "i dont get the hype from non car guys" as ultimately they are unsafe uncomfortable noisy shit boxes. Its only when your behind the wheel on the edge that they become worthy of merit. The thing is 70% of the people who own them will never even be able to appreciate that

 To be honest, I'm more into the Z-Car versions for tracks, but I am a car guy (even though I don't drive) I love cars, always have, and the Mini has always been a favourite of mine. I don't know why people hype over them. Me? I like how they look and their history. Mainly though, because they're lightweight and you can make them RWD track cars with a conversion with the power/weight of a Ferrari. Even if I was rich though, I'd still won a Z-Car Mini with my super car collection lol.

 I absolutely love classic mini's, but I think the BMW mini's get a worse rep than they deserve. My mom owns a base model (with sport mode and all that jazz) 07 and it's a killer little car, hasn't exactly been unreliable either.

 They look quite good, but I've never been a fan of BMW Mini's (Bini's) I'm sure they're good cars seeing as they're made by BMW, but I just can't adjust to them.

 It's because they are shite. Old cars drive better on the whole, but for a modern driver or even as a daily there is a reason cars have changed... If your not into cars why buy a car that's inferior for your needs?